Kansas Church to Protest in Oklahoma Today

Westboro Baptist Church, known for their hatred of gays, plans to picket outside Moore High School this afternoon. Listen to what church leaders say about why they're coming.

Sunday, March 1st 2009, 6:58 pm

By: News 9


By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

MOORE, Oklahoma -- Their language is controversial and Monday, members of the Westboro Baptist Church out of Topeka, Kansas will make their voices heard in Oklahoma at a metro high school.

The church, known for their hatred of gays, plans to picket outside Moore High School and outside the state Capitol Monday afternoon. At least one other group is preparing a vigil to counter protest.

As soon as word got out the group was coming to Moore High School, people have been furious. Westboro Church officials told NEWS 9 people from Oklahoma have flooded their phones, telling them to stay out of the state.

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Westboro Baptist Church is angered that the Rev. Scott Jones, an openly gay pastor, was allowed to give prayer to legislatures inside the state Capitol.

And although some lawmakers pushed to have the prayer removed from the record, Shirley Phelps-Roper, a leader of Westboro Church, believes more should have been done to stop it.

"Like God is going to hear the prayers of an abomination, he doesn't. The discussion is only whether it's going to be in the record, nobody cares that you brought the pervert in," Phelps-Roper said.

The church members also said they are tired of seeing Oklahoma children being lied to. They believe children here are being taught that being gay is OK, and that it's also OK to commit sins like having sex outside of marriage.

"You have taught them God is a liar," Phelps-Roper said. "That's what Oklahoma has done and they did it against their own interest, and that is the reason for all your trauma."

Because of the controversial messages from the Kansas church, a church in Moore is taking a stand. The pastor from Beth Haven Baptist Church invited church members to stage a vigil in counter protest to Westboro Church Monday. The pastor said it's time to make sure people know the Westboro Church does not represent the truth of the Bible.

"We thought what better way to have a prayer vigil in our parking lot across from a high school to say we love our community. We love our children in our community and God loves them," Beth Haven Baptist Pastor Rick Carter Jr. said.

The kinds of messages Westboro Church sends out are something Pastor Carter said he won't stand for.

"It is time to stand up and declare loudly that they do not represent the truth of the Bible. They are not Bible believing Baptist churches members at all," Pastor Carter said. "Instead of the hate they're spewing, we'll be praying for our children and our school for the families."

In hopes of avoiding a confrontation, Beth Haven church members will not be holding their vigil outside Moore High School. Instead the church said they will stage their counter protest across from West Moore High School about four miles away from Westboro's protest.

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