Univ. of Chicago Uses Wit to Counter Westboro Baptist Protest

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 10, 2009 6:40PM

The infamous Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas hit up the Hyde Park campus of the University of Chicago yesterday, one of three protests the church had planned at the University. According to a report last month by Chi Town Daily News:

The group is targeting several so-called evils at its March 9 protests in Chicago. Among them, according to the church's Website: that Theodore Jennings, the founder of the Chicago Theological Seminary, believes Jesus was a homosexual. And at the University of Chicago itself, the group will argue its contention that President Obama is the Antichrist and misinformed students when he taught at the law school.

Of course, what the WBC protesters didn't count on was a clever counter-protest by students, staff, and faculty of the school, who easily out-numbered the WBC protesters. But it wasn't just about mocking the WBC'ers. The U of C participants brought the event an almost festive atmosphere, serving food and raising over $500 for the Broadway Youth Center, as well as collecting signatures on petitions urging the overturning of California's controversial Prop 8.

Additional pictures of everything that went down can be found here. [via Gapers Block]