Fred Phelps: Not In Kansas Anymore

I'm proud to say he took against me from the moment we met. I asked him how many children he had. He disliked this question – I think he found me trivial. The interview was cut short. Over subsequent days, we continued filming but I hardly saw him. I had the feeling he was hiding from me. We eventually crossed paths again, in church one Sunday after his sermon on the subject of America's coming tribulations, in which he bellowed: "You're going to eat your babies!" One-to-one, Gramps still had the remnants of a folksy, plainspoken charm, but underneath was a bitter contempt for humanity in general and me specifically. I asked him how he could possibly know that the WBC members were the only people bound for heaven. "I can't talk to you – you're just too dumb," he said. It seemed that I was a hellbound sinner. Well, at least I was in good company...

Louis Theroux writes a fascinating, revealing piece about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church for The Guardian.

As opposed to the clichéd 'I won't celebrate Fred's death'/'But hey, maybe WBC actually helped the gay cause' crapola we've seen rather a lot of these past few days.

Religious News: History Of The Westboro Baptist Church

According to one of his estranged sons, Fred Phelps, the founder and longtime leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, is in gravely ill health. Here is a look back at some of the milestone moments in his controversial church’s history:

1929-2014: Fred Waldron Phelps is born, beginning a period of nearly 85 years during which not a single moment of doubt passes through his mind

1951: Margie Simms, the future Mrs. Phelps, meets the love of her life

1955-2014: Nobody cracks open a Bible

1968: Jesus Christ personally visits Fred Phelps in one of his dreams and asks what the fuck is wrong with him

1972-1979: The disco years

1991: Westboro Baptist Church blasted after adopting slogan expressing what dozens of churches actually believe

1994: Topeka residents admit they must hand it to Westboro Baptist Church for ending all that gay cruising in Gage Park

1999: In return for years of loyal patronage, church receives 200 free “God hates fags” posters from local Kinko’s

2010: An increasingly paranoid Fred Phelps becomes convinced God may be a fag

2013: Phelps excommunicated after advocating for more compassionate hatred

1955-2014: Gets a whole lot of undeserved attention

The Onion.

Westboro Baptist Church: God Hates Fred

Phelps Sr., 84, began to make headlines over the weekend after his estranged son Nathan posted a note to Facebook where he said the pastor is currently in hospice care and was excommunicated from the organization for reasons that remain unclear. As twisted as it may be, his daughter Margie (who is a part of the WBC) said on Twitter the hate-fueled organization would definitely be at his funeral, if only to picket.

deviantART

“My dad Pastor Fred Phelps is a hell bound f*g enabling whore,” she shockingly wrote on Twitter Sunday evening. “#Westboro Baptist Church to protest this whores Funeral.” Margie had nothing but revulsion to spread in regards to her father’s ailing health. She added he is “now a hell bound whore.”

Speculation as to why he was excommunicated is rampant on the Internet, with some assuming the WBC members found out Phelps was actually gay and others thinking he might have had a change in heart as his health declined. There’s no definite answer as of now...

International Business Times. 

The first rule of Fagburn is; 'If a story sounds too good to be true, it probably is'.

But by God, let us pray this one is true. 

@WBCSays @nealwooten My dad Pastor Fred phelps is a hell bound fag enabling whore. #Westboro Baptist Church to protest this whores Funeral
— @Grampscramps (@MargieJPhelps) March 16, 2014

Is this for real?

Whatever, she doesn't seem to be getting on with the rest of the family too well, either.

Hmm...

PS Jamie Tabberer on Independent Voices says he won't be picketing Fred Phelps' funeral. In case you were wondering.

PPS Hilarious Queerty piece on Fred's alleged ex-communication from WBC.

WBC: God Hates Fagbug!

On October 26th Planting Peace will be hosting the first annual Equality House drag themed walk-a-thon! We are inviting you, your family, and your friends to all come out and parade around the Westboro Baptist Church with us whether in costume or not but either way raising money for the charity and looking fabulous during the whole event!! If you or a team would like to sign up or receive more information please send us a Facebook message!!

Equality House. 

