Ex-Westboro Baptist Church Leader Fred Phelps is Finally Dying

[cbayer]

http://gawker.com/ex-westboro-baptist-church-leader-fred-phelps-is-finall-1544924334

Jordan Sargent

Today 10:42am


image of Fred Phelps via AP

Fred Phelps, the one-time leader of the infamous "GOD HATES FAGS" church, is on his deathbed in Kansas. Hopefully, you can carry on with your day having learned of this terrible news.

Phelps' son Nathan, who left the church in 1980 and now lives in Canada working on behalf of LGBT rights, posted on Facebook late last night that his father is dying in a hospice in Topeka.

I've learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the "God Hates Fags" Westboro Baptist Church, was ex-communicated from the "church" back in August of 2013. He is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made.

I feel sad for all the hurt he's caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I'm bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.

The legacy Phelps will leave is of having turned his religion into a sideshow, and of having made the notion of the protest a farce. We may never know the extent to which Phelps realized that his church moved the "cause" backwards, or whether he even gave a shit.

more at link

[hrmjustin]

1. I detest that man with all my strength.

[Exultant Democracy]

2. Unfortunately if there was a god he probably loves grifters.

[cbayer]

3. Say what? Why would a god love grifters?

[Exultant Democracy]

6. I have faith that if there was a god he would.

[cbayer]

8. Okey dokey, then.

I think there are a lot of grifters who would hope you are right.

[tosh]

11. Indeed!

[Vogon_Glory]

21. G*d May Love Grifters BUT

G*d may love grifters, but I believe she / he abhors their conduct. I suspect Preacher Fred has a whole lot of 'splainin' to do. .

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. There are times I wish I believed in Hell.

Or at least Purgatory (eternal damnation seems a bit harsh, no matter how awful you were). If anybody deserves to get his ass jabbed with a pitchfork it's that guy.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. If there was, it would validate all that bile he spewed his entire life.

He'll be worm food with no afterlife. Punishment enough I guess for someone who believes what he believed.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. Good point.

[cbayer]

33. Oh, hogwash.

I don't believe in hell, but from an atheistic POV, he ends up the same as everyone else.

In my fantasies, he has to pay up somehow.

[AtheistCrusader]

34. Not quite.

He did leave behind a legacy that will be long remembered.

I don't have post-death fantasies, myself.

[cbayer]

35. No post death fantasies. Interesting.

You never have dreams about people that have died? Pets? Your own post-death experiences?

[AtheistCrusader]

36. No.

When I was young I was a lucid dreamer and could dream about whatever I liked. As an adult, I don't really remember them much anymore. When I do have one, it's of a fairly mundane nature.

[cbayer]

37. That's too bad. Dreams serve an important purpose for me.

It may change for you over time.

[Mojo Electro]

5. "Dyke Liberty"?

That's a new one.

Let's hope this so-called "church" just dissolves without their fearless leader at the helm.

The poor guy never got to have the homosexual experience he obviously craved so badly all of his life. (the only thing that could explain such an obsession.)

[AtheistCrusader]

25. Remember the random mechanism they used for mission names in WWII?

Market Garden. Operation Catchpole. Etc.

I like to think of the Phelps as having a random-word associator like that. Two columns of filth to randomize.

[Mojo Electro]

31. Good point! And his might have "catchpole" in it too.

[Gothmog]

7. May his passing be easy

[cilla4progress]

12. You are far more solicitous than I...

I must resist saying I hope it is painful and drawn out!

[rug]

9. This is the first I heard Westboro threw him out.

[struggle4progress]

20. WBC spokesman declines to say whether church founder has been excommunicated

By Jan Biles and Steve Fry

A Westboro Baptist Church spokesman declined to comment Sunday on whether a report that Pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. has been excommunicated from the conservative church, known for its controversial anti-gay stance, that he founded in the 1950s.

Church spokesman Steve Drain also said Westboro Baptist Church doesn't have a new leader of the church because it doesn't have a designated leader of the church ...

