Westboro Baptist Church: Guilty of Child Abuse.

Alyssa Thacker

Most people in America have heard about the Westboro Baptist Church located in Topeka, Kansas. They are a group notorious for picketing at schools, sports arenas, concerts, funerals (including deceased soldiers and politicians), etc. They are known for their concentrated stance against homosexuality and hating America showing their hatred by stepping on the American flag or wearing it upside down.

When they picket they hold ridiculous signs that say things like: America is Doomed, God is the Killer, God Hates Fag Enablers, and Fag Court. They say the reasoning for their pickets is because we live in a “fag nation,” since the United States does not prosecute homosexuality and some states allow gay marriage. On their website, godhatesfags.com, America is God’s number one enemy.

This group is one of the most “hated” families in America, but they don’t care what others think of them. By their diction you can tell they aren’t very mature because on their website it says, “0 – nanoseconds of sleep that WBC members lose over your opinions and feeeeellllliiiiings.”

The most disturbing thing about this whole group is that they bring their children to these pickets and make them hold these signs and chant crude words. This is a form of child abuse because the children are being brainwashed to hate everyone and the children are present during the dangerous pickets where they have been attacked many times.

The Westboro Baptist Church raises their children to hate everyone and everything that isn’t like them. These young kids are raised to believe that Jews, gays, Catholics, American soldiers, and virtually everyone not a member of their Church is going to burn in hell.

Every video I have watched on the church, the interviewer always asks the children for their beliefs and every time the kids answer, they either sound rehearsed as if the adults told them exactly what to say or the parents are there coaching their words. They don’t even have a chance to make their own choices; they are brainwashed to think this way. During these pickets, there is always a chance of physical danger. People have thrown objects at them, spit on them, broken their windows, and threatened them. Yet, they are not being charged because it is perfectly legal to bring the children along.

The adults of the Westboro Baptist Church are immature, they not only have godhatesfags.com, they also have multiple other websites that are just as ludicrous because of the content. Just to name a few, there are: priestsrapeboys.com, godhatestheworld.com, and Americaisdoomed.com. They are not capable of opening up to outsiders; if you aren’t on their side they automatically hate you. The fact that they would disown their own children for making their own choices shows how unwise they are.

They are obviously not good parents, they not only risk having their children harmed but they teach them about rape, childhood idols like Santa as Satan, killing of departed soldiers, and hating anything and everything.

The Westboro Baptist Church is not a church, they are a hate group. Anyone can say that they are a church, but it sure doesn’t make it one. The hate that they share is just a way for all of them to make money. They long for money and the press and all they want is attention. Most of the members of the WBC are actually attorneys; therefore they can get away with these things because they know the law. Since they are of a higher authority, they should know that these children have a right to be protected. The children have no choice but to be dragged into all this mess.

They have even admitted that they have had guns and knives waved at them. Why would they want their children to be a part of that? As responsible parents they should be protecting them instead of potentially harming them. The passing of negative emotion into their children is psychological child abuse. The fact that they force these kids to be in the situation is what gets to me; they should be able to choose on their own what they want to believe in.

These children are victims of “repetitive programming.” The parents push these ideas into the children’s minds without them even understanding the meaning of what they are learning. The people of this group don’t know how to think differently, this is the only way they will ever think, the beliefs and ideas go no farther then what they were taught as children.

Children should always have the right to learn on their own. To be able to choose what they want to think, say or believe. They were born with their own minds, and they should be able to use them without someone that they trust shoving their beliefs down their throat. They should know that it is not right to judge others, everyone has sin weather you believe in God or not.