I finally got around to reading “Growing up in America’s Most Hated Family,” referring to Nate Phelps — son of the notorious hate-monger preacher, Fred Phelps.
For those of you who are fortunate enough not to know, Fred Phelps is the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. He is known for rallying his church — which mostly consists of family members — to hold up protest signs at homosexual funerals and functions that say things like “God hates fags,” “Thank god for dead soldiers,” “You’re going to hell,” and other equally horrible and insane things.
His kids had it tough:
“The Bible says ‘spare the rod, spoil the child,’” explained Nate, “and he would be screaming that out as he was beating us.” One Christmas night, Pastor Phelps hit Nate over 200 times with a mattock’s handle, swinging it like a baseball player….
[Pastor Phelps would also] beat the kids with his fists and kick them and knee them in the stomach.
Fred Phelps would probably be an angry person without the Bible — but with the Bible as his guide, he can sanction the beating of his children by God himself. And instead of the Bible arguing against his cruelty, it appears to support it. And that’s disgusting.
Later in life Nate tried to go to church and believe. But when he started teaching his children about God, one day his son started crying because he didn’t want to go to hell. Old memories from his own childhood came back and he realized he was participating in religious/emotional child abuse.
He is now an atheist:
“I do declare myself an atheist now,” affirmed Nate, “although I’m willing to admit that there’s stuff in life that I’m not real clear on yet.”
Tyler!: Sooooo who exactly are they taking our country back from??? And i am in the process of moving so... 
NoYourGod: Yerp – nuthin’ saiz “patriotic” like “love it or leave... 
LawnBoy: Gee.. when exactly was this golden age of pureness in politics and the reign of common sense? 
Daniel Florien: So why aren’t you out in Montana with a bomb shelter, stocked food, and tons of ammunition? 
nazani14: Things that can’t go on forever don’t. Following the record heat, the power outages in the D.C.... 
Nelly: my apologies for using “duplicate” way too many times………..I really wish... 
Ty: Please. A moon hoaxer talking about good science? “I personally do not believe that we can prove that... 
15 Comments
“…any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system.”
(Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, Part I, 1974)
@EvanT: Great quote! Love Paine.
“although I’m willing to admit that there’s stuff in life that I’m not real clear on yet.”
I think that goes for most atheists. I’m pretty damn sure on most issues regarding ’siprituality’, but there’s some amazing shit out there that makes me go “whoa”.
hold up protest signs at homosexual funerals and functions
I think they prefer the term “gay.” But, as a straight person myself, I could be wrong.
hold up protest signs at homosexual funerals and functions
Not just gay functions: military funerals in general, the Pope’s visit to NY…. Basically, Fred’s an attention-whore, and any venue is good as far as he’s concerned.
Whether you’re an atheist or a theist, it’s unfair to say this “church” accurately represents the Christian faith in any way.
“Whether you’re an atheist or a theist, it’s unfair to say this “church” accurately represents the Christian faith in any way.”
I don’t know. This always seems to be a convenient excuse for religious people who want to excuse the actions of other religious people. The 9/11 attackers weren’t “true” Muslims. Fred Phelps isn’t a “true” Christian. It gives them a free pass from having to say “our religion has inspired some truly evil acts.”
The “no true Scotsman” fallacy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
But see, I’m saying Phelps is crazy. No intelligent interpretation of the scripture he uses to support his hate will lead to those conclusions. His message totally contradicts the message of Jesus Christ.
Living not an hour and a half away from Fred Phelps Home base in Topeka, we’ve known and laughed at him for years now. he is the favorite subject of more progressive pastors in our area. The whole family is borderline psycotic.
The Republican party needs to decide if, in thier push to represent the religious right, they don’t end up promoting these type of religious fanatics ( think back to the Sara Palin rallies ?) instead of progressive, empathetic. compassionate Christians.
To the shock of most Republicans- not all Christians are Republican.
These in-bred pigs tried to get into Canada to protest the funeral of the young man brutally murdered and beheaded on a Greyhound bus several months ago. These people are totally disgusting and should remove themselves from the gene pool. IF there is a hell, I am sure that there is a special place for Fred Phelps as Satans Bitch.
@murrowcronkite:
Phelps, I believe, is a registered Democrat, or, has at least supported Democrats in the past. I’ll try to get the link from where I saw that.
From motherjones.com:
” Phelps remained prominent in state and local politics, working for years as a major organizer for the state’s Democratic Party. (He still calls himself a Democrat, refusing to change just because his party has.) In 1988, Phelps housed campaign workers for Al Gore’s first presidential run; in 1989, his eldest son, Fred Jr., hosted a fundraiser for Gore’s Senate campaign at his home.
Phelps has frequently run for public office — for governor in 1990, ‘94, and ‘98, for the Senate in ‘92 — always losing the primaries by a landslide. Because of their years as loyal Democrats, the Phelpses have even been invited to — and attended — both of Clinton’s inaugurations. They protested at the second one. But Phelps’ campaign against homosexuality actually began in earnest just before the 1992 campaign, when politicians, especially Democrats, began to openly court gay voters.”
(
I dig Phelps.
Too many professed Christians are blithely ignorant about the hate and madness inherent in their holy text.
Phelps, on the other hand, ignores the few ‘peace and forgiveness’ passages and zooms right in on the lunacy.
He practices what most Christians are too hypocritical to preach: the Bible.
Wormwood,
Have you ever read the bible? If you have, you must have read it the same way as people like Phelps do, with blinders on. In the case of Phelps, his blinders are filled with hate, so there’s no way for him to see the love.
Daniel,
I had no idea Phelps was so physically abusive. Though it’s very disturbing, thanks for the post.
“I do declare myself an atheist now,” affirmed Nate, “although I’m willing to admit that there’s stuff in life that I’m not real clear on yet.”
And science may never have all the answers, but simply because man cannot find an explanation doesn’t mean we must immediately attribute the unknown to some god/God. I am consistently annoyed by folks who tell me “How can you not believe in the Lord who made you?”
“Because I don’t believe the Lord made me.” How much simpler can it be?
Regarding the idea that Bible doesn’t espouse the sort of hate this man conveys is absurd. The bible is filled with hate. It’s filled with all sorts of atrocities. Granted, most of it is tied to the Old Testament, but it’s there and to act as if it isn’t is to deny what the bible has on its pages.
Certainly Jesus didn’t speak like this, but that doesn’t alter the page after page of violence found within the rest of the bible.
And finally, what I don’t understand about Phelps, his church and most members of his family (those who remain devoted) is why are they still alive? Why is their church still standing? Why haven’t folks in his town burned his buildings to the ground and burned him and his family at the stake? It would seem biblically correct after all.