Let’s say I’m Christian, and I’m in Topeka, Kansas for the weekend. It’s Sunday morning, and I’m looking for a church service to attend. Driving around in my rental car, I stumble upon Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church. Could I just walk in off the street and attend a Sunday service there?
Interesting question, and regretfully I don’t have an answer. Google Chrome wouldn’t load their website*.
It’s probably all for the best. I feel kind of icky having godhatesf**.com in my registry.
From the Louis Thoreaux documentary, they seemed a bit more like a cult with a strong family backbone than a church. So I don’t think you would get far as an outsider, especially considering their many enemies.
I doubt too many of them would still be able to walk if they let just anyone into their “church.”
LOL! I would suppose you could. Never have seen the church myself. You would, (I would guess), be on some FBI list from that time on…(lol)
I don’t think non-family members are allowed/trusted.
It’s called a “church” purely for tax purposes. To the best of my knowledge, they don’t hold services, and the entire congregation comprises family and a few close friends.
God Hates Visitors!
If the Louis Theroux documentary is to be believed, they do indeed hold services. They’ve got a churchy-looking building or room with pews and a podium at the front. Whether or not the services there are open to the public I don’t know. I suspect they’d let you attend if you could convince them that you were genuinely interested, as opposed to someone who just wanted to gawk or disrupt the service.
The church is a house in a residential neighborhood. Front of house. Side of house (note the “God Hates Fags” sign). There’s even a pool in the back!
I called their number to ask but it was busy. If you are really interested call them - (785) 273-0325.
from their website.
I would be very, very interested in reading the account of a Doper attending services at WBC.
Nitpick: I think that sign is a “God Hates America” sign … isn’t it?
I mean, not that it really matters, since the reason they say God hates America is because we’re so gay-friendly… but it took me a few minutes to figure out why “fags” was so long on that sign. 
Well, you are right that they are not Christian and are not a real Christian church, they do have services.
Wow, they really have open services … thanks all! I wonder how many people outside of family members actually attend.
Okay, we’ve established that you could “just walk in off the street and attend a Sunday service there”.
But could you prance in?
Yep, I just read the first two words and followed their mantra. But your right we’re all fag lovers so what’s the difference?
Quoting from their website (although I wonder if their definition of “kindness” is the same as the usual definition :D)
So what they’d have us do unto them is to troll their funerals, and block their way to doing anything they think important? Heck, trolling their services would be about the equivalent.
Yeah, I wouldn’t take what they describe as kindness as being anywhere near the kind Jesus or Paul preached. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone” - Romans 12:18 (NIV).
I wonder what they would do if busloads of gay Christians, Bibles in hand, came to the church. Every Sunday.