Westboro Baptist Church, the outfit known for its ubiquitous “God Hates Fags” message and picketing of soldiers’ funerals, has made a cottage industry out of offensiveness and scandal. They have united entire towns against them, stirring up such resentment and fury that they have been obliged to rush out of town for fear of being overrun by enraged locals.

The typical Westboro game plan is simple:

Step One: Pick a high-profile funeral or other emotionally-charged event as a target

Step Two: Send an announcement to the local press in that area that your group intends to show up to picket said event

Step Three: Actually showing up is optional. If you do, only bring a handful of people with signs, stay a half-hour at most for camera and counter-protest exposure, then leave before any real trouble gets started.

Step Four: Pick another event and repeat.

Over the years, the now-deceased Fred Phelps and his minions have targeted celebrities, dead soldiers, music concerts, tech companies, other churches, stage plays, schools, and the media in general.

Recently they ignited a firestorm when they announced their intent to picket the funeral of well-loved celebrity Robin Williams, claiming that Williams is in Hell now because he portrayed a gay man in the film The Birdcage.

But they also manage to get their message of hate out by simply sitting back, writing blog posts, and sending announcements out to the media that they claim to hate.

Now Westboro Baptist gleefully claims that the Ebola outbreak in Africa is because of Obama:

“These countries (that continent) did not heed our warnings and pleas – instead they clasped onto The Beast Obama, acting like he was running for ‘King of the world’ ”.

Their message is simple — God sent Ebola to Africa. They base their claim on their interpretation of Deuteronomy 28:61: “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”