Difference between revisions of "Fred Phelps"

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(Updated story and refs on lawsuit; fact tag on domestic abuse claims)
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Phelps and most of his spiritually malformed spawn are lawyers, and routinely threaten to sue anyone who interferes with their hatemongering.
 
Phelps and most of his spiritually malformed spawn are lawyers, and routinely threaten to sue anyone who interferes with their hatemongering.
  
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However, they may need to cut back on the protesting at funerals, now that they've lost a $2.9 million lawsuit against them.<ref>http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/31/america/NA-GEN-US-Funeral-Protests.php</ref> (Update: Did I say $2.9 Million?  Sorry, it's '''$10.9 Million''' now.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/31/funeral.protests.ap/index.html</ref>)  Some Guy With A Website points out that this is unconstitutional, and will probably get overturned on appeal.<ref>http://www.someguywithawebsite.com/blogarchive/week_2007_10_28.html#002337</ref> And that the [[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]], in their thankless task of protecting the rights of even the worst people, has once again been used as cannon-fodder by hatemongers.
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In 2007, the family of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder were awarder $2.9 million in compensatory damages and a further $8 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress after Phelps and his fellow hatemongers had protested at Snyder's funeral by displaying signs including one that said "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103102278.html $11 Million Awarded in Funeral Protest Suit], The Washington Post, November 1, 2007</ref> Phelps predicted that a higher court would overturn the decision "in five minutes" on freedom of speech grounds, and was proved right: the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the decision in September 2009, ordering Snyder's family to pay costs of $16,510. <ref>[http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=22120 4th Circuit nixes $5 million verdict against funeral protesters], First Amendment Center, September 9, 2009</ref><ref name="HuffPo20100329">[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/father-of-dead-marine-ord_n_517614.html Father Of Dead Marine Ordered To Pay Legal Fees Of Westobro Baptist Church Protesters], The Huffington Post, March 29 2010</ref> The family appealed to the [[Supreme Court]] in March 2010 <ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/westboro-church-protests-_n_489923.html Westboro Church Protests Head To Supreme Court], The Huffington Post, March 8 2010</ref> and are currently seeking donations <ref name="HuffPo20100329"/> in order to keep the case going.
  
 
==Domestic abuse ==
 
==Domestic abuse ==
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Many sources agree that Phelps regularly beat his children, especially his estranged sons, Nate and Mark Phelps. Two of his children were briefly taken into protective custody after marks of abuse were found, but Phelps intimidated the Topeka authorities into dropping the case; the records of this would have been destroyed had he not sued the Topeka Public Schools over the matter. One Christmas Day, Phelps beat his son Nate into shock with more than 200 strokes from a mattock handle after receiving a report that he had nicked some bulbs for Christmas lights.<ref name="Addicted"/>
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Many sources agree that Phelps regularly beat his children, especially his estranged sons, Nate and Mark Phelps. {{fact}} Two of his children were briefly taken into protective custody after marks of abuse were found, but Phelps intimidated the Topeka authorities into dropping the case; the records of this would have been destroyed had he not sued the Topeka Public Schools over the matter. One Christmas Day, Phelps beat his son Nate into shock with more than 200 strokes from a mattock handle after receiving a report that he had nicked some bulbs for Christmas lights.<ref name="Addicted"/>
  
 
Phelps also encouraged husbands in his congregation to punch their wives; indeed, it was reported that one fellow took this to heart and later had to call Phelps for bail.<ref name="Addicted">''Addicted to Hate''. (http://www.addictedtohate.com/)</ref> Three of the children say Mrs. Phelps was thrown down a flight of stairs.<ref name="Addicted"/><ref>http://hopeandpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/07/abuse-as-theology-fred-phelps-son.html</ref>
 
Phelps also encouraged husbands in his congregation to punch their wives; indeed, it was reported that one fellow took this to heart and later had to call Phelps for bail.<ref name="Addicted">''Addicted to Hate''. (http://www.addictedtohate.com/)</ref> Three of the children say Mrs. Phelps was thrown down a flight of stairs.<ref name="Addicted"/><ref>http://hopeandpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/07/abuse-as-theology-fred-phelps-son.html</ref>

Revision as of 06:38, 30 March 2010

Fred Phelps is a supposedly[citation needed] conservative Christian pastor, whose vitriolic anti-homosexual rhetoric and actions, including the mantra "God hates fags", and the claim that "God loves everybody… the greatest lie ever told!" (in direct opposition to the basic tenets of Christianity) have gained him a huge negative response.

