Westboro picketers met with hundreds of counter demonstrators [View all]

BOZEMAN — A handful of sign-waving acolytes of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church
did not find a receptive audience on the campus of Montana State University in
Bozeman on Monday afternoon.

Hundreds of people from across Montana’s vast geographical, political and social
spectrum descended upon the controversial demonstrators to counter the group’s
message that God is punishing the United States for tolerating lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender residents.

Westboro Baptist Church is famous for picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers with
messages such as “Thank God for IEDs.” More recently they made headlines by
claiming the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was God’s work.

The church, which has been widely condemned by religious leaders, veterans groups
and human rights groups for more than a decade, announced earlier this year that
it planned to picket MSU and Bozeman High School.


http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130909/NEWS01/309090025/Westboro-picketers-met-hundreds-counter-demonstrators