The Westboro Baptist Church out of Topeka, Kansas made its way to Columbia on Sunday to protest at a few of the city's mega-churches and at Fort Jackson. As members of Shandon Baptist Church made their way to the church's parking lot, they were met with the Topeka group singing songs and holding signs that delivered their personal message. However, church goers weren't distracted by the protestors' actions. James Bagwell, a Shandon Baptist Church member, didn't have much to say about the radical group. "I'm glad they live in a country that gives them the right to protest and gives them the freedom of speech and freedom of religion because it's the same freedom that allows us to worship on Sunday," Bagwell said.
After they finished their picketing at Shandon Baptist Church, the Westboro group traveled to Bible Way Church of Atlas Road where Shirley Phelps, the group's leader for the day, began to preach her church's version of the gospel. Phelps exclaimed, "You stopped doing your duty to teach people to fear and obey God and today you're teaching people to sin." People attending services at Bible Way looked in amazement as they headed into the worship center.
Westboro protestors had plans to voice their opinion at Fort Jackson but were stopped at the gate. They opted for the intersection that leads into the base only to be met by families of U.S. military soldiers. Dawn Marie Versluys, mother of a U.S. Marine, says she couldn't believe such a group existed. "They make me ill. What they do makes me very ill," she said. Villerous says, "My son is fighting for their right to stand in protest against him." She considers the church's anti-war messges a personal attack saying, "If they feel that way about my country, they can leave my country."
The Westboro Baptist Church has been traveling across the country with its message for twenty years.
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