Once upon a time, Fred Phelps was a mediocre civil rights lawyer. However, today his whole life is devoted to homophobia, to the point of alienating the entire country. He is also estranged from four of his thirteen children, allegedly due to "discipline that amounted to abuse".[1][2]

Fred Phelps has the dubious distinction of being the only person in recorded history with the ability to make Sean Hannity seem rational.[3]

Westboro Baptist Church

Phelps's organization, Westboro Baptist Church, is based in Topeka, Kansas, US. The church makes a habit of picketing funerals, particularly those of soldiers (regardless of their sexual orientation), claiming that "God hates fag-enablers". Interestingly, WBC also pickets many Christian organizations, including Jerry Falwell's funeral, because those organizations fail to believe that homosexuals should be executed, the viewpoint which WBC holds. In addition to their primary website, "God Hates Fags", they also run a whole site family, with URLs generally on the pattern of "godhatesexample.com".

Another notable target is Matthew Shepard, a homosexual who was murdered in a likely homophobic assault — the protest at his funeral initially gained Fred Phelps a good deal of attention. Phelps also hates Sweden for their policies on hate speech about homosexuals. He has even blamed the 2005 Indonesian tsunami on Indonesia's large Swedish tourist population. Other targets are countries in general, politicians, anyone prominent, and victims of both crime and natural disasters. Anti-Semitism has been prominent in Westboro as of late: they now target Jews as frequently as homosexuals.

Phelps's sermons, some of which have been broadcast on radio or on his website, tend to last for around an hour, and consist of an old man rambling incoherently to himself, getting agitated and shouting every few minutes, and quote mining the scriptures to support his warped and hateful attitudes.

Westboro Baptist Church consists mostly of Phelps's own family, and displays many of the signs of being an abusive, coercive cult,[4] much like the Schafly compound.

Theological Views

The theology of the WBC is similar to Calvinism. According to their beliefs:

  • Man is in a state of sin, and can only be saved by the grace of God.
  • This grace is not given freely to all, but only to God's "elect".
  • The elect are the people whom God has foreordained to salvation. All others are reprobates, who have been created for the express purpose of being sent to Hell. This is the Calvinist belief of unconditional election, a.k.a. "double predestination," which is a form of determinism; it explains why the Westboro Baptist Church protests aren't about proselytizing. The intent of their protests is to thank God for smiting us.
  • Those whom God chooses to condemn, he causes to sin by "hardening their hearts" against himself.
  • It is the duty of the elect to proclaim God's word (even though God will not cause the reprobates to listen). Their goal is not to win converts, or to "save" others, but simply to rebuke others for their sins.
  • All events on earth happen because of God's will. This includes natural disasters and actions committed by people. Events such as Hurricane Katrina, the September 11th attacks on New York and the financial recession of 2008-09 are therefore celebrated by the WBC as God's righteous destruction of reprobates.[5]
  • It is also the duty of the elect to praise and thank God for all such judgments. This is why the Phelps family is often seen with signs reading "Thank God for 9/11" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". They offered similar thanks for the recent $11 million judgment against them, because they see it as proof that God is hardening the hearts of men against them.
  • The Elect pretty much includes the members of Westboro Baptist, and practically nobody else.

Their obsession with homosexuality is the result of the widespread acceptance of homosexuality in the world. For the members of the WBC, all sins separate man from God, and they do not claim that the elect do not commit sin. However, according to their beliefs, people must sincerely repent of their sins before they can be forgiven. For the members of the WBC, "gay pride" and the acceptance of homosexuality is tantamount to having "murderer pride" or thinking of child rape as being just another, equally valid form of sexual expression. Anyone who doesn't condemn homosexuality as evil is, according to the WBC, a "fag enabler", and deserving of divine retribution.

An incomplete list of things Fred Phelps and his god hate

Phelps and the religious right

While many conservatives try to disassociate Phelps from themselves and the conservative movement in general, his politics are very similar to other members of the religious right. Like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, Phelps associates recent tragedies inflicted upon the United States with God's wrath for the nation's growing acceptance of homosexuality. The difference between them lies in Phelps's acceptance, and even encouragement, of these actions as part of God's will, while Robertson apparently thinks God is going too far by letting so many Christians die.

