The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a case against Rev. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Phelps, of “God Hates Fags” fame, tours the country protesting at funerals (American service members and victims of hate crimes) , media events (the Oscars and the opening of a Chick-Fil-A), and days ending in “y”. Frequently, his church and his family members – mostly one in the same – speak for him.
The case headed to the Supreme Court is a “First Amendment” case based on the Maryland verdict against the church that was later reversed by the Court of Appeals. A Maryland jury awarded the family of a soldier killed in Iraq $10 million after the “Poster Patrol” of Rev. Phelps picketed outside of the funeral.
For more than 20 years, the Westboro Baptist Church has been a visible presence proclaiming God’s wrath against America because of its “wholehearted” acceptance of homosexuality. Phelps started showing up to the funerals of those who died of AIDS, declaring God’s harshest verdict for homosexuality. Wherever violence against gay men and women resulted in death, you could be sure that Phelps or his church would show up. After September 11th, the Westboro Baptist Church turned some of their hatred towards America at large. They argue that God is punishing this country and its honorable service members because of our permissive culture. He’s sees Pat Robertson’s crazy and raises! But did you know this about the Westboro Baptist Church:
Fred Phelps rose out of the Civil Rights Movement? Before being disbarred in 1979, Fred Phelps was a prominent and successful Civil Rights attorney. He claims to have brought down Jim Crow in Kansas and that his outspoken defense of racial minorities earned him a lot of enemies in Topeka. In the 80s, Phelps was honored by the local NAACP. Before a voluntary disbarment from Federal courts in 1989, he even sued President Reagan claiming that sending a United States ambassador to the Vatican was a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.
At least 11 of Phelps’ adult children are lawyers still running his old firm? Since most of Westboro’s “followers” are Phelps family members living in a compound in Topeka, the majority of the church’s funds come from nuisance lawsuits filed by the Phelps’.
As much fun as it is to make fun of fundie, oppressive religion, it’s important to note that the Westboro Baptist Church is not affiliated with any Baptist convention or association and many Baptist leaders have aggressively disassociated themselves with Westboro. It’s not much of a church since both the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center have declared it a hate group.
England said “go home”? In 2009, the British government officially banned Fred Phelps and his daughter/spokeswoman Shirley Phelps Roper from Great Britain. The government position was endorsed by several conservative Christian groups in the country.
Say what? As recently as 1998, Phelps has run for Governor of Kansas… in the Democratic Party primary.
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