# Fred Phelps falls off the edge of the world... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 21, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154 "2005-06-21T03:02:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/21 "2005-06-21T13:01:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > This is not possible. There is a limit even to dark, unreasoning hatreds. A man consecrated to the service of Jesus would not contemplate such a thing as this. Even a debased and vile person has enough rationality to know when he is unpinning a hand grenade and pounding it up his own ass. > > Just as divine and merciful miracles are impossible, because they offend any notion of reason and causation, so are miracles of malignant malice impossible, and therefore they cannot, and therefore did not, happen. > > And I will refuse to believe it, despite any evidence offered. > > It ain’t so, because it can’t be so. If you have the time, [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/michael\_haggerty/expose3.htm](http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/michael_haggerty/expose3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/22 "2005-06-21T16:06:09Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > This is not possible. There is a limit even to dark, unreasoning hatreds. A man consecrated to the service of Jesus would not contemplate such a thing as this. Even a debased and vile person has enough rationality to know when he is unpinning a hand grenade and pounding it up his own ass. Yup. Hating fags so much you’ll picket the funeral of the _grandmother_ of someone who _might_ have done something nice for gay people == normal and rational. Hating soldiers == round the twist. Seriously, don’t you think he reached the “limit for dark, unreasoning hatred” about ten or fifteen years ago? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/23 "2005-06-21T16:48:29Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Sooner or later, that man is going to get very, very badly hurt. One can only hope that a large contingent of relatives and war vets is there the same time he is, and gives him some “corrective instruction”. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/24 "2005-06-21T16:51:17Z")
He and his little goonies picketed the memorial service for Mr. Rogers. Really, I think that says all that needs to be said about him. To paraphrase: He is an utter fuckwicket. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/25 "2005-06-21T16:52:20Z")
I just looked at that godhatesamerica website. What a disgusting bastard. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/26 "2005-06-21T17:08:07Z")
Wait’ll news of this gets around to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pissing off hundreds of thousands of Americans trained to handle firearms, plus their families and friends, can’t be a smart idea. Fred & co. will be lucky if the worst thing that happens to them is some angry picketing at their compound. I wonder if military funerals enjoy any special protection in law from offensive or trespassing picketers than other funerals… and if an anti-Phelps activist lawyer could file a motion pinning them on some obscure ordinance concerning political harrassment of funereal parties, slander or funereal desecrations during times of war, etc. I’d like to see Phelps do this at a place like Arlington National. That’d bring in the big networks and stir up a shitstorm of public condemnation. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/27 "2005-06-21T17:14:52Z")
Phelps has _been_ on national before. Remember Matthhew Shephard’s funeral? And he made all four major news services when he picketed the funeral of Randy Shilts, reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and author of And The Band Played On. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/28 "2005-06-21T20:50:11Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > I wonder if military funerals enjoy any special protection in law from offensive or trespassing picketers than other funerals… I do not believe so. Most people wouldn’t think it would be necessary, but with Phelps running free, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Rythm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Suburban\_Rythm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Rythm)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/29 "2005-06-21T20:56:38Z")
That pain in your frontal lobe? Yeah. You just got dumber for having read that site. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/30 "2005-06-21T21:16:27Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Hating fags so much you’ll picket the funeral of the _grandmother_ of someone who _might_ have done something nice for gay people == normal and rational. Well, more than that. Phelps has announced he’s going to picket Jerry Falwell’s funeral when he dies, because, while Falwell thinks that homosexuality is evil and that gays shouldn’t be allowed rights like marriage, adoption, or protection against discrimination, he also thinks that God still loves gay people. So, he’ll even picket you for not disliking gay people enough. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/31 "2005-06-21T21:36:43Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > But how _destructive_ can he be when nobody pays him any credence because he is a fucken loon? > > Like, seriously, how many members of his _church_ are there? > > There are freakazoids in every society (although I have to admit there seem to be more per capita in the USA than anywhere else), but that doesn’t mean we have to take notice of them. > > Just let them alone…they will eventually run out of oxygen and die. 😃 If one person feels validated by seeing/hearing him he does harm. With the comments he made about Matthew Shepherd after his murder, he did harm to the Shepherd family. Even the strongest person can be hurt while grieving by a sadistic monster hurling vile epithets about the loved one now lost. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/32 "2005-06-21T21:37:33Z")
Is there any explanation for how Phelps became the way he is? ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/33 "2005-06-21T21:40:08Z")
> [@MackoUr](#): > > (aren’t they mostly his family?) Yeah, and a nasty bunch of happy assholes they are, too. Honestly, I would be thrilled to turn on the news only to hear that the Phuckers had finally picketed the wrong funeral and had been eliminated with extreme prejudice. The world would be a helluva lot better off. Waste ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/34 "2005-06-21T21:51:10Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Is there any explanation for how Phelps became the way he is? He lay sleeping beneath the sea for eons, until the mad prophet opened the Necronomicon and recited the cursed words within. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/35 "2005-06-21T22:56:05Z")
Your comparison slanders Cthulu. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/36 "2005-06-21T23:00:04Z")
Your spelling blasphemes Cthulhu. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Crimmsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Crimmsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crimmsy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/37 "2005-06-21T23:06:02Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Is there any explanation for how Phelps became the way he is? [this site](http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/michael_haggerty/expose3.htm) paints a fairly detailed picture of him and his family. It’s a sickening story. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/38 "2005-06-21T23:13:48Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Is there any explanation for how Phelps became the way he is? He’s a closet gay. He hates himself. So he takes it out on everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/39 "2005-06-21T23:14:51Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Your spelling blasphemes Cthulhu. Oooh! If I blaspheme, can I get eaten first? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154/40 "2005-06-21T23:19:04Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > He’s a closet gay. He hates himself. > > So he takes it out on everyone else. Rather than taking it out on the gays by coming out and coming on to them. **Ew**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-falls-off-the-edge-of-the-world/309154.md?page=3)