Agree with many that it's usually best to ignore the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church, but how could Fagburn resist this?

Thatcher: God Hates Thatch - Fag Enabler!

Now here's some protesters you don't want at the funeral.
Who knew that Margaret Thatcher had been such a good friend to The Gays!!?
I guess the Westboro Baptist Church must have been reading the glowing tributes to this "controversial" "gay icon" in Gay Star News and Pink News.

PS Thanks to Spike. x

Arts News: God Hates Facts

From a blog about LA street art, Melrose and Fairfax.

Westboro Baptist Church: Even Christians Hate You

"The notorious protests against homosexuals by the Westboro Baptist Church have backfired after a prominent comedian felt inspired to donate to a gay charity on their behalf.
"Crass comedian Lisa Lampanelli has pledged to make a $50,000 donation to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis charity after Westboro Baptist church protesters turned up to picket one of her shows.
"Lampanelli promised to donate $1,000 in the name of every Westboro member who protested outside her show last Friday night in Topeka, Kansas, also home to the Westboro Baptist Church.
"Although 48 Westboro members turned up, Lampanelli decided to round it up. Now a $50,000 donation will be made to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis “in their name.”
"Critics of Westboro are quipping that the fundamentalist church has inadvertently made a positive contribution to gay causes."

From The Christian Post.

I keep saying this but the total mentalists at WBC are our own best enemy.
Here's Lisa's website.
Fagburn salutes you, Lisa!

Royal Wedding News: UK Pervert Freeloaders (Alleged)

"There is only ONE King! God! There is nothing 'royal' about UK pervert freeloaders! WBC to picket 'royal wedding'"

Arch-mentalist Steve Drain from the Westboro Baptist Church on Twitter.
Obviously they won't actually come over, as per, but Fagburn thinks they need the publicity.

Religious News: They're All Nuts!

To celebrate the Lord's Day, BBC2 is showing Louis Theroux: America's Most Hated Family In Crisis tonight.
Louis Theroux writes about his decision to make a second film about the fun-loving "God Hates Fags" Westboro Baptist Church on BBC News;
"Normally I don't do follow-ups. But I'd made an exception in this case because of an e-mail I'd received from one of the fire-breathing young zealots I'd interviewed on my first trip, announcing she'd left the church. She cited our conversations as one of the influences.
"She had now changed her life, found a boyfriend and had zero contact with anyone still inside the church, including her family. A little research revealed that several others I'd met on my first visit were also now apostates. This included Steve's own daughter, Lauren..."
Theroux acknowldges that "the Phelpses thrive on publicity" - why else would they let him make another film - and there are many American journalists who believe the best policy is to ignore these attention-seeking whores of babylon.
Fagburn believes they are such a good/bad ad for evangelical Christianity we should drown them in the oxygen of publicity.
I bet the Phelps family's international infamy inspired Terry Jones, the nuts Koran-burning US pastor.
Or as The Daily Telegraph neatly summed him up in a headline yesterday; 'Pastor Terry Jones: A homophobic used furniture salesman with a love of controversy'
Why not just leave it at that?

• Just watched Louis Theroux - again the WBC only make sense as a sick satire. Apart from all the hurt they cause and those poor fucking kids...

Freedom Of Speech: A Bad Ad For God

Below is the Westboro Baptist Church's predictably charming statement marking the Supreme Court holding up their first amendment right to freedom of speech.
Fagburn agrees with the ruling - that freedom of speech also means freedom of hate speech.
I kinda agree with much in this piece in the LA Times; The Right To Be Vile.
One thing it doesn't cover is when does something like this - serial picketing of funerals with offensive placards and chants - become harrassment; if a work colleague or neighbour calls me "fucking faggot" every day that's not protected as a freedom in the UK or the US, surely?
Whatever, the God Hates Fags guys and gals are such a bad ad for the anti-gay Christian Right, I say let them do some more damage to themselves.
Talking of ads and god... The British Humanist Association has just started an ad campaign running on buses and billboards across the UK; "Not religious? Say so on this year's census form."
It's been banned outright by CBS Outdoors - the company that owns advertising space in UK railway stations.
The BHA poster will still run elsewhere, but this one is also a censored version.
The Committee of Advertising Practice told them the original had the potential to cause "widespread" and "serious offence".
The offending slogan? "If you're not religious, for god's sake say so."
Which surely means they found the word "god" offensive.

