Hi moralman, I am a bisexual feminist too. Just so you know.

I'm going to chuck my two cents in here on this...
I see this 'church' in the same way I view the KKK, Neo-Nazis', Aryan Nation, etc., a hate group that uses the bible to justify their bigotry, nothing more. He would be the exact same way if he didn't have a 'church' to preach to. Sorry, hatred is hatred, no matter what you base it on, be it religion or anything else, it doesn't justify it.

Adding to that; the worst thing anyone could do is give them the attention they are getting. In my most humble opinion, that it as that and nothing more, if people quit talking about them, covering what they do concerning them, interviewing them, etc. a lot of this stupidity would stop. Ole' Rev. Horses-Hiney there is just looking for attention and doesn't care if it is good or bad, just so it is attention. He's like a little kid, craving attention, the more he cheeses us off the better he likes it. If everyone would quit covering what he is doing he would switch tactics onto something else. Think about it... before the funerals it was gays, before that it was something else. He is just picking hot-buttoned topics that infuriate people. The more people go off about what he does the better he likes it. If we ignore the garbage he would move on to something else!

i think it is worth pointing out that the phelps clan is well-known for lawsuits against it's critics, it is entirely possible that this post is on here for the purpose of stirring up "scandal"...for whatever my opinion might be worth, i would recommend deleting this thread.

Nothing will be deleted.

Landmark Education, with far greater resources than Fred Phelpgs attempted to censor this message board.

The failed utterly and a Federal court rebuffed them.

This message is a safe place for people to post within the guidelines/rules agreed upon.

The First Amendment protects free speech and Fred Phelps of all people should have no problem with that.

If they wanted to shut something down I imagine they would go after some of the blogs that cover his hatefulness first. There are several out there that follow all he does and blog about it on an almost daily basis and nothing good is said about him on there. Those would probably be the first target since some are done by some fairly high profile people or newspapers that would get him the attention he craves.

If you're really interested in seeing things fron Fred's point of view he's a great (and long) article. [smithbrad.nventure.com]
It was meant to be part of a book but the Phelps clan sued to get it stopped. The irony of it is, this portion of the book was then in the public record for everyone to read. (If I understand it right)
It's called "Addicted to Hate" and it covers Fred's whole life. I found it really intersting, and sad. Fred is one derranged individual and he's taken his whole family with him.

Tam

I remember the movie "American Beauty" about a straight guy whose next dour neighbor was a homophobe. The homophobe was certain that the straight neighbor was gay. At the end of the movie the homophobe tried to put the move on his neighbor and was rebuffed. The homophobe now turned gay was so distraught at the rejection that he murdered the straight neighbor.

All this brings me to wonder if Phelps is gay and suffering from self hatred?????

It strikes me as odd that so much of the hatred in the world comes from "religious" people???


Colter

I often wonder about the homophobia myself. Whenever I hear him go about it the line "me thinks thou doth protest too much" pops into my head.

Phelps' bunch in 2006 extended their protests beyond the funerals of sodomites and soldiers. In January 2006 they arrived in Sago, West Virginia (my home state) to picket the funerals of the 12 coal miners killed in a tragic accident; state police were sent to protect WBC from angry locals who had considered using the Phelps family for target practice. In September of 2006, they threatened to protest the funerals of five Amish schoolgirls in Pennsylvania after they were senselessly murdered by a psycho who later killed himself; in April 2007 WBC announced they would picket the funerals of the 32 students and faculty members of Virginia Tech who were butchered by a nut job who later blew his own brains out. Both time talk show host Mike Gallagher intervened by offering these clowns air time so they would let the families grieve in peace.

I believe in free speech, but there needs to be some tact and sensetivity toward the families of deceased loved ones! It is a shame that the only way to curb their thirst for protesting is to give them air time on TV.

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IndieQueen
My personal opinion on Fred Phelps can not be expressed in mixed company. So, I'll give you the watered down version. Mr. Phelps and his family, I won't say followers because nobody outside of his family follows him, are some of the most vile people to walk this planet. Protesting outside of gay funerals is bad enough, but protesting outside of the funerals of servicemen and women who died serving our country is the act of a soul-less person. Who exactly is Mr. Phelps to claim who God hates? I doubt very seriously that any God would choose to speak directly to Mr. Phelps regarding such things.

Actually, I think Mr. Phelps is more than likely repressing some tendencies of his own. If there is a heaven, he'll be in for quite a surprise when he gets turned away at the gates.

I agree with most of what you say about WBC, except for one thing. There are people in the church that are not family members. Most of them are family members. However, Steve D. is a member totally outside of their church (as well as his family). He was a documentary filmmaker that was taken in by them. There are more, too.

People need to be well-aware of these maniacs. It's also interesting that their patriarch never appears in public with them (concerning protests).

If you want a good inside look into these nut jobs, I suggest the documentary "The Most Hated Family In America" by Louis Theroux. Good stuff, and no, I have no affiliation with the documentary.