Sunday afternoon four members of the Westboro Baptist Church made their way to central Illinois with pickets at local churches in mind.
The organization, which is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, picketed outside of St. Charles Borromeo, Casey First Baptist and Casey United Methodist.
As I found out, the response to the protestors was well-organized and non-violent.
The Westboro Baptist Church press release for the Casey pickets says the main reason for the visit was to protest the "slothful face of a doomed American Religion," in reference to Methodism.
According to the same document, the attacks surface from Methodism welcoming the
LGBT community and the religion's message of equality.
Sunday's protests ended without incident, but nearly 100 people showed up to counter the message of the Westboro Church.