Fred Phelps, 1929-2014

yes i have heard this and while everyone focuses on his message of hate, i think this might have been their family business. if someone hauled off and hit them during one of their protests, they would sue for assault and try to recover damages. does anyone know if this is true?

Iā€™m too lazy to confirm right now, but I seem to recall that many of the family members have law degrees and were known to sue.

1 Like

Iā€™ve read that there wonā€™t be a funeral at all. They didnā€™t even allow ex-church family members to see him when he was dying, and the lack of a funeral is probably a further control measure.

They might be wrong on every conceivable measure, but theyā€™re not stupid.

I live across the street from the football field belonging to John Muir High School in Pasadena. Like many high schools of a certain age in the L.A. area, there have been several notable alumni who attended the school. Science fiction writer Octavia Butler graduated in 1965. David Lee Roth in 1972. Rodney King, along with NFL pros Marcus Robertson and Ricky Ervins, in 1987. Sirhan Sirhan graduated in 1963, five years before he assassinated Bobby Kennedy. Jackie Robinson went there for a couple of years in 1935-1937.

For about eight years ending in 1954, John Muir High School was John Muir Junior College, and Fred Phelps got a 2-year degree there in 1951. That same year he was profiled in Time magazine (as mentioned in his Wikipedia page) for preaching against ā€œsins committed on campus by students and teachers ā€¦ promiscuous petting ā€¦ evil language ā€¦ profanity ā€¦ cheating ā€¦ teachersā€™ filthy jokes in classrooms ā€¦ [and] pandering to the lusts of the flesh.ā€ The article is available to Time subscribers here: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814897,00.html

What a long, wasted life. On a side note, I wonder what future idols (of fame and/or infamy) currently attend Muir?

Phelps got nowhere near the Pearly Gates, much less God. He was on a sharp downward trajectory the moment after his last breath.

Responding to the hate machine that is WBC isnā€™t to benefit the WBC, or to punish them ā€“ itā€™s really just human beings getting together to reaffirm that bigotry is not acceptable.

Ironically, the WBC has only brought people together and made it even more obvious how awful this sort of bigotry is ā€“ and donā€™t kid yourself, plenty of ā€œaverageā€ folks agree with a lot of what the WBC says.

Counter-protests arenā€™t for the WBC; they are to help bring people together, and to show support for whoever it is that is the center of the WBC protest.

Go on YouTube. Look at some of those counter-protests. The LOVE and the connection that those counter-protests bring. Itā€™s beautiful.

Fuck the WBC. Itā€™s not about them, not really.

I honestly believe the WBC was at least a small part in helping people to come together for equality. The WBC shows what the worst of us can be, and people decided to show the world that we are not like the WBC, and we do not find the WBCā€™ actions or beliefs acceptable.

THAT is what it is about.

2 Likes

Thing is, based on the ā€œgetting kicked out of the churchā€ shennanigans, his own family are likely to be the ones to protest any funeral! >.<

Ding Dong! The Fred is Dead!

1 Like

They canā€™t bury him, and certainly not in a marked grave. The vandalism would be EPIC.

That is correct. Most of his children are lawyers (and also happen to be WBC members). The funeral protests were a money-making enterprise where grieving loved ones would lose it and attack, and the lawyers would sue, and win.

2 Likes

Yes it is true. They sued the pants off of any grieving loved one who attacked them at the funerals they were protesting. WBC has made a lot of money doing this over the years.

Not so good for the graveyard or surrounding area, either.

Yup. Olā€™ Fred was quite the civil rights lawyer back in the day.

Hey Fred: GGYF.

This was a knowingly derivative of GG back when QuakeCon was QC2 or QC3.

Now that that era is over, letā€™s flip to the other side of the coin and say:
ā€œGod Hates Rags!ā€.
Yes, itā€™s time to help those less fortunate than you and the world will be a better place because of it.

1 Like

If they canā€™t bury him, I guess they can just leave him in the closet he spent his life in.

2 Likes

A little righteous retribution is not the end of humanity either.

2 Likes

True

How about you and I go TP his head stone after midnight?

Iā€™m thinking a nice arrangement of dyed carnations, you know, in a giant rainbow or somethingā€¦

Or maybe a big pink carnation triangleā€¦

Goodnight, Mr. Phelps. Your message will self-destruct inā€¦

3 Likes