# A Westboro Baptist Church question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542 "2011-09-07T20:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/1 "2011-09-07T20:59:08Z")
So the WBC is a hate group that is a church, and pretty much overlaps with the Phelps clan. They’re intolerance, homophobic and psycho. My question, however, involves the church component of their organization. Is there any membership requirement? Could ‘new members’ flood the congregation every week, and [del] disrupt everything[/del] ask religious questions? Could they put washers and IOUs in the collection plate? Could they show up at protests and do a damn poor job? Or would they bar new members? Can you bar new members of a religious organization? ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/2 "2011-09-07T21:13:54Z")
WBC’s “church” is Fred Phelps’ house, IIRC. It’s basically a cult, it’s not recognized as a church by whoever recognizes Baptist churches, and it’s mostly his family, along with whoever they’ve managed to brainwash. I doubt they’d allow new members in off the street, unless you dated or hung out with some of the members for a LONG time. I think that’s how the new members who are not family were recruited. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/3 "2011-09-07T21:15:07Z")
Hm. Dilution may not be the solution, then. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/4 "2011-09-07T21:15:51Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Can you bar new members of a religious organization? Yes, a religious organization can bar anyone they want. Excommunication, shunning, call it what you like. Phelps could require that new members get a recommendation from existing members before they could join. It seems like more trouble than they are worth. Phlelps _et al._ are trolls, looking for attention. As long as they don’t break the law, and generally they are careful to stay just on this side of the line, I prefer to ignore them. They make good copy, which is why they get press attention. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/5 "2011-09-07T23:17:10Z")
I am a member of a church (certainly not WBC, though). Basically, the requirements for membership basically include acceptance of the creed and a determination that you are joining in good faith. In reality, nobody has ever been rejected from my church (e.g. “you’ve sinned too much to join!” or, “sorry, we already have enough unmarried men 18-30”) as far as I am aware as long as they stick it through the discernment process. The church does, in theory, have power to excommunicate me if it is determined that I am attempting to undermine the church’s mission or have abandoned the faith or something. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/6 "2011-09-09T00:46:01Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > WBC’s “church” is Fred Phelps’ house, IIRC. It’s basically a cult, it’s not recognized as a church by whoever recognizes Baptist churches, and it’s mostly his family, along with whoever they’ve managed to brainwash. > > I doubt they’d allow new members in off the street, unless you dated or hung out with some of the members for a LONG time. I think that’s how the new members who are not family were recruited. Quoting from their “About us” page: > [@](#): > > For more information about WBC, feel free to attend one of our weekly church meetings. We are located at 3701 W. 12th Street in Topeka, KS. Regular service time is on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. (Central time). ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/7 "2011-09-09T00:53:05Z")
double-post ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/8 "2011-09-09T05:34:41Z")
Ya know, it _would_ be kinda fun to show up for services in drag, or accidentally bring a god hats fred sign to a protest. Couldn’t last though, we’d need a rotating group of prilgrims to fuck their shit up. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/9 "2011-09-09T10:40:42Z")
In this pod-cast Nathan Phelps, estranged son of Fred gives a long interview of what it was like to live in the “church”. [http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1408](http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1408) This one is an" interview" with Shirley the defacto head of the “church” now, it has to be heard to be believed. [http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1410](http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1410) ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/10 "2011-09-09T14:32:39Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > In this pod-cast Nathan Phelps, estranged son of Fred gives a long interview of what it was like to live in the “church”. > > [http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1408](http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1408) > > This one is an" interview" with Shirley the defacto head of the “church” now, it has to be heard to be believed. > > [http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1410](http://www.irreligiosophy.com/?p=1410) Which is funny because they claim to be very against women having authority over men. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/11 "2011-09-09T14:41:10Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Quoting from their “About us” page: That’s interesting. It looks like they’d welcome newcomers, but I very much doubt that they’d tolerate trouble-makers. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/12 "2011-09-09T15:25:56Z")
Want to know why their services are at 12:00 noon on Sundays? It’s so they have time to go and fuck with other people going into _their_ church services at 10:00 or 10:30. How do I know? Because I was walking into [Grace Episcopal Cathedral](http://www.gracecathedraltopeka.org/) for Christmas morning services 2 years ago and they were all across the street with their signs, shouting and cursing. It’s more than upsetting, it’s disrespectful. What they do at military funerals is right out there on the hairy edge of inhuman, IMHO. But you know what? Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me. The words and intentions are cruel and hurtful, but this Sunday is September the 11th. Local news here says there’s a plan afoot to drive car and truck bombs into NYC to attack once again. You don’t like what I believe and want to say cruel things about it? Fine. Sad, tiring and painful as it is to hear what these loons have to say, they have a right to say it every bit as much as I have a right to stand across the street and yell back. God Bless America. If Westboro was in the bombing business, this would be another kind of thread. There has never been even a whisper that they are. So, I have to say, let em be sick and do what they do. The alternatives to using voices to explain one’s position is real and frightening and crosses all lines. It’s what happens all over our planet daily. It’s what happened 10 years ago in NYC and DC and Pennsylvania. It’s what may happen again this weekend in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-westboro-baptist-church-question/595542/13 "2011-09-09T15:44:44Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > How do I know? Because **Baker** tells us? 😉 If there is one thing good about the WBC, it’s that right wing politicians and religious leaders are distancing themselves from that level of homophobia. WBC might be giving a huge push towards legalized SSM at the federal level. One can only hope, anyway.