There have been some pretty big petitions on the We The People website but the Westboro Baptist Church petition has gathered more support than most. The petition has close to 250,000 signatures and is the largest on the White House website.
The petition to have the Westboro Baptist Church officially recognized as a hate group was created on December 14, shortly after the church announce that it would protest the funerals of the people who died during the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
The petition reads:
“This group has been recognized as a hate group by organizations, such as The Southern Poverty Law Center, and has repeatedly displayed the actions typical of hate groups. Their actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians. They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation.”
The petition, which now has 247,170 signatures, asks the government to legally recognize the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group. The government hasn’t responded to the petition yet but since the petition has nearly 10 times the amount of signatures required to warrant a response, the White House should be issuing a statement in the near future.
The petition officially closes January 13.
In addition to the 250,000 people who have signed the petition to get the Westboro Baptist Church recognized as a hate group, thousands more have signed petitions to remove the group’s tax exempt status .
President Obama recently responded to another wildly popular petition on the We the People website. A petition to reform gun control laws gathered close to 200,000 signatures and received a response last week . The people are still waiting for the government’s thoughts on letting Texas seced e and building a death star .