"We don't owe any talk to you about that," Drain said. "We don't discuss our internal church dealings with anybody. It's only because of his notoriety that you are asking" ...

http://m.cjonline.com/news/local/2014-03-16/wbc-spokesman-declines-say-whether-church-founder-has-been-excommunicated

[rug]

40. I wonder what happened.

Maybe they caught him watching a Will and Grace rerun.

[EvilAL]

46. DUzy!

[SummerSnow]

10. Wonder what protest signs his minions

will make at his funeral

[shenmue]

13. Maybe "We hate ourselves"

Anger like that isn't healthy.

[underpants]

15. Just about to post something like that

[rug]

41. Lol, i wonder what group will protest it.

[Philly Cowboy]

14. Anyone up for a funeral protest?

Borrowing a phrase that Thumpers like to use, "An eye for an eye." While we should turn another cheek, maybe we should demonstrate the harm he brought to others.

[underpants]

17. As was posted on DU when Falwell died...

When someone dies you are supposed to say something good. He is dead. Good.

[asjr]

16. That is one ugly man!

[struggle4progress]

18. Forgive our sins as we forgive

[AtheistCrusader]

26. Meh

[struggle4progress]

30. Whatever

[AtheistCrusader]

32. On the subject of artistic Expression...

Dostoyevsky;

"I don't want the mother to embrace the oppressor
who threw her son to the dogs! She dare not forgive him! Let her
forgive him for herself, if she will, let her forgive the torturer for
the immeasurable suffering of her mother's heart. But the sufferings
of her tortured child she has no right to forgive; she dare not forgive
the torturer, even if the child were to forgive him! And if that is
so, if they dare not forgive, what becomes of harmony? Is there
in the whole world a being who would have the right to forgive
and could forgive? I don't want harmony. From love for human-
ity I don't want it. I would rather be left with the unavenged
suffering. I would rather remain with my unavenged suffering
*nd unsatisfied indignation, even if I were wrong. Besides, too high
a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much
to enter on it."

[struggle4progress]

39. Guido Sarducci's benediction at the rally to restore sanity

Sarducci begins around the 3:18 mark

... and thank you for all the good things we do in your name, like charity --- and forgiveness: that's an idea we would never come up with, that's for certain ...

&t=3m18s

[AtheistCrusader]

42. That was pretty funny, actually.

Should do another rally like that.

[struggle4progress]

43. Yeah, Novello's being cracking folk up with that persona for thirty-five years or so

[Warpy]

19. I feel sorry for the kids who had the strength and courage to leave.

Whatever else that awful man was, he was also their father and the memories are likely not all bad. It's only as he aged that he was eaten up with hate and violence.

I hope the god he meets is a drag queen.

It's going to be fun to watch how long they can sustain the hate without him. Even now, they're threatening more protests than they actually do. Shirley just aint up to the job, you know what the bible says about uppity women who try to speak in church.

[pinto]

27. "I hope the god he meets is a drag queen."

Was going to stay out of this thread, but, lol, that got a laugh out of me.

I hope his kids, actually any of his family, heal the extreme anti-social hate and move on if possible.

[Sinistrous]

22. Unfortunately,

Phelps infected enough of his spoor with his loathsome bigotry and hate such that their vile antics are liable to continue without him.

[Politicalboi]

24. Will Fred come out of the closet before he dies?

Getting married and having 13 children still didn't "cure" him. Burn in your Hell Fred.

[kestrel91316]

28. Party time real soon.

[Lint Head]

38. There should be a protest at his funeral. I'll carry this sign.

God Hated Fred Phelps
So Much...........
That He Killed Him!

[LostOne4Ever]

44. Hate is a poison that destroys one for the inside

I am sure that it has left him hollow and bitter. He was a horrible, horrible person; but, I feel strongly that hate only begets more hate, and the only way to combat it is through compassion.

So, I hope his passing is a painless one and that before he meets oblivion that he, his family, and his followers finally are able to see their own bigotry for what it is and change. And, I hope that they are given the comfort that their bigotry denied so many other in their time of bereavement.

>.>
<.<

And I hope they choke on their own guilt.

Ehhhhh, I mean, that they can now understand how their actions hurt so many others...

[Act_of_Reparation]

45. Anyone feel like picketing a funeral?

Payback's hell, Fred.