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Fred Phelps died in March, but the group he founded, the Westboro Baptist Church, is still picketing funerals. The US group often shows up at memorial services for soldiers or gay victims of hate. Chattanooga Valley Baptist Church is a community of faith rooted in the love of God. We believe worship is not just found in prayer or music, it’s something expressed in everything we do. Our beliefs are grounded in the Holy Scriptures. Come and join us and experience God’s life-giving grace for yourself. These letters may be sent to congregants and/or used for church website updates. All businesses and communities are struggling to cope with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Churches are also in a position of challenge like never before or at least in our lifetime. Westboro Baptist Church member Fred Phelps Jr. Marches in front of the Rowan County Courthouse Monday, October 19, 2015 in Morehead, Ky. Four members of the church were in Morehead to protest. A former member of Westboro Baptist Church, Megan Phelps-Roper, spoke about her experiences leaving her family’s church and finding empathy. Her talk at the Community Arts Center Thursday.
Westboro Baptist Church protests soldier's funeral...
Westboro Baptist Church protests soldier's funeral
Westboro members picketing in 2006. Picture: Jed Kirschbaum/AP/Baltimore SunSource:AP
She was once the proud mouthpiece of one of America’s most detested churches — the “God Hates Fags” sign-waving Westboro Baptist Church. But Megan Phelps-Roper doesn’t shy away from her past.
During a talk at Sydney’s recent Festival of Dangerous Ideas she arrived on stage as a clip of her younger self played on a huge screen behind her, denouncing sinners and announcing: “Obey God or you’re going to hell, the end”.
The words on the video echoed around the room. They were delivered with conviction, without hesitation or doubt and mirrored the church’s message of unrelenting opposition to Jews, “fag marriage” and the wicked. Yet, years later she would walk away from the church her own grandfather founded.
The Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas church known for its vehement anti-gay positions and for protesting at US soldiers' funeral, is infamous across the US. Picture: Nicholas Kamm/AFPSource:AFP
Six years after she left Westboro, Ms Phelps-Roper is now married and has a newborn daughter. She can now say openly what would have been once unthinkable: she doesn’t believe in God. She acknowledges it took her a while to stop being terrified of going to hell.
But Ms Phelps-Roper doesn’t resent those who raised her.
Even though she opposes her former church and all it stands for, her love for her family still shines through. Her mother’s name is her daughter’s middle name and she still reaches out to them, sending letters and birthday presents.
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Ms Phelps-Roper still says her mother is one of the kindest people she knows. However, she does hope to give her daughter something that her mother never did: the intellectual freedom to question things and not to have to agree on everything in order to gain love and affection.
“While the trauma and regret of that part of my life will always be with me, they are accompanied by a deep and abiding sense of hope,” she said.
Ex Westboro church member Megan Phelps Roper made an interesting entrance to her #FODI talk today, confronting footage of her previous hatred. 'My life was forever changed by people who took the time ... to learn my story and to share theirs'. And it happened on Twitter! pic.twitter.com/XhjTMCBsJw
— Charis Chang (@CharisChang2) November 4, 2018“My life was forever changed by people who took the time and had the patience to learn my story and to share theirs with me. They forsook judgment and came to me with kindness and empathy and the impact of that decision was huge.”
Her new message is now to “love your enemy”. It may seem an outdated concept in the age of social media where everyone relishes taking sides and there’s a seemingly relentless search for the next controversy to trigger outrage but ironically it was through Twitter that her conversion took place.
Ms Phelps-Roper was 23 years old when she took over Westboro’s Twitter account and it was through this platform that she first started communicating with David Abitbol, founder of the blog Jewlicious. Her intention was to antagonise him and she even picketed him once.
But he kept reaching out to her, answering her questions and treated her with kindness even though she was trolling him and goading him. He finally got through to her and it was through his encouragement that she started to question some of the beliefs that she had been brought up with.
“When people are in the thrall of poisonous ideology, it’s really not all about deliberate ill will, or inherent hatred, or a lack of intelligence,” Ms Phelps-Roper said. “It’s about the unbelievable destructiveness and staying power of bad ideas and about finding ways to equip people with the tools they need to fight them.
“The more of us who are willing and able to reach out, to disagree without demonising, the more likely we are to change hearts and minds, to heal divisions and to create a better society for all of us in the process.”
Ms Phelps-Roper acknowledges that not every bigoted person could be converted to the side of acceptance and equality but believes there is hope even for those who were raised from birth to fear and condemn others.
Westboro Baptist Church members picketing outside the White House in 2010.Source:AP
Members of Megan’s family picketing in 2006. Picture: Jed Kirschbaum/AP/Baltimore SunSource:AP
“Loving someone whose ideas we find detestable can seem impossible and empathising with them isn’t much easier, but it’s so important to remember that listening is not agreeing,” Ms Phelps-Roper said.
Her approach is to assume good intent, to stay calm and patient even during contentious discussions, to ask questions and understand the perspectives of others.
It’s a world away from the days she spent yelling at people on picket lines, holding up hateful signs and condemning people as sinners and unredeemable.
Her persistence in questioning and using logic to communicate with her former church has even led to it publicly back away from one of its most infamous placard slogans. The sign “fags can’t repent” no longer appears at its protests.
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Now aged 32, Ms Phelps-Roper believes people shouldn’t be made to feel bad about admitting they were wrong about something.
“We are human beings, we are not born with all the things that we need to know to live the best life that we can live.
“We are constantly taking in new experiences that shape who we are, and that it’s not a bad thing to change your mind, it’s an admirable thing.
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“If you are the same person today that you were a year ago, I think that’s something you should be ashamed of, not changing our minds.”
Megan Phelps-Roper at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Source: FODI.Source:Supplied
Members of Westboro Baptist Church, known for protesting at funerals of fallen U.S. service men and women, might be facing a hacked website soon. [See updates below]
The group of controversial protesters from Kansas, which responded to last month's shooting rampage in Tucson with 'thank God for the shooter — 6 dead,' has been threatened by the notorious collective of unnamed Internet-hacking activists calling itself 'Anonymous,' which vows to inflict 'irreversible' damage to the hate group's website.
You might remember Anonymous, the 'hactivist' group that successfully disabled sites backed by the regime of former Egypt president Hosni Mubarak before he was swept from power by protesters, in addition to disrupting a number of websites in support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The group has proven it's capable of following through on its threats.
In a sharply worded open letter, Anonymous called the small group of Westboro Baptist Church members 'an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists and religious zealots,' citing the way the group has condemned men and women who have died in the armed forces, as well as 'prayed for and celebrated the deaths of young children.'
The Anonymous hackers continued with a warning: 'Cease and desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public websites.' The group states that 'the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover.'
Update 1: Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, offered this defiant tweet in response to the 'Anonymous' threat:
Westboro Baptist Church Web Site
Update 2: Now the 'Anonymous' website is accusing the Westboro Baptist Church of posting that open letter threatening the church as a publicity stunt. In a post dated 2/18, (alleged) members of Anonymous posted, 'We know that YOU in fact posted the Open Letter supposedly from Anonymous.' And in another post from today (2/20/11), the Anonymous group said 'we're a bit groggy and don't remember sending it.' Because the Anonymous site 'uses an open-posting concept,' it's hard to tell who's posting what. The Anonymous group is, well, anonymous, but we're still trying to find out what the real story is here.
What do you think, readers? Does the First Amendment allow the Westboro Baptist Church the right to express its views, however repugnant? Please vote in this poll, and then let's discuss this in the comments.
Do members of the Westborough Baptist Church have a right to protest soldier's funerals?