Westboro Baptist Church: God Loves Anarchists

Crazed anarchist hacktavists Anonymous take on the Westboro Baptist Church - or do they?Fagburn agrees with many US gay activists and campaigners that it's probably best to ignore the attention-seeking Westboro Baptist Church.
So I'm not sure why I've blogged this.

Update: Anonymous activisits hacked into the WBC God Hates Fags website on Thursday 24th and defaced it - WBC have now taken all its sites off-line. Tee hee-hee...

Westboro Baptist Church: Bender Hates You More

"They've faced down humans time and time again, but Fred Phelps and his minions from the Westboro Baptist Church were not ready for the cosplay action that awaited them today at Comic-Con. After all, who can win against a counter protest that includes robots, magical anime girls, Trekkies, Jedi and...kittens?
"Unbeknownst to the dastardly fanatics of the Westboro Baptist Church, the good folks of San Diego's Comic-Con were prepared for their arrival with their own special brand of superhuman counter protesting chanting "WHAT DO WE WANT" "GAY SEX" "WHEN DO WE WANT IT" "NOW!" while brandishing ironic (and some sincere) signs. Simply stated: The eclectic assembly of nerdom's finest stood and delivered..."
Reports Comics Alliance.
More great photos from the comic fans creative counter protest here.

Westboro Baptist Church: Fags Hate God

Now I don't care about you, but Fagburn can't get enough of Westboro Baptist Church and their "God Hates Fags" protests.
Some American journalists argue that as all they seek is publicity for their beyond warped world view, the best thing to do is ignore them.
Fagburn begs to differ. Each time these evil evangelical fuckwits turn up to noisily picket another funeral of a US soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan ("Thank God For Dead Soldiers"), they make thousands of people want to distance themselves from any kind of homophobia.
The latent conspiracy theorist in me sometimes wonders if this is actually the intention of Rev Fred Phelps and his family - and that they're really gay liberationists working deep undercover.
They were up to their old sick tricks again this weekend, announcing a protest outside a - get this - Lada Gaga concert in St Louis, Missouri.
It's not clear if they actually turned up - they often don't these days, they know they can make their point and the papers without carrying through with any action. (EDIT: They did! About six WBCs were outnumbered maybe 10 to one by counter protesters - there's a quite moving video shot by a fan here).
They declared on their website they wanted to "warn this little false prophetess and all of her over-indulged sycophants that they are each one, individually heading straight to hell in a gender-confused, self-loathing, tone-deaf hand basket and that a gift from the God they hate."
Which was nice of them.
The good lady tweeted; “At the risk of drawing attention to a hateful organization, I would like to make my little monster fan aware of a protest being held outside... the Monsterball in St.Louis tonight. Although we have had protesters before, as well as fundamentalists at the show... this group of protesters are hate criminals and preach using lude and violent language and imagery that I wish I protect you all from... Their message is of hatred and divisiveness, but inside at the Monsterball we preach love and unity... My request to all little monsters and public authority is to pay these hate criminals no mind. Do not interact with them, or try to fight... Do not respond to any of their provocation. Don't waste your words, or feelings, no matter what you hear or see... you are more fortunate and blessed than they are, and in your heart just pray for them. Although I respect and do not judge anyone... for their personal views on any politics or religion, this group in particular to me, is violent and dangerous... I wanted to make my fans aware of my views on how to approach, or rather not approach, these kinds of hate activists... Be inspired to ignore their ignorant message, and feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are. X"
Good for her.
As ever Fagburn was secretly pleased - it's also finally given me an excuse to post the WBC's awesome version of Gaga's Telephone, Ever Burn.
All together now; "Stop praying, stop praying, God will not hear you anymore, You got the boys and the girls to be proud whores... Fornicating, Fuh fuh fornicating! Fuh fuh fornicating!"
See you all in hell.