White House Petition: Call Westboro a Hate Group

Church hit with 5 petitions, others want to yank tax-exempt status
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 27, 2012 7:09 AM CST
White House Petition: Call Westboro a Hate Group
Rachel Hockenbarger from Westboro Baptist Church protests outside Reliant Stadium where The Response, a day long prayer and fast rally is being held Aug. 6, 2011, in Houston.   (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Piers Morgan. Death Stars. And now Westboro Baptist Church. The unusual White House petitions keep adding up, and now not one, but five petitions calling for action against everyone's least favorite funeral protesters have passed the 50,000-signature threshold requiring a response. Indeed, one petition calling for Westboro to be identified as a hate group has hit 260,000 signatures—believed to be the most popular petition ever on the We the People site, notes Politico.

"They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation," reads one petition, which says Westboro has targeted groups including homosexuals, military, Jewish people, and fellow Christians. The four other petitions want the government to yank Westboro's tax-exempt status. (More Westboro Baptist Church stories.)

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