Members of a West Village temple gathered for a peaceful rally Sunday in response to a Kansas-based religious group who protested their hatred of Jews and gays. NY1's Ty Milburn filed the following report.

A half dozen members of the Westboro Baptist Church brought their protest to the streets of the West Village. They demonstrated at The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah -- a temple known to be accepting of gay congregants.

"Anywhere where God's word needs to be preached to an unrepentant generation. That's where we'll be," said Westboro Baptist Church member Steve Drane.

But a much larger group of temple members and their supporters came outside, singing songs about love.

"There are too many people all over the world -- Christians, Muslims, and Jews who are using religion as a force of hatred. We reject that," said Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah.

"I am going to say they should go back to the rock they crawled out of, and the rabbi asked us not to say anything more provocative than that," said one member of The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined the members of the congregation in support of their message.

"I hope they see from the good people standing here in front of them how misguided they are and they leave here today with a sense of faith and community is that's the folks standing behind us," said Quinn.

Members of The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah say they are trying to turn this negative protest into something positive holding a fundraiser to raise money they say will help them fight against this type of hate.

"We have pledges of $200 a minute from people. One little kid is pledging a quarter a minute to someone pledging 10, 20, 50 dollars a minute. To make sure this kind of hatred ends up helping our synagogue," said Rabbi Kleinbaum.

Some members of the temple say they will use the protest as a teaching tool for their children.

"I bring my son here because I think it's important for him to see that in the face of this type of messages of hate that you need to confront it and show them love," said one member of The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah.

In all, the rally and counter-rally lasted just under an hour. Protesters left without incident and both sides say they believe they made their point.