Looks like Westboro’s time is up! A federal judge has ordered to take away the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) building and the Phelps’ chartered law office in order to pay a AU$5.3 million dollar fine for damages, after members of the religious organisation picketed at the funeral of two fallen American soldiers.

Members of the Kansas-based “church” are well known for picketing at funerals of gay people, as well as fallen soldiers.

If the court’s decision passes, the WBC will lose their properties, including the church and law firm building. A legal loophole, however, may cause the Phelps to keep their buildings; a person’s home cannot be seized to pay legal costs.

The religious organisation runs websites that denounce homosexuality and even other religious sects, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Islam and Judaism. Led by Rev. Fred Phelps, the group’s notoriety began after picketing the funeral of murdered gay man Matthew Shepard in 1998. The church has since blamed homosexuality as an imminent threat to the condemnation of America and sees the death of soldiers in Iraq as God’s punishment for homosexuality in the country.