(LAS VEGAS, NV)
On Tuesday, November 1st, 2011, from 12 to 12:30 PM PST,
the University of Nevada-Las Vegas's Secular Student Alliance will be
joining forces with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to counter
the presence of the Westboro Baptist Church at UNLV. The "Church",
keeping in step with its characteristically aimless campaign of
all-around religious hatred, has announced that it will be protesting
the University itself, claiming that it "offers courses in rebellion
against God" and "advanced degrees in Proud Sin and Perversion."
The Westboro Baptist Church, whose small congregation consists almost
entirely of the relatives of its notorious founder and helmsman Fred
Phelps, has for years desperately chased the media spotlight by means of
tormenting bereaved relatives of service members who fell on the field
of battle in the course of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation
Enduring Freedom. Their modus operandi has consisted largely of
picketing military funerals with such vile messages as "Thank God for
Dead Soldiers" and "Thank God for IEDs", among other tactics.
"The Westboro Baptist Church knows no limit to its hatred of
freedom. They constantly try to force their hateful brand of religion on
everyone else, and many of
us are sick of it," said Michael Gobaud,
President of the SSA at UNLV.
The SSA at UNLV is a student group that
promotes humanist values, defends religious freedom, and is committed to
promoting a positive image of the non-religious community at UNLV. The
nationwide SSA was founded in 2000.
Gobaud continues, "We thought using [WBC's] protest to raise money
for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was the perfect way to
fight back, to defend the freedoms and ideals which those servicemen
died protecting."
MRFF is the foremost organization fighting to uphold the
constitutional guarantee of freedom from unwanted proselytization and
religious bigotry within the US armed forces. Founded in 2005, MRFF has
tirelessly combated the influence of right-wing, fundamentalist
Christian extremism within the US military through the steadfast defense
of the protections guaranteed by the Establishment Clause of the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as the No Religious
Test Clause in Article VI, paragraph 3 of the Constitution. MRFF also
provides an array of support services for the over 25,000 clients within
the armed forces who have reached out to MRFF for recourse when
confronted by aggressive proselytization, religious coercion, and
hate-crimes.
MRFF founder and President Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein has
denounced the "wretched bigotry and prejudice" of the Phelps family,
hailing the SSA at UNLV's "sterling, courageous act of standing up to
the WBC hate group".
In support of the event, the SSA at UNLV has already received
pledges for donations totaling nearly $400. To support the SSA at UNLV,
please visit
their website and make a fully tax-deductible donation.
MRFF Contact: Bekki Miller
Tel. (337) 356-8696
bekki.miller@militaryreligiousfreedom.org
SSA at UNLV Public Events Officer: Drew Pruitt
Tel. (702) 449-9284
ssaunlv@gmail.com
