Louis Theroux, a journalist from the British Broadcasting Corporation, created a documentary in 2006 called America’s Most Hated Family. The documentary featured a family from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, which is largely populated by the Phelps family, a family of radical “Christians”. This church has often been referred to as a congregation of heartless, naïve, and emotionless people. In fact, the church is so extreme that some of the members who have left the group and left behind family members have even stated that they have “lost [their] family members to the cult.”
The Westboro Baptist Church has become notorious for its controversial protests at soldiers’ funerals, school plays, and even at the funeral of two Amish girls in November of 2008. The members of this church believe that they are doing God’s work by protesting against burring soldiers and homosexual rights. Pedestrians who witness the protests are both appalled and confused by the hateful messages the church members carry on the signs. Messages such as, “God hates you” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”
The first day Louis Theroux was with the Phelps family at a protest, people in cars drove by the picketers and screamed profanity at the church members. Sadly, Louis also noticed that the young members of the church were spouting off the same hate-filled messages their parents where. Louis asked one ten-year-old if he knew what any of it meant, and he told Louis, “No, not really.” Upon hearing the boy’s answer, Shirley, the ringleader of the church’s protests, was quick to say, “He should know, and if not he will learn.”
Though the United States government can do nothing to stop the church’s organized protests because of America’s rights to assemble and speak freely, many private citizens are starting to retaliate against the hate-filled protests and propaganda spread by the church. One group in particular, who calls itself the Patriot Guard Riders, has made a strong stand against the church. This group shows up at the protests and allows the Westboro Baptist Church members to spew their hate, however, the riders blast patriotic music in the background and wave American flags to drown out the negativity.
Bill Richart, a Patriot Guard Rider, said the group members will actually place themselves between the Westboro Baptist Church and the mourning families. This group also uses their motorcycles to help silence the chants of hate and raises flags to hide the protesters from view. There have even been reports of the Patriot Guard Riders leading and following funeral processions to prevent the Westboro Church from weaseling their way into the funeral procession.
Although the church’s membership has declined since 2006 when Louis Theroux lasted visited, the Westboro Baptist Church is still protesting the funerals of fallen soldiers and they are also holding the corner protests on the sides of busy roads. Many of the members are either leaving the church or they are being kicked out of the church for not following the rigid guidelines of the church. The Westboro Baptist Church has also faced some legal trouble following the filming of the documentary when Al Synder, the father of a fallen Marine, sued Shirley Phelps and the rest of the church for ten million dollars.