Fred Phelps

Life After The Westboro Baptist Church

Nate Phelps | Posted 04.12.2012

Nate Phelps

I was amazed to discover that the insidious ideas I held about the LGBT community dissipated as I got to know the individuals that made up that group. I learned that the best way to destroy a prejudice was to have the courage to encounter those we have learned to prejudge.

Son Of Westboro Baptist Church Pastor To Speak At Atheist Rally

Posted 03.15.2012

This should be interesting. Nate Phelps, estranged son of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church Pastor Fred Phelps, plans to speak at an atheist ral...

Westboro Baptist Church Bails On Whitney Houston's Funeral But Tweets Photoshopped Image Of Protest

Posted 02.20.2012

Westboro Baptist Church members had vowed to picket Whitney Houston's funeral this weekend in Newark, but numerous media outlets reported that no one ...

Remembering Matthew Shepard: 13 Years Later

Waymon Hudson | Posted 12.12.2011

Waymon Hudson

As a young gay man, I looked at the pictures of Matthew Shepard's face and could see my own. His life and death inspired me, as I'm sure it did many others, to become involved in the fight against hate, bigotry and inequality.

Westboro Baptist Church Plans To Picket Steve Jobs' Funeral

Posted 12.06.2011

That was fast. Just hours after the announcement of Steve Jobs' death, Margie Phelps, a leader of the Westboro Baptist Church--the group notorious ...

The Oddest of Bedfellows: My Relationship with the Westboro Baptist Church

Ben Patrick Johnson | Posted 12.02.2011

Ben Patrick Johnson

I found myself in a symbiotic relationship with Westboro. Their goals were served by my drawing attention to them. And I had found an ideal "villain" whose positions are utterly unpalatable.

Dumbest Quotes About 9/11 By Celebrities

www.trutv.com | David Moye | Posted 11.09.2011

The tragic September 11th terrorist attacks brought out the best in Americans and some of the dumbest celebrity quotes in history. ...

Westboro Baptist Church Says It Plans To Picket At Norway Funerals

Posted 10.04.2011

The Westboro Baptist Church, a radical religious group from Kansas, announced in a press release that it intends to picket the funerals of the victims...

Dear Westboro Baptist, Please Protest My Funeral

Brandon G. Withrow | Posted 10.03.2011

Brandon G. Withrow

I can imagine that great day when Westboro heads out to protest and Americans shrug their shoulders. If a protest of my funeral takes them one step closer to future obscurity and irrelevance, then do your worst.

Woman Throws Husband's Penis in Disposal: Hey, While You're At It ...

Tony Phillips | Posted 09.13.2011

Tony Phillips

If I had a nickel for every time my wife threatened to knock me out, cut off my penis and throw it in the garbage disposal...

Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Betty Ford's Funeral

Posted 09.10.2011

By Garret Ellison Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket this week's f...

Westboro Baptist Church Attended FBI Training Sessions

AP | By PETE YOST | Posted 08.30.2011

WASHINGTON -- The FBI said Wednesday that members of an anti-gay fundamentalist group participated in the bureau's training of police officers and FBI...

Bill Would Limit Military Funeral Protests

Posted 06.25.2011

By Kevin Eckstrom Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill that would make it harder for protes...

Painter Roasts Westboro Baptist Church

Los Angeles Times | Posted 06.20.2011

Leaders of the ultra-conservative Westboro Baptist Church have repeatedly skirted the law by maintaining a legal distance while picketing military fun...

'God, Why Did You Make Me This Way? Why Did You Give Me This Life?'

John Shore | Posted 05.25.2011

John Shore

A little while ago someone wrote to ask me why I'm so interested in the "gay issue." I replied that my primary interest isn't in "the gay issue." My primary interest is in the abuse of power.

Sam Alito: Setting the "Empathy Standard" for the Supreme Court

John Paul Rollert | Posted 05.25.2011

John Paul Rollert

For almost two years now, Republicans have issued dire warnings about an urgent threat to the Constitution emanating from the Supreme Court ruling through "empathy". It is now apparent that the face of that empathy is Sam Alito.

Westboro Church Plans Protest Of Funeral For Pa. Children

Posted 05.25.2011

By Sara Ganim Religion News Service HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Westboro Baptist Church, the controversial group that just won a free speech Supreme Court cas...

Westboro Baptist Church Attorney: U.S. Soldiers Are Worse Than Al Qaeda

The Huffington Post | Nick Wing | Posted 05.25.2011

American soldiers are worse than Al Qaeda extremists, the chief attorney for the Westboro Baptist Church claimed over the weekend. Fresh off a Supr...

Sarah Palin's Narcissism Feeds Her Constitutional Incompetence

Bob Cesca | Posted 05.25.2011

Bob Cesca

Palin, who has repeatedly botched the meaning of the First Amendment, had the audacity to school eight of the nine Supreme Court justices, including the very conservative chief justice, on the First Amendment.

Snyder v. Phelps: In the Court of Public Opinion, Snyder Wins

Scott Swenson | Posted 05.25.2011

Scott Swenson

Legal scholars and others will agree or disagree on the fine points of the law, but in the battle for hearts and minds, Al Snyder won the day he took a stand.

Westboro Ruling: The Bad and the Uglier for the Greater Good

Roy S. Gutterman | Posted 05.25.2011

Roy S. Gutterman

For every Westboro Church protest, there is a debate on legitimate public policy or government abuse that also demands protection.

What Westboro Baptist Got Right

Clay Farris Naff | Posted 05.25.2011

Clay Farris Naff

It seems to me that, since we must live with Westboro, we may as well learn something from it. Can a church that preaches savage hatred really have anything to teach us? Yes.

Westboro Baptist Church To 'Quadruple' Down On Protests

The Huffington Post | Nick Wing | Posted 05.25.2011

A leader of the Westboro Baptist Church told reporters Wednesday that the congregation would "quadruple" the number of funeral protests in the wake of...

Disabled Vet Accused Of Stalking Westboro Baptist Church Members

The Wichita Eagle | Posted 05.25.2011

WICHITA, Kan. In a case that has captured national attention, a double-amputee war veteran already accused of misdemeanors against a controversial Top...

Meeting The Extremist Challenge By Obeying The Unenforceable

Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards | Posted 05.25.2011

Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards

When the boundaries between helpful and harmful speech are unenforceable, what can we do, in church or state, to reinforce and protect those recognized boundaries?