Westboro Baptist Church Threatens To Picket Aaron Swartz's Funeral

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 14, 2013 6:45PM



Photo credit: Avi Schwab

The infamous Westboro Baptist Church issued a press release stating the church’s intent to picket the Jan. 15 funeral of Reddit builder Aaron Swartz in suburban Chicago. Swartz, who co-authored RSS.1.0 certification when he was 14, committed suicide Jan. 11 in New York City.

Is there a group out there Westboro Baptist Church won’t picket?

The press release, which states at the end “GOD H8S Cyber Criminal THUGS,” reads in part:

”Cyber criminals are the latest face of this nation's and this world's raging at God and His Servants at WBC. --snip-- “Now the gloves are off, cyber rebels! ... We will picket the funeral, the LORD willing, so that in that Great Day of His Wrath, your blood is not on our hands."

Westboro Baptist Church has reason to make their hatred of hackers personal. The hacktivist group Anonymous hacked the WBC website last month after the church announced plans to protest the funerals of the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings, took over the Twitter account of Shirley Phelps-Roper, the church member who announced those plans, and published the names and personal details of church members online. They’ve vowed to “destroy” the church.

Swartz's funeral will be at Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Ill. Westboro Baptist is also planning a "memorial praising God for killing" Swartz in New York's Times Square. We’ve included a screen shot of the WBC press release below. (Via WBCSays)