This Should Go Well: Westboro Baptist Church Says It’s Going To Iraq To Protest ISIS

8/23/2014

via Twitter

Westboro Baptist Church, the hate group that masquerades as a religious organization, is known for their publicity stunts, but they may have bit off more than they can chew with this one. After a comedian offered to pay for them to fly to Iraq so they can protest real Christian persecution at the hands of Islamic militants, the group tweeted that they have accepted his offer. They want to take their picket signs and head over to a country currently occupied by a group that beheads Christian children without hesitation – this ought to go well.

To bring you up to speed: Last week, Australian comedian Adam Hills gave an brilliant, hilarious proposal to the WBC after learned that they planned to – surprise, surprise – picket Robin Williams’ funeral. On his show, The Last Leg, Hills pointed out that the infamous “God Hates Fags” group is quick to march around with signs protesting American hedonism, but don’t have the courage to protest the daily persecution Christians in Iraq are facing at the hands of “the people threatening to behead Christians if they don’t convert.”

Hills tells the group:

“If you really believe in standing up to those threatening the christian way of life, Westboro Baptist Church, how about putting your money where your mouth is, taking a direct flight to Iraq.”

He also nails a couple Robin Williams impressions. Give the video a watch:

 Well it appears that the WBC have seen Hills’ show and take his offer very seriously. Yesterday, when someone asked them if they were aware of it, the church tweeted that not only had they heard of it but had already accepted the offer.

They also claim to have picketed in Iraq before, although the picture they used in the tweet is decidedly not in Iraq.

I took up their suggestion to “Google it” but couldn’t find a single mention of their being in Iraq aside from their own website’s claim. It’s possible that they’ve been to Iraq before, but if they have it was not well advertised.

It appears that Hills’ show has also learned that the WBC has taken up their offer.

If the two sides manage to work something out and the WBC winds up in Iraq, it’s safe to say that their lives would very much be in danger. Iraq, especially large swaths of it now occupied by IS militants, is extremely unfriendly to American citizens, Christian, but most particularly American Christians carrying signs reading “Muslims Die, God Laughs.”

Just this week an American journalist was beheaded by ISIS and they are threatening to do the same to another one. At the same time, ISIS has exiled thousands of Iraqi Christians, killing those who don’t leave.

From Think Progress:

ISIS has been targeting Christians ever since it first got started. As a militant group fighting against both the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups in Syria’s civil war, ISIS wreaked havoc on Syrian Christians, torching churches in the historic Christian city of Maaloula and kidnapping bishops. Still, Mosul’s large Christian population remained determined to remain in the city where their ancestors have lived for 1,600 years.

That all changed when ISIS issued a statement last Thursday ordering the city’s Christians to convert, pay a hefty religious tax, or face execution on Saturday.

Since then, there have been reports of mass killings and targeted murders of Christians in Iraq. If the Westboro Baptist Church chooses to walk into that, it would be the first time in the church’s history that they would actually be protesting something worth protesting. It may also be short lived. Depending on where they chose to stage their protest, they may need to start planning a protest of their own funerals.

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