8 things I learned today about the Westboro Baptist Church

Here is an interesting article from 2006 about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. The WBC is infamous for its nauseating protests at funerals and their delightful "God Hates Fags" signs. Their most recent protest was at funerals of miners killed in West Virginia. The WBC contends that God smote the mine because West Virginia is tolerant of homosexuals. Here's what I took away from the article:


1. The church is made up of about 75 people, and about 80 percent of the congregation is directly related to Fred Phelps. (that means 60) (I always thought it was a big church)

2. Phelps has 15 children, 10 of whom are lawyers.

3. Phelps himself is an attorney. He has been disbarred.

4. Phelps says that the fact that he is almost universally despised pleases him, as he believes it is proof that he is saved from damnation.

5. He does not try to save others, he thinks God has already made up His mind about who is to be saved and who is to be damned. According to Phelps, most of us are literally God-damned.

6. He makes money for his church, which funds the protests, by winning 1st amendment lawsuits. Surprisingly, the church doesn't collect any donations.

7. He was an early supporter of civil rights, but later protested Coretta Scott King's funeral. He left the movement when "the fags" took over.

8. He looks forward to states passing laws that would restrict protests at funerals so that he can challenge them on constitutional grounds, all the way to the Supreme Court.