Have The Westboro Baptist Church Been Defeated?

The WestBoro Baptist church, most famous for its message of hatred and intolerance (in the form of protesting funerals, mostly such as that described in THIS ARTICLE) have been notably absent from a recent marine hero’s funeral which they planned to protest in Brandon, Mississippi.

The marine, Staff Sergeant Jason Rogers, was given a moving service fit for a fallen hero after being killed in Afghanistan. Best of all (it’s sad that we have to even think of this as a “good” thing as opposed to “the norm”), the WestBoro Baptist Church Zealots were nowhere to be seen during the proceedings. Have they finally been defeated?

Video of his last journey to his grave site:

Incredibly fitting and moving music.

So, with the people (particularly those in power) starting to become aware of WestBoro and how their hatred imposes upon grieving families at the very least by, for example, passing legislation stating that they have to be a minimum of 300 yards away from any funeral proceedings if they wish to protest (story HERE), is America going to beat their zealot-like message?

It’s very possible; one member of a forum dedicated to the area where the funeral was held (The Oxford Square), stated that one of the WestBoro picketers was being very vocal in what he intended to do at the funeral of Staff Sergeant Jason Rogers’ at a local gas station. He was promptly beaten and could not give an accurate description of his attackers, while those there at the time seemed to have not seen what happened. Violence isn’t condonable, but it has to be said: it worked.

A sense of real community pride was instilled when residents of the area parked their vehicles behind any car with Kansas licence plates on it (where the WestBoro Baptist Church, under Fred Phelps is situated). The few that did make it were taken away and questioned about a crime that they might have been involved in. It turns out they weren’t and unfortunately had to miss the funeral.

Fred Phelps, leader of the cult of WestBoro

Image via Wikipedia

Brandon Mississippi deserves to be commended for their community spirit and moral decency. With a few acts of not-very-serious misdemeanours (exception being the assault…not very morally decent, but…well, you know) they managed to maintain the integrity of a fallen hero’s funeral which he and his family had every right to attend without being harassed and disrespected.

The morals to be learned from this are that in solidarity, a small group of bigoted people whose sole intention is to cause emotional pain can be overcome by a community of truly great people. Protest the war all you want, WestBoro – in which case I’d agree with you – about any war that is. Don’t protest a hero. That is indefensible and you may just find yourself in an embarrassing situation at a gas station if you plan to do so. Take it on the chin, guys.