“We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.”
–Charles Caleb Colton
The acid tongue of Westboro Baptist Church pastor and founder, Fred Waldron Phelps has been silenced.
This man of contradictions died March 19, 2014 of natural causes at the age of 84. His hateful condemnation of gays, government and any other subject he wished provided the reaction he desired; Free publicity to espouse his eternal damnation on others.
His path from college to deathbed shows many inconsistencies in the earlier parts of his life. He was a native of Meridian, Mississippi, where he lost his mother at an early age. His father remarried and the young Fred Phelps renounced his parents and would not communicate with them.
Fred was a Boy Scout and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. After high school he was accepted at West Point Academy but did not attend in order to become a minister.
He attended Bob Jones University for two years but either dropped out or was asked to leave. He went on to Prairie Bible Institute. Fred then attended John Muir College where he protested against “sins committed on campus by students and teachers.” TIME magazine mentioned the preaching’s of the young Phelps who accused the staff and students of “promiscuous petting, evil language, profanity, cheating, teacher’s filthy jokes in classrooms and pandering to the lust of the flesh.”
The Eastside Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas appointed him associate pastor and then pastor of their new Westboro Baptist Church in 1955. He went on to sever all relationships with the Eastside Church.
Turning his attention to the law, he received his degree from Washburn University in 1964. He opened his own law firm, employing members of his own family, several following him as lawyers.
His notoriety in those early days was not for spewing hate, but for defending African Americans who would otherwise not receive adequate representation. He received several civil rights awards for this.
Phelps volatile personality soon hurt his career in a lawsuit against a court reporter. The reporter allegedly did not supply him with an unimportant transcript before a case. He sued her for $22,000. In his prosecution he made her personal life an issue, accusing her of immoral behavior. When it was shown that his statements were false and way over the top, the Kansas Supreme Court stepped in and issued the following judgment:
“The trial became a personal vendetta by Phelps against Caroline Brady (the Court Reporter). His examination was replete with repetition, badgering, innuendos, belligerence, irrelevant and immaterial matter, evidencing only a desire to hurt and destroy the defendant.”
In 1979, Phelps was permanently disbarred from practicing law in Kansas, though he could practice in federal courts. In 1985, nine federal judges filed complaints for disciplinary reason against Phelps and two of his children. Phelps agreed not to practice law in Federal courts. His two children received lesser penalties.
Politics was another attraction for Phelps. He ran for Governor of Kansas in 1990, receiving 6.72% of the Democratic primary vote, United States Senate in 1992, receiving 30.80% of the primary vote, Governor in 1994, receiving 3.36% of the primary vote and Governor again in 1998, receiving 14.72% of the primary vote.
He is best remembered for his antigay rhetoric and protests. In a pamphlet the Westboro Baptist Church distributed he described his hatred against homosexuals: “America is doomed for its acceptance of homosexuality. If God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for going after fornication and homosexuality, then why wouldn’t God destroy America for the same thing?”
His crusade started at a park in Topeka he claimed was a homosexual meeting place for casual sex. He went on to larger profile protests such as at the funeral of gay college student Matthew Shepard, murdered in Wyoming in 1998.The picketing of soldier’s funerals came later as lives were lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. He commented in 2006, “Military funerals are pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool.”
The Fallen Heroes Act of 2006 was a federal law passed to keep protestors at a distance of 300 feet for an hour before and an hour after a soldier’s funeral. The Patriot Guard was organized by motorcyclists who ran interference in protecting the dignity of a soldier’s final ceremony.
Twenty or so of his own family have either voluntarily left or have been expelled from the Westboro Baptist Church (consisting mostly of direct and extended family members). It was his estranged son Nathan who told the world of his father’s imminent death. Nate is a gay rights, religion and child abuse activist.
Two of his granddaughters, Megan and Grace Phelps-Roper, left the family when they could not take the hate any longer. “We know what we have done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren’t so, and regret the hurt.” the said in a released statement.
Though the protests have continued since Phelps’s death, I feel they will dwindle away. The roaring Lion in the pulpit is gone, replaced by heir apparents who are lawyers, not bellicose preachers. The infighting for succession to the throne is inevitable.
At their first protest following Phelps’s death, counter sign carriers met the members of Westboro Baptist Church head on. Instead of the hate filled language of the Church members, the counter protestors had positive messages for the Westboro crew such as “Sorry for your loss.” One Westboro Church member told station KSHB, after looking at these counter signs, shrugged and replied “I don’t even know what they are saying.”
No you don’t and you never will.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.