Fred Phelps

[Shakesthecoffecan]

And look at the smiles on their faces!  They are so off the wall I don't see them attracting many followers. Some straight people may not like homosexuality, but don't mess with their soldiers.

I am waiting for the day I see these pictures in a book when one of those kids comes out of the closet and tells their story. Talk about fixiated on something. If all the fags in the wolrd dissapeared, would they find someone else to hate? Like the left handed?

[Lynne]

Thank you for posting those pictures, David.  They get the point across they way mere words cannot.

Indoctrinating, brainwashing, their children with hate - those parents should be declared unfit and the children adopted by loving gay couples...But we live in a society with free speech, so that won't work, will it?

Isn't it curious that anybody can produce a child...You should have seen the hoops I had to jump through to adopt my two cats!  Irony there.

Like a lot of us, I'm not particularly religious, but spiritual.  I was raised in a fundamentalist church.  If I said 'God hates <insert any verb> fags <insert any group>, I'd be afraid I'd be struck dead and dumb right there.  Doesn't that seem to be the ultimate arrogance, to presume you have a categorical understanding of what God thinks.

Maybe this is another form of mental illness, self-delusion, delusions of grandeur - they just haven't been diagnosed yet.

The adults are probably a lost cause.  But maybe the children can be saved.  Maybe they'll grow up, get out on their own, meet people who weren't raised like them, and have a real revelation.

[Lynne]

Some straight people may not like homosexuality, but don't mess with their soldiers.

Here's another question...what's the difference in a religion and a cult?  I'll go check it out.  Maybe children can be taken away if their parents are in a cult?

[moremojo]

Here's another question...what's the difference in a religion and a cult?  I'll go check it out.  Maybe children can be taken away if their parents are in a cult?

There's that joke that begins with the question: What's the difference between a cult and a religion? Answer: Two thousand years.

Truth is, what has evolved into orthodox Christianity was, in its earliest days, seen by officialdom as one crackpot fringe religion among many others, and very much the social problem that we deem modern 'cults' to be. It is merely the weight of centuries and tradition that has changed how this particular 'cult' (and all other religions) has come to be viewed.

I think that we tend to call a faith that gains our respect, if not necessarily our belief, a 'religion', while those faith-based systems that engender the opposite feeling are cited as 'cults'. Otherwise, I think the terminology tends to be arbitrary.

[LauraGigs]

The Daily Texan Online article Moremojo refers to had really interesting reader comments at the bottom. (At least as of the other day when I read it)

All were by people who self-identified as Christian and/or military and/or conservative, and they all said Phelps is a scary, intolerant nutjob.

[injest]

remember also that Phelp's group are all family members...buncha inbred imbeciles...

won't surprise me when we hear he is 'raising his own'...

and yeah, I said when....my radar goes off every time I see him....and my radar has NEVER been wrong...

[David In Indy]

And look at the smiles on their faces!  They are so off the wall I don't see them attracting many followers. Some straight people may not like homosexuality, but don't mess with their soldiers.

I am waiting for the day I see these pictures in a book when one of those kids comes out of the closet and tells their story. Talk about fixiated on something. If all the fags in the wolrd dissapeared, would they find someone else to hate? Like the left handed?

Often times during their protests, they will hold the American flag upside down or drag it on the ground and spit on it. They openly claim to hate America and they protest the funerals of fallen American soldiers. Then they claim their Constitutional rights have been trampled on when they are told they cannot protest within 200 yards of a military funeral.

http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/jan2006/20060114_pandering-demagogic-legislatures.pdf

These people are crazier than shit house rats. 

I must admit I am disappointed though because they have been protesting gay funerals for 15 years or more. Hardly anyone paid any attention to them until they started protesting the military funerals. Yes, I think it is appalling and disgusting to protest at the funerals of these brave men and women. But isn't it equally horrible to do the same thing at a funeral of a gay person; or ANY person for that matter.

Last year, when they were protesting a funeral of a gay man near Indianapolis, it was briefly covered on the local news here; not because the media was particularly interested or upset, but because they were attempting to point out the group not only targeted the military, but gay people too (hell, they targeted US first). During the protest, some of the church members could be heard yelling to the family members (and I am paraphrasing) " Your son is burning in Hell! God is celebrating and so are we! And we think it's funny!" What a terrible thing to say to a grieving family! They actually REJOICE because they believe someone is in Hell, and they ENJOY tormenting the family members. They think it's fun.

Some states have passed laws requiring they remain a certain distance from a military funeral. But unless I'm mistaken, Indiana has not passed such a law for gay funerals; only the military ones. I find this very disappointing, but it doesn't surprise me. I suppose Indiana is afraid of a lawsuit from Fred Phelps claiming they took away his right to Free Speech. I don't know.

Currently they are targeting other countries too including The Netherlands (because of the country's liberal attitude towards homosexuality), Belgium, Spain, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark and Canada. I would love to find out where they get all this money to travel. Apparently none of them have jobs because they are always on the road protesting all these funerals. Maybe they have donated all their property and belongings to the church to raise the funds. And if so, this makes me think of that Jim Jones and The People's Church back in the late 1970's. That was DEFINATELY a cult! 

[Ellemeno]

One girl isn't wearing the shirt, thank you God.

[Kelda]

There was another Phelps related programme on tUK tv last night.

This time they were being followed and interviewed by Keith Allen (for those of you who know of Lily Allen the teenage singer - this is her Dad). It was called Keith Allen Will Burn In Hell

Keith Allen discovers an unnerving mixture of hatred, fanaticism and fun when he investigates one of the USA’s most extreme fundamentalist churches.

The members of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, which preaches that every word in the Bible is literally true, are some of America's most fanatical Christian fundamentalists. Bearing ‘God Hates Fags’ and ‘God Hates America’ placards, they cheerfully picket the funerals of US soldiers killed in Iraq, and delight in provoking outrage among both liberals and patriots.

Programme-makers in America and Britain have repeatedly tried to expose their beliefs as anti-Christian, but these attempts have failed. In Channel 4’s investigation, Keith Allen takes a smarter, more streetwise approach. During three extraordinary days at Westboro, Keith reveals more about the church than other television programmes have unearthed in three months.

In interviews that are hilarious, infuriating and compelling, he forensically exposes the curious mixture of hatred and jollity that underpins their faith. Using all his journalistic skills and instincts, he scavenges for information in local bars and discovers a secret about the church's chief spokesperson, Shirley Phelps-Roper. Shirley confesses her ‘sin’ on camera, making a memorable climax to a programme that exposes the hypocrisy of this bizarre, fundamentalist sect.

Shirley had one of her children out of wedlock - yet she thinks she is going to Heaven - how does that work when anyone else that did this is going to hell? I missed the first 20 minutes but it was again sickening but insanely interesting at the same time.


You can, I belive watch this online at http://www.channel4.com/4od/

[moremojo]

Shirley had one of her children out of wedlock - yet she thinks she is going to Heaven - how does that work when anyone else that did this is going to hell? I missed the first 20 minutes but it was again sickening but insanely interesting at the same time.

One should never underestimate the power of the human mind to rationalize nonsense.