Westboro Baptist Church is using Pokémon Go to spread anti-LGBT messages

Though the world may have stepped into a new year/ new me mentality, some are stuck firmly in the past.

Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kansas has tried to recruit new followers and condemn the ‘sinful’ by using Pokémon Go.

The church’s members are well known for picketing the funerals of soldiers, holding signs which read ‘God H8s Fag Marriage’ and ‘God Hates America’.

A regular Monday afternoon probably looks like this:

Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty

The church's extremist views against homosexuality have been well documented, and its website URL link contains a slur against homosexuals. It was also a ‘gym’ in the app, which meant Pokémon trainers were able to claim the place as their own.

Pokémon Go players got wind of it, and several users trolled the church – from one calling themselves ‘666’ to eventually one called ‘Pinknose’, who claimed the church with a pink Clefairy named LoveisLove.

The church responded with DYI posters:

It seems the church hasn't given up on Pokémon. On Sunday they tweeted the following:

This time they opted for a medley of Pokémon:

Squirtle encourages you to ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus’; Charmander warns that ‘Forgetting God = Hell’.

Before you get too discouraged, Bulbasaur reassures with ‘Truth = Love’ and Pikachu ties the whole thing together with a bow: ‘Fag Love = Lust’.

More: People are exquisitely trolling the Westboro Baptist Church using Pokémon Go

More: One of America's most famous right wing commentators just said what we all feared about Trump