Nate Phelps On Growing Up In 'The Most Hated Family In America'

nationalpost.com:

Mr. Phelps was not from a typical churchgoing family, but from what a BBC documentary once called "the most hated family in America."

Read the whole story: nationalpost.com

Comments

[rf dude]

09:36 AM on 03/30/2010

Yikes! And I thought being a Recovering Catholic was tough!

My heart goes out to you, sir - may you find the strength to enjoy your life now!

[9liberal]

11:43 AM on 03/29/2010

That is a pretty amazing story. Best of luck to Nate on his journey. I like that he learned not to be judgemental of any of it and question all of it. That is how I feel. I never had the horrible experience with religion that he had, but I do question how some people cherry pick the Bible to suit them. Fred Phelps was a literalist...we should all see that this is why it shouldn't be taken literally.
It's sad to see anyone have that much h8 in their hearts, and why is it that people like that always have the most kids?

[HPdevotee]

07:48 PM on 03/28/2010

Absolutely brilliant idea...student wins against Westboro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Of_2ykZpQ&feature=player_embedded

[SaltyLassi]

09:23 PM on 03/27/2010

I didn't know they tried to do this: "They tried infiltrating the Winnipeg funeral in 2008 of Tim McLean, who was brutally murdered and decapitated on a Greyhound bus, calling it God's punishment for Canadians' sins, but backed off over fears for their safety." WTF?

I just love how religious fanatics act as if they are the most perfect creatures on the planet, never ever committing a single mistake. They blame every tragedy or accident on some gay guy that god wants to punish

[hershala]

11:33 PM on 03/28/2010

Their God always seems to have bad aim. He can't hit the gay people that he allegedly hates.

Thank God thet the only people who believe in Phelps family God are the PHelps. They thank heavens will die out,

This does exempt Nate Phelps who seemingly has all the humanity in the Family.

[SaltyLassi]

09:20 PM on 03/27/2010

What if a bunch of people showed up at one of the Phelps' future funerals and protested and held up disgusting signs saying "Thank god for dead Phelpses." Then and only then will they know the pain and suffering they cause to innocent families of soldiers who are just trying to bury their child.

[MJinCanada]

01:45 AM on 03/24/2010

What I can't understand is why social services hasn't taken the kids away yet. The family is clearly abusive.

And don't Baptists have some kind of hierarchy that can defrock Fred Phelps? Someone had to appoint or approve him to be a pastor years ago; why can't someone take it away now for his unbecoming and degrading behaviour?

[fishnetdiver]

04:16 AM on 03/24/2010

i'm sure DHS has tried to find a way but i'm sure anything they try (short of going all Wac0/RubyRidge on them) will be fought in the courts as religous persecution. so until either A) the family starts buying large quantities of guns or 2) someone brings up sexual abuse nothing will be done...
...and the h8te spreads to another generation...

[Mabo]

12:24 PM on 03/27/2010

Fred Phelps is as much a Baptist as I am the Easter Bunny. His "church" is just a room full of relatives listening to an old man spread his hate to the next generation using a book that teaches the opposite.

[Retrofuturistic]

09:20 PM on 03/23/2010

People like Nate Phelps and Frank Schaeffer have a lot to contribute, to help the rest of us recover from the likes of James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Rod Parsley et al.

[Fever911]

06:53 PM on 03/23/2010

Shouldn't the headline read "Most HateFUL Family in America"?

[myhomeo]

04:47 PM on 03/23/2010

I was also driIven to atheism by my religious upbringing. But after reading this I guess Hebrew school wasn't so bad after all.

[larry278]

04:18 PM on 03/23/2010

I choose to quietly admire Nate for the strength & other qualities he shows as he walks his path.

[BlueZoo]

03:43 PM on 03/23/2010

Unfortunately, I've had several deaths in my family in the last three months. One man served in WWII and one in Korea. I cannot even begin to express how angered I would have been had these Phelps nutjobs showed up at either funeral. I don't know how the families of the returning dead from Iraq and Afghanistan can even deal with this. I firmly believe in the right to free speech but that right ends at a veteran's gravesite, as far as I'm concerned. I am forever thankful for the fantastic work done by the Heroes motorcycle groups who try to give the veterans' families some privacy by hindering Phelps and his ilk. Nate Phelps should be commended for realizing how hurtful the acts of his father and his church are.

[Fein]

02:29 PM on 03/23/2010

They're valuable as a living testament to the 1st amendment.

Other than that they're just Christian fundamentalist, sideshow kooks.

[elijah24]

12:25 PM on 03/23/2010

As a veteran, as a relative and friend of many homosexuals whom i love, as a guy who saw two marines die, I find Fred Phelps to be the single most dispicable human being in the United States today. I think a day will come when he protests the wrong funeral, and doesn't walk away, and when it happens, I think he'll have no one to blame but himself.
I also believe in the first amendment. I believe freedom of religion however awful, is sacred. I believe that free speech, however hateful, is sacred. I think that ends the moment he insites violence, or conspires to commit a crime, but provided he is only expressing his opinions, i think that right is sacred.
I think Fred Phelps is the perfect test of our beliefs. It's easy for me to defend free speech when it is for a cause i believe in, or don't care about. Principals are not proven when its easy. Principals are proven when every bone in your body wants to toss them to the side. Free speech is proven when you defend the right of a person who would spend a lifetime defending at the top of his lungs, all that you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.

[fishnetdiver]

04:20 AM on 03/24/2010

well said sir! fanned

[bismillah001]

09:02 AM on 03/27/2010

This is something we forget all too often. Thank you for such a thoughtful comment.

[Nate the Heretic]

11:58 AM on 03/23/2010

Sad that he has so many issues, but good that he got away before they compounded any further. At least now he can raise children outside of Fred's fundamentalist ha/te religion. No need to spread that ignorance any further down the road of time.

[mozartssister]

10:46 AM on 03/23/2010

One small fix: they're the most hatING family in America. Kudos to anyone who finds the courage to step away from that.