WBC membership
November 25, 2010 1:50 PM Subscribe
Westboro Baptist Church - too much on Google to find what I am after.
I'd like to find the full current membership of the church, and also details about members of Phelps' family who have turned away from the church and/or been ostracized from it.
I'd like to find the full current membership of the church, and also details about members of Phelps' family who have turned away from the church and/or been ostracized from it.
If you haven't watched the Louis Theroux documentary about them, it's definitely worth your time.
The part that's stuck with me is when he's interviewing one of the young women with whom he connected. She seems really smart and funny, and above all, nice. He asks if she's ever questioned her faith, specifically with relation to the WBC, and from her reaction you can tell she did, but eventually returned to it and fully accepted her situation (though in the conversation she doesn't admit it and skirts around the question). Now I see her in all the photos of the protests.
posted by lhall at 2:33 PM on November 25, 2010
The part that's stuck with me is when he's interviewing one of the young women with whom he connected. She seems really smart and funny, and above all, nice. He asks if she's ever questioned her faith, specifically with relation to the WBC, and from her reaction you can tell she did, but eventually returned to it and fully accepted her situation (though in the conversation she doesn't admit it and skirts around the question). Now I see her in all the photos of the protests.
posted by lhall at 2:33 PM on November 25, 2010
Best answer: The unpublished book Addicted to Hate was posted to USENET in 1994. I read it a long time ago, but I believe it has details on what happened to the Phelps family members that left the church. (It's not on Wikipedia because, amazingly, its existence was suppressed by a local newspaper.)
posted by shii at 9:03 PM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by shii at 9:03 PM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: I watched the Theroux documentary - it is what prompted the question. Would love to hear some details from those estranged members - interviews, websites?
posted by Meatbomb at 12:44 AM on November 26, 2010
posted by Meatbomb at 12:44 AM on November 26, 2010
Best answer: Nate Phelps is one of the estranged children, now an atheist. He has written very movingly about his experience.
posted by Decani at 5:49 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Decani at 5:49 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Holy shit, I just got done with shii's link, Addicted to Hate. I strongly reccommend that to anyone interested in this topic. I mean, I knew Phelps was an asshole, but the details of his family's story just boggle the mind.
Cult indeed. That poor family.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:22 AM on November 26, 2010
Cult indeed. That poor family.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:22 AM on November 26, 2010
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It is headed by Fred Phelps and consists mostly of members of his large family;[4] in 2007, it had 71 members.[5]
And an interesting GUARDIAN ARTICLE ...
And yet, away from the pickets, they were - much of the time - very, very normal. Not just normal, but intelligent and urbane. They're not hillbillies, they're urban professionals - several work as lawyers in Topeka. The young members look like kids you'd run into at the mall. Weird Christian women are supposed to have sallow skin and dress in headdresses, but the Phelps girls were all-American, with long hair and good teeth. They listened to indie bands like the Killers and the Kooks and could banter humorously on non-biblical subjects. If anything, the hostility they've created seems to have forced them closer together, and, among themselves at least, they're a warm, loving family (which explains why the younger members don't all flee the minute they can afford a bus ticket).
posted by philip-random at 2:18 PM on November 25, 2010