# Dear CNN et al.: Stop calling the Phelps family a "Church." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 3, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982 "2011-02-03T03:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/41 "2011-02-04T02:50:22Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s still no reason to _call_ them a church. It’s not like CNN is objective, anyway. The least they could do is call them “a group of crazed fucktards.” > [@EvilTOJ](#): > > As satisfying as that would be, the Phelps’ asswipes would have a field day suing CNN for slander. I think I might start watching CourtTV just to see that trial with CNN throwing up evidence that they’re crazed fucktards, and the crazedfucktardists scrambling to try to show why all the examples aren’t valid. I know they’re kinda overrepresented in the lawyer department but I still, think CNN could bring together a bunch of better ones. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/42 "2011-02-04T02:55:07Z")
Please forgive the bizarre comma placement in my last post. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/43 "2011-02-04T03:04:31Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Please forgive the bizarre comma placement in my last post. Un,likely. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/44 "2011-02-04T03:42:08Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Yeah, seems odd to me. SDMB is generally for self-identification, unless it’s self-identification by someone whose beliefs you find loathsome, I guess. Indeed, since we all seem to be against self-identification in this case, I guess. Or not. If being incorrect seems odd to you, you’re not really looking very hard. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/45 "2011-02-04T03:47:11Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > Huh. Seems like it would be pretty easy to set something up to avoid paying taxes. Why isn’t that more popular, I wonder? 😕 > [@JeffB](#): > > Because while it would exempt donation to the church, it wouldn’t exempt your income from a job. Now, if you have the time to set up and maintain an organized structure, and convince people to give you enough money that you don’t need another job, you might be able to get away with it. [No one ever does it, I guess.](http://www.scientology.org/) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/46 "2011-02-04T14:59:25Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Please forgive the bizarre comma placement in my last post. I know! That sentence is like missing four or five of them. > [@](#): > > I know, they’re kinda overrepresented, in the lawyer department, but: I still, think, CNN could bring together a bunch of better ones. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/47 "2011-02-04T15:03:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I think I might start watching CourtTV just to see that trial with CNN throwing up evidence that they’re crazed fucktards, and the crazedfucktardists scrambling to try to show why all the examples aren’t valid. > > I know they’re kinda overrepresented in the lawyer department but I still think CNN could bring together a **bunch of better ones**. And pro bono, at that. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/48 "2011-02-04T21:02:20Z")
I think we should call it The Church of the Poison Mind. Not only is it pretty descriptive, but it also provides a snappy Culture Club song as theme music. ---
**Author:** ![baronsabato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@baronsabato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baronsabato)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/49 "2011-02-07T14:06:10Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > For that reason you’d think they’d want to disassociate themselves with the Phelps group. [They do.](http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/faqs.asp#20) That being said, “Baptist” is just a term that refers to a diverse range of denominations, including American Baptists, National Baptists, Southern Baptists, etc. [And not all denominations referred to as “Baptists” think the same on homosexuality.](http://www.sitemason.com/files/e10jfO/statementsamesexmarriage2004.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/50 "2011-02-07T23:39:05Z")
I wish people would quit offering them airtime to not spread the crazy during funerals; that’s giving in to a spoiled brat’s tantrum. And I wish that the media would just stop wasting camera crews on them or acting as if they’re anything other than a fucked up family. These people have no political power, they’re not affiliated with anybody other than themselves, they are identified internationally as a bunch of nutcases but they’re basically harmless save for irritating people and the main reason they do that is because of the camera time that’s like crack to them. Force them into withdrawal and they’d probably go away. They could even be argued to have _benefitted_ gays by making social conservatives think “What a fucking nutjob” and causing them to share a fleeting ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ moment with gays but mostly they’re just circus geeks who cause no real harm and certainly no good. People like James Dobson and Paul Cameron and any number of “I’m pro-family values unlike those folks who ran on the anti-family values platform” legislators are a thousand times more dangerous on their least homophobic stay-at-home-Wednesday-night than the entire Phelps clan rolled together are at their most stridently zealous and the only reason the Phelps get on television is the Springerization of the news from the “If it bleeds it leads” old days to the new “Freaks and Geeks for Sweeps” paradigm. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/51 "2011-02-08T16:21:16Z")
I know of one church around here that actually makes a profit on their activities. They’ve gotten investigated many times. Every time they tell everyone it’s the work of the devil. And since it’s a megachurch (the first in our area), a lot of people in town agree. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/52 "2011-02-19T14:29:06Z")
Folks of the Biblical Literalism persuasion see scant difference between the Westboro Church and other denominations such as Methodism, Lutheranism and even the Roman Catholics. See, what they all have in common is the belief that they know better than God in which Bible verses are to be rigidly enforced, and which ones can be flouted and ignored. Of course, God sees that a bit differently. The Westboro folks have a _ **WOMAN** _ make pronouncements about the faith. She also appears to use makeup and wear clothing made of diverse fibers. Folks who take the entire Bible seriously certainly take such liberal affronts to Holy Scripture as totally indicative of the ‘cafeteria’ style Christianity Fred Phelps preaches. And in this way, the Westboro church is right in line with the other denominations that do the same. I would contend, whether one views religions from an atheist viewpoint and finds all of them equally ludicrous, or if one views other religions from a strict Literalist perspective, Westboro is entirely contemporary in their views on Biblical Authority and how it can be trumped by a leader, whether he be Fred Phelps, or Pope Benedict. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/53 "2011-02-21T03:07:06Z")
[Anonymous has decided to take on the Phelpses](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/anonymous-sends-an-open-letter-to-the-westboro-chu). This could be amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/54 "2011-02-21T04:29:01Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > [Anonymous has decided to take on the Phelpses](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/anonymous-sends-an-open-letter-to-the-westboro-chu). This could be amusing. I entirely accept that much of what anonymous do is admirable, and the Phelpses are complete assholes, no two ways about it. However, what stands out to me on reading the missive to which you linked is not the difference but the similarity between the former and the latter. Anonymous’ missive is a masterpiece of self righteous, egotistical wankery. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/55 "2011-02-21T04:39:34Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I entirely accept that much of what anonymous do is admirable, and the Phelpses are complete assholes, no two ways about it. However, what stands out to me on reading the missive to which you linked is not the difference but the similarity between the former and the latter. > > Anonymous’ missive is a masterpiece of self righteous, egotistical wankery. I think that’s why I’m amused. There’s no bad outcome from my perspective. Perhaps they can blow one another up in a giant conflagration of stupidity! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982/56 "2011-02-22T01:20:18Z")
Or then again, [maybe not](http://anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=494). If I gave a shit, I wouldn’t know who to believe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-et-al-stop-calling-the-phelps-family-a-church/569982.md?page=2)