Westboro Baptist Church
Perhaps the most offensive church in America, whose members are famous for picketing funerals and promoting a god of hate
1955 - present
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Disclaimer: This page contains explicit and offensive language, which some readers may find disturbing
Disclaimer: This page contains explicit and offensive language, which some readers may find disturbing
The Westboro Baptist Church was founded in 1955 by Fred Phelps, a prominent civil rights lawyer. This church was nothing out of the ordinary until the 1990s when they discovered that a local park was a discreet meet-up for the local homosexual community and that there had been reports that the community was also sexually assaulting passersby in the same area. In response, the church held daily protests in the park, where they asserted their belief that homosexuality was an abomination. Since then, they constantly traveled around the country to picket and expanded their message to include a condemnation of Jews, America, soldiers, and several other groups of people.
The church became the center of national attention in 2006 when they picketed the funeral of U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder with signs displaying messages such as "God Hates You," "Fag Troops," and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." His father responded by launching a lawsuit against the church in which he was awarded over $10 million in damages. The Supreme Court, however, ruled in favor of the church. As a result, not only was the church cleared of any wrongdoing, but the Snyder family was also forced to pay thousands of dollars to cover the church's court costs.
Since then, many younger generation members have left the church and have written books about their experiences. In 2014, the founder himself was excommunicated and later died, coinciding with a power struggle within the church that caused many to wonder if it would survive. However, after adopting a new leadership structure, the church still seems to be going strong and continues the pickets for which they are most famous.
Westboro Baptist Church members picketing
Religion: Christianity
Denomination: Baptist
Founder: Fred Phelps
Founded: 1955
Size: 70 (2016)
Location: Topeka, Kansas, United States
Two of Fred Phelps's children, both of whom have left the church, claim that their father was abusive (source)
Members were told to prepare for an upcoming apocalypse (source)
Labeled as a "Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their Anti-LGBT rhetoric (source)
Famous for their frequent protests and hateful slogans, such as "God Hates Fags," "God Hates Jews," "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," and "Thank God for AIDS" (source)
In sharp contrast to their famous hateful beliefs, Phelps was originally a prominent civil rights activist (source)
Makes derogatory statements about Jews, such as claiming that they "sin in God's face every day, with unprecedented and disproportionate amounts of sodomy, fornication, adultery, abortion and idolatry!" and "the American Jews are the real Nazis (misusers and abusers of governmental power) who hate God and the rule of law” (source)
Categorically condemns American soldiers, with phrases such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," which are often used while picketing funerals (source)
The Church's official website has the domain name "GodHatesFags.com" (source)
Calls for the execution of homosexuals (source)
Owns the domain "PreistsRapeBoys.com" and makes hateful comments towards the Catholic Church, such as "Every time any person gives any amount of money to the Catholic Church, that person is paying the salary of pedophile rapists" and "every member of the Catholic clergy, without exception, is a minister of Satan" (source)
Fred Phelps has been threatened and has had his windows shot at because he fought for the rights of Blacks (source)
In 1995, a pipe bomb was set off on a member's property in response to the Churches anti-gay protests (source)
Five people were arrested in 2006 for assaulting Church members (source)
An arsonist burned down a church garage, causing $10,000 in damages (source)
A veteran was charged with felony conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and weapons charges after he was found sitting in his parked car near church members while in possession of multiple guns and ammunition (source)
The hacking group "Anonymous" took control of the church's website while talking to a church spokeswoman on a live talk show (source). The same group also launched a DDOS attack against the church in 2013 (source), created a Facebook "hoax page" pretending to be the Church (source), and orchestrated several other attacks against the church (source)
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Most members are related to pastor Fred Phelps (source)
When Fred Phelps died in 2014, his daughter announced that they would not hold a funeral for him because the church does not "worship the dead" (source)
They don't picket to gain converts. Instead, they believe that they are only supposed to warn others of their coming destruction (source)
Has recorded several parodies of popular songs to promote their message (source)
Church members are banned from entering Canada and the UK (source, source)
Shortly before his death, Fred Phelps was excommunicated after advocating for more kindness within the church (source)
Because of their famous pickets across the country, the church has spent over $200,000 annually on travel expenses, which were funded entirely by the congregation with no outside donations (source)
In her book Banished, former member Lauren Drain describes Shirley Phelps-Roper, rather than Fred Phelps, as the most influential member of the church. Drain writes that Shirley is actually a kind, motherly figure for the children in the church, in contrast to her public image as an angry and hateful former spokeswoman (source)
At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy. As Phelps-Roper grew up, she saw that church members were close companions and accomplished debaters, applying the logic of predestination and the language of the King James Bible to everyday life with aplomb―which, as the church’s Twitter spokeswoman, she learned to do with great skill. Soon, however, dialogue on Twitter caused her to begin doubting the church’s leaders and message: If humans were sinful and fallible, how could the church itself be so confident about its beliefs? As she digitally jousted with critics, she started to wonder if sometimes they had a point―and then she began exchanging messages with a man who would help change her life.
A gripping memoir of escaping extremism and falling in love, Unfollow relates Phelps-Roper’s moral awakening, her departure from the church, and how she exchanged the absolutes she grew up with for new forms of warmth and community. Rich with suspense and thoughtful reflection, Phelps-Roper’s life story exposes the dangers of black-and-white thinking and the need for true humility in a time of angry polarization.
Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. BANISHED is the first look inside the organization, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance.
Lauren spent her early years enjoying a normal life with her family in Florida. But when her formerly liberal and secular father set out to produce a documentary about the WBC, his detached interest gradually evolved into fascination, and he moved the entire family to Kansas to join the church and live on their compound. Over the next seven years, Lauren fully assimilated their extreme beliefs, and became a member of the church and an active and vocal picketer. But as she matured and began to challenge some of the church's tenets, she was unceremoniously cast out from the church and permanently cut off from her family and from everyone else she knew and loved. BANISHED is the story of Lauren's fight to find herself amidst dramatic changes in a world of extremists and a life in exile.
It wasn’t until Libby Phelps was an adult, a twenty-five year old, that she escaped the Westboro Baptist Church. She is the granddaughter of its founder, Fred Phelps, and when she left, the church and its values were all she’d known. She didn’t tell her family she was leaving. It happened in just a few minutes; she ran into her house, grabbed a bag, and fled. No goodbyes.
The church makes headlines in news across the country. You’ve driven past its picketers or seen them on TV. It has seventy members and ninety percent of them are part of Libby’s family. They picket concerts, football games, other churches, and, most notoriously, the funerals of servicemen and victims of hate crimes. For its members, to question its rules is to risk going to hell—where worms eat at your body and fire shoots out of your eyeballs.
In Girl on a Wire, Libby is candid about her experience and what’s happened since her escape. On Anderson Cooper Live, she was confronted by the mother of a soldier whose funeral had been picketed, and had to respond. Despite it all, she cares for her family. Her grandfather’s sermons were fear mongering, but she loves him. This unusual memoir presents a rare, inside look into a notorious cult, and is an astonishing story of strength, bravery, and determination.
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