Internet Infidels: Web.Scan: 1998: January

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Jesus Would Puke

The god of the ancient Hebrews was an angry, vengeful deity. His rules and laws were rigid and unyielding -- and the punishments for transgressing them were severe. The commandments were to be followed, and those who did not toe the line were to be put to death. This culture of vengeance was spelt out clearly in the Old Testament; the sequel, however, is a very different book. I'm not sure what happened around 4 BCE, but the big guy certainly seemed to mellow out. Perhaps it was some kind of divine Prozac; perhaps it was the joy of fatherhood. But suddenly with Jesus around, everything was love for one's fellow man and turning the other cheek.

For many people, this seems to be something of a contradiction. Not for the Reverend Fred Phelps, though. He's decided that what Christianity needs is a hefty dose of hatred and vengeance -- and that he is just the man to preach it. Phelps specializes in telling you what you're allowed to do in bed, and obsesses endlessly about homosexuality. He's a preacher of the old school, and is quite sure that everyone who refuses to repent deserves to die --preferably in a long, drawn-out and painful manner.

So far, nothing too unusual. What separates Phelps from his fundamentalist Christian contemporaries is the sheer venomousness of his message. His favorite way to preach is to turn up uninvited at the funerals of people who have died of AIDS. He brings his family and a few of his friends -- well, let's face it, probably all of his friends -- and they picket the funeral holding billboards explaining the subtler points of Rev. Phelps' philosophy. Such as:

Since Phelps apparently holds that homosexuals cannot repent and be saved, it's a pointless and mindlessly abusive exercise.

Unfortunately Reverend Phelps has a web site, which bills itself as the home page for the The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) in Topeka, Kansas. There's no chance of missing Fred's main message, though; the name of the site is www.godhatesfags.com.

The history of the site, originally started by one of Phelps' sons, is described in a HotWired article. At one point the site was cut off from the Internet -- but then the much-hated spam merchant Wallace Sanford stepped in, offering to host the Phelps web site via CyberPromo's Internet connection. These days the spam king is having major connectivity problems of his own (oh, cry me a river), and the WBC home page appears to be connected via Brooks Fiber Properties. Anything for a buck, eh boys?

A page of pictures shows the WBC hard at work picketing; if you've got a strong stomach, take a look at them as they "picket a fag's grave", as they put it. Fred's grandson Sam has even managed to get extra credit for this community service -- the story is told in Michael Moore's bestselling book "Downsize This!".

It's not all funerals, of course. The WBC also picket public officials, universities, and private businesses which have the temerity to hire lesbians or gay men, or to otherwise stand up against the hate spewed daily by Phelps. One California church which had the temerity to disagree with Phelps' message of hate found itself picketed; that battle went all the way to the Supreme Court. (The WBC lost.)

The Phelps cult used to picket the private homes of their opponents, until Topeka passed a city ordnance to stop them; even now, many people remain silent out of fear. Part of the problem is that Phelps is a prolific writer of obscene and libellous faxes: disagree with him, and you might find yourself on the receiving end. The story goes that one local police officer was accused by Phelps of being a child molester who had sodomized small boys in his patrol car; the accusation was faxed all over town with the officer's name on it.

A collection of Phelps faxes and fliers can be found on the WBC web site -- all in GIF format, making for fairly hefty download times. I've never seen anything quite as venemous and libellous as these bulletins: witness the 'tribute' to Princess Diana "The Royal Whore", and the description of Bill Clinton as a "pedophile pimp".

If you don't get libelled or picketed, the other possibility is that you'll find yourself sued. Phelps is a (now disbarred) lawyer. His eldest son Fred Junior is a lawyer. Fred Junior's wife is also a lawyer. Fred's eldest daughter is a lawyer, his second daughter is a lawyer, and his third daughter and her husband are lawyers. His fourth son and fourth daughter are lawyers. His fifth son, and that son's wife, are lawyers. And guess what? Fred's last two daughters are lawyers as well. All of them are members of the Westboro Baptist Church. Several of them have reportedly spent time suspended from the bar.

The resemblance to a nest of roaches doesn't end there. Phelps and most of the rest of his extended family of lawyers live together in a high-walled compound in Topeka -- see A Visit To The Phelps Compound. In fact, the so-called Church doesn't accept outsiders -- with a very few exceptions, it's purely a family affair. Tax exempt, of course.

The full background on Phelps was made into a book, Addicted To Hate. In an unfortunate twist, the author was sued by The Topeka Capital-Journal, to prevent him from selling the book. The newspaper claimed that the book's content was derivative of a series of investigative articles the author wrote for the newspaper -- articles for which the newspaper still owned the copyright. Still, even as a court document, the draft text of the book makes compelling (and disturbing) reading. Given how twisted and filled with hate 'Reverend' Fred Phelps is, I suppose it's not surprising to read tales of drug abuse, fraud, and regular and vicious beatings.

In case the file gets pulled, the Fred Phelps Exposé should also available from many other web sites -- use a search engine to find it if necessary. Further summaries are available in True Witness Magazine, and from The Fred Phelps Resource Page. Still more Phelps background material is available in a brief summary from an anonymous author. (Of course, it's right to ask how much credence to give to an anonymous source; but the WBC's harassment doesn't exactly encourage authors to put their names to pieces criticizing the 'church'.)

Seeing the Phelps clan abusing the bereaved relatives of AIDS victims, it's clear that those who remain with Fred have grown into sick, twisted individuals. The picketing, ironically, gives them a sense of community and belonging that Fred's 'family values' presumably do not. But regardless of how vile the Phelps clan may be themselves, it's still disturbing to read the details of their alleged abuse. To date only a few of Fred's offspring have had the strength to leave their father's malign influence permanently -- or as Fred puts it, to be "delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh". For the rest, the nightmare continued: Fred apparently decided how much they should tithe to his 'church', and who they were allowed to marry. Children and grandchildren were prohibited from celebrating Christmas, or even taking part in Christmas-related activities at school.

Eventually, of course, the Phelps children grew older, two of them left home, and the authorities started to take an interest -- so Fred had to re-focus his hate outside of the family. He could have had a good career as a nuisance litigant, but sadly he was disbarred. At that point he began to refocus his hatred towards homosexuals. He ran for the US Senate in 1992, warning voters about the homosexual conspiracy to take over America, and accusing his opponent for the Democrat nomination of being a lesbian. He lost.

So now Fred spends his time travelling the country, trying to get media attention. Some of his recent activities are catalogued at The Queer Resource Directory. The Conspiracies Site at The Mining Company offers more Phelps tidbits; including the fact that Fred is convinced Topeka is the most evil place in the USA, because its zip code (66601) contains the number of the beast.

Many parents use religion to control their offspring; Fred should be made the textbook example of how religion can be poison to a young child. His family deserve pity as well as contempt.

Phelps is now obviously intent on celebrity -- and to a certain extent I'm playing into his hands by giving him more publicity. Should we just ignore him? It's an appealing idea -- but homophobia has serious consequences. A report on conditions faced by gay youth in Kansas reveals that gay teens there have a suicide rate 2-3 times higher than any other group. The WBC are undoubtedly a contributing factor.

I'll end with a link to just one of the many dissenting Christian voices: The Truth About the Bible and Homosexuality is probably the sort of thing that keeps Fred Phelps awake at night. I certainly hope something does.

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