Getting sued

Phelps and most of his spiritually malformed spawn are lawyers, and routinely threaten to sue anyone who interferes with their hatemongering.

In 2007, the family of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder were awarder $2.9 million in compensatory damages and a further $8 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress after Phelps and his fellow hatemongers had protested at Snyder's funeral by displaying signs including one that said "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". [6] Phelps predicted that a higher court would overturn the decision "in five minutes" on freedom of speech grounds, and was proved right: the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the decision in September 2009, ordering Snyder's family to pay costs of $16,510. [7][8] The family appealed to the Supreme Court in March 2010 [9] and are currently seeking donations [8] in order to keep the case going.

Domestic abuse

Many sources agree that Phelps regularly beat his children, especially his estranged sons, Nate and Mark Phelps.[citation needed] Two of his children were briefly taken into protective custody after marks of abuse were found, but Phelps intimidated the Topeka authorities into dropping the case; the records of this would have been destroyed had he not sued the Topeka Public Schools over the matter. One Christmas Day, Phelps beat his son Nate into shock with more than 200 strokes from a mattock handle after receiving a report that he had nicked some bulbs for Christmas lights.[4]

Phelps also encouraged husbands in his congregation to punch their wives; indeed, it was reported that one fellow took this to heart and later had to call Phelps for bail.[4] Three of the children say Mrs. Phelps was thrown down a flight of stairs.[4][10]

Shirley Phelps-Roper

Phelps-Roper (one of Phelps's children) is the church's most active spokesperson and featured heavily in the BBC documentary "The Most Hated Family in America" presented by Louis Theroux. She and her father were banned from the United Kingdom when they planned to protest in Basingstoke. Other members of Westboro could be flagged and stopped if they attempted to enter the United Kingdom.

Stephen Drain

Unlike most members of the church, Stephen ("Steve") Drain is not related to the Phelps clan by blood or marriage and was not born into it. In the late 1990s, he made a documentary film, known variously as Hatemongers or Fred: The Movie, which involved extensive interactions with the Westboro church. Following the completion of the film, he and his family joined the church.

Drain looks like he may be Phelps's successor, judging by the video "Lying False Prophets Are To Blame" in which he is captioned as "Watchman", is wearing a suit and tie, and gives a very Fred-like rant.

Reactions

The extreme hate of Phelps's church has led to a multitude of vigilante responses, some of which have been violent, most of which are non-violent. The Patriot Guard Riders are a group that physically blocks the presence of the Westboro Baptist Church, and students at a school counter-protested the Church. The Phelps family also seemed to take offense to a reporter's very friendly questions during an interview.[11]

Holy crap!!! WBC makes videos!!!

  • Fred hates Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert!!! (For someone who seems to hate sex, he sure is obsessed with coming.) Note that this is probably the only time someone has claimed that the Daily Show is predicted in Biblical prophecy.





  • Fred hates Bill O'Reilly!!! (Fred also sounds like he knocked back a few more than usual before going on camera.)







  • Fred hates da media!!!


See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.libertypresskansas.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=30
  2. ↑ "Running from hell: Growing up in America’s most hated family"(With what might be an actual reply from one of the Phelps kids!)
  3. ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217975,00.html
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Addicted to Hate. (http://www.addictedtohate.com/)
  5. ↑ A Bible passage cited in opposition to making these sorts of judgments is Luke 13:1-5, in which Jesus disavows the idea that some people who had suffered badly were "worse sinners" than others.
  6. ↑ $11 Million Awarded in Funeral Protest Suit, The Washington Post, November 1, 2007
  7. ↑ 4th Circuit nixes $5 million verdict against funeral protesters, First Amendment Center, September 9, 2009
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Father Of Dead Marine Ordered To Pay Legal Fees Of Westobro Baptist Church Protesters, The Huffington Post, March 29 2010
  9. ↑ Westboro Church Protests Head To Supreme Court, The Huffington Post, March 8 2010
  10. ↑ http://hopeandpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/07/abuse-as-theology-fred-phelps-son.html
  11. ↑ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cN2pB3MCE
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