The Westboro Baptist Church has a habit of sticking their noses in where they don’t belong.
The church group pickets funerals often and claims that certain people who murder others or take their own lives do not deserve to go to heaven or to have a peaceful afterlife. They also believe that Williams was wrong for portraying a gay man in the film The Birdcage. They seem to target celebrities or people who are popular with the media.
Although the church claims to picket funerals to help warn people about the dangers of living a sinful life and to remind them to repent, their choice of funerals seems to suggest that they picket more for attention than awareness.
They have picketed at the funerals of numerous celebrities, including those of Steve Jobs and Michael Jackson.
They have also tried to picket at the funerals of soldiers killed in action.
Robin Williams was found dead in his home last Sunday and investigators quickly determined that he had taken his own life by hanging himself with a belt. Williams had been suffering from depression and anxiety. He also struggled with substance abuse, but according to his wife, he was sober when he committed suicide.
The Westboro Baptist Church tweeted a message to its followers to inform them that they would be picketing outside Williams’s funeral. Williams’s family has not even released the details of the funeral plans.
God hates Robin Williams. Westboro Baptist Church hopes to preach outside his funeral — to his… http://t.co/hNG4fDT0BV
— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSays) August 14, 2014
The entire post reads, “Westboro Baptist Church hopes to preach in lawful proximity to Robin Williams’ funeral — to warn the living: repent or likewise perish.”
VIDEO Let us talk Robin Williams. http://t.co/YuaXZpjCja He openly sinned & openly bragged about it, @HarveyLevinTMZ! pic.twitter.com/BfZc2THi7c
— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSays) August 20, 2014
The group also shared a photo of a billboard that they plan to put up in the near future.
http://t.co/tGqlDWBghQ Yes Yes. Check it out! VOTE FOR THE BILLBOARD YOU LOVE! pic.twitter.com/BGjnLPbEZX
— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSays) August 19, 2014
As with past Westboro pickets, several groups have planned to counter-protest against the group in hopes of allowing Williams’s friends, fans and family to mourn his death in peace.