The Westboro Baptist Church seems to have a long history of harassing innocents in order to get them to react negatively in public so they can prosecute as a way of financing itself, it's members, and the Phelps family.
WBC uses freedom of religion to promote injustice and shield hate speech, and speaking out against it is just fodder for another suit where they claim their rights have been violated, their methods should be analyzed to determine if they are worthy of any church or non profit status under the law, and further to determine if they are an organized hate group.