Curious as to where this hate group (classified as such by the SPLC) gets its income, I did an Internet search. I know that some members are attorneys, and some apparently work for the state of Kansas. The WBC claims it spends $200,000 on travel to the various protests it conducts, which ain’t chump change. It also claims members tithe 30% of their income, but I’ve read this may well be a dodge: they “tithe,” but the money goes right back to them. Whatever. My question is, how many attorneys are there in the family, and most important, do they really have enough clients to generate that kind of income for the WBC? I can’t imagine who would sign up for their legal services–not saying they’re inept, as they obviously just won the Supreme Court case–just can’t figure out who their client base is or how large it could be.
Also, what kind of work do WBC members do for the State of Kansas? Is it highly remunerative?
I know they get some of their money from litigation, but from what I’ve read, this doesn’t fully account for their source of income, either. And in addition to travel expenses, one assumes they have standard living expenses. Also, it sounds like there’s enough legal work just defending members and filing lawsuits to keep at least a couple of the family attorneys busy full-time, which would mean less income, right?
It’s my understanding that much of the income generated by the Phelps folk is actually from suing people who annoy or attack them. I don’t have a cite on that, but I’ve read it so many times on so many forums that I accept it.
Yeah, they were saying on the news last night that the guy who lost the Supreme Court case will now have to pay WBC’s court costs, and there was some talk of setting up a fund to take donations to help pay his bill. I was thinking that on the one hand I’d like to help him out, but on the other hand that money would be going directly into WBC’s pockets.
One rumor that I have never been able to confirm is that craft retailer Hobby Lobby is a big donor to WBC. I know that they are run by a fairly conservative Christian group but I’ve never actually been able to find proof that they donate to the Phelpses.
I assume they pool their money from jobs and lawsuits and live frugally otherwise. They seem to live in a large collective type situation and run their own print shop. They don’t seem to own too much flashy, bling-bling type stuff, like most charlatan religions tend to do.
I’m curious about the recent WBC and ‘Anonymous’ flap.
Anon said that the threat to shut down WBC’s website was a WBC hoax designed to garner media attention.
Then the sites were shut down.
I wonder if Anon or some pseudo-anon did it, or if WBC did it themselves because they are out of money.
I’m guessing that since the WBC website completely disappeared, that it was because WBC shut it down. I also think that because Anon usually releases internal emails and none were released in this case, that this is further proof that this was a WBC hoax.
I’m wondering why it is OK for the losers in a case against a hate group to give money to the hate group? Isn’t funding a hate group a crime in the US? If I gave money to the KKK I’m sure I’d be subjected to a nice friendly chat by federal authorities (assume, for the purposes of this post that I’m American (which I’m not)). But if I was on the losing end of a case against the KKK, I’d be ordered to give money to them??
I don’t think its illegal to give money to a hate group, just a terrorist one. Banning all contributions to hate groups would seem to be a big violation of the first amendment.
Huh? I’m guessing you’re in the UK, where hate speech is very tightly regulated. The court case they just won basically said what they’re doing ISN’T hate speech (or at least, it’s protected hate speech). It’s not a hate group if they’re not out there committing hate crimes - those groups tend to not win very many cases.
Also, losing plaintiffs are routinely required to pay the court costs for the other party.
It’s called due process; you were found in violation of their rights. We all have rights; even the hate groups. The KKK and this nut job church group are not illegal organizations. Like it or not they have the same rights as everyone else. Aint America grand. :smack:
I’ve run into that information, too, but if you look at the amounts they’ve won and compare them with estimated expenses, there’s still quite a large gap. The amount Mr. Snyder is going to have to pay them, for instance, is something like $16,000; it’s justsupposed to cover court costs. I can’t find anything about punitive damages in that case.
They do seem to live frugally, but there are quite a few kids. They wouldn’t be contributing to the income (I don’t think–never know with these folks.) but would be draining it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says the WBC is a hate group. The SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights group, not a government agency. They’re right about the WBC, but when they say the WBC is a hate group, it’s not a legal determination and it does come with some kind of sanctions.
Does anyone have a cite to confirm or refute this?
After reading this post I searched on Google, and found lots of places where people are saying things like “I understand that Hobby Lobby contributes to WBC”, but can’t find any authoritative sources.
Right. But I thought it should also be pointed out that it’s not like a government agency has determined they’re a hate group. It’s the SPLC’s opinion, but it’s not binding on anyone.
Just because something is posted to 1,000 places on the net doesn’t mean it is true, only that it sounds good to many people. I was hoping that SD would be different from the rest of the net.
Yeah, I would like to know where their money comes from and if there is any way to cut them off. It is pathetic how mislead they are.
The next thing against the church will be the IRS or somene will try to prove racketeering which would allow additional ways to stop them.
Not that I’m supporting them, but that is usually the next steps. I know that is how they got some of the people involved with the disapearence of Helen Brach, the candy heiress. They managed to prove raceteering and got a few people sent up when they couldn’t find a solid murder charge.
As for money, it’s not hard to raise money. Look at Michael Savage. As soon as his ratings decline, he says something way out there and boom, the ratings go up and he makes money.
It wouldn’t surprise me if after this ruling dontaions to the church go way up.
It would shock me if they receive any significant amount of donations at all. The people who agree with their message that God hates homosexuals tend to think that God loves America and the US military. They’ve really worked themselves into a very small niche. Maybe they can raise money from Islamic fundamentalists who agree with them on both of those points.
Three of the Phelp’s children work as staff lawyers for the State of Kansas, one with the Juvenile Justice Department and two for the Department of Corrections. They seem to have been there a long time so they are probably pretty well paid.
Phelps has said he made a lot of money when he was a civil rights lawyer, so he may still have some of that.