Their slogan has become synonymous with hate crimes. Their protests have tested the boundary’s of America’s guarantee of free speech. Their family is arguably the most hated in America.

This family is the Phelps family, the primary congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church.

On March 19, the Westboro Baptist Church lost its founder, Fred Phelps.

While Phelps and his descendants may be deserving of hate, the best course of action to take in this situation wouldn’t be to direct Phelps’ hate back at him.

The reason why the church has drawn ample hate in recent years is because they have reportedly picketed over 53,000 funerals throughout its 59-year existence. At the funerals of fallen soldiers, they hold signs thanking God for their deaths. At the funeral for those killed in Newtown, they held signs proclaiming that God was punishing America for “promoting homosexuality”.

Their focus in recent years has been to spread the message that being gay is wrong, and if gay people are accepted into society, then God will punish America.

So, when reports that Phelps’ family is not planning on having a funeral for him began to surface, many members of the LGBT rights movement felt that it would be a perfect opportunity to get revenge on the church.

Fred Phelps himself was entirely cognizant of the fact that his funeral might be picketed.

In a 2006 interview with CNN, Phelps stated, “I’d love it. I’d invite them,” when asked his thoughts on people protesting his funeral.

Picketing his funeral may seem a fitting end to some, because a man who spent so much of his life hating others might deserve a bad ending.

But, by picketing his funeral, picketers would be stooping to the same level of hate and malice and Phelps himself.

Peaceful protest has been a common tactic for fighting Westboro’s picketing, such as forming a ring around the picketers so that mourners don’t see them.

But, even so, protest of any sort should be avoided in this situation.

Fighting fire with fire is hardly ever effective.

The best solution in this case is to stop giving them the attention they crave.

The more we tweet about Phelps’ death, about how he should “rot in hell,” and “get a taste of his own medicine,” the more we fuel the fire of hatred that the church was built upon. Picketing would only be a nail in that proverbial coffin.

If the goal of prospective picketers is to prove the members of the Westboro Baptist Church wrong, to prove to them that LGBT acceptance is not a sin, then ignoring them is just about the only option.

Having people protest their founder’s theoretical funeral only provides the church fodder for their hatred.

So, we can hate Fred Phelps for the cult that he started. But stooping to the level of his clan wouldn’t be a fitting end. It would only enlarge the church’s target on the LGBT rights movement.