# Fred Phelps is dead.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 20, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169 "2014-03-20T17:59:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/1 "2014-03-20T17:59:54Z")
[Link from the CBC.](http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fred-phelps-sr-founder-of-westboro-baptist-church-dies-at-84-1.2580252)
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/2 "2014-03-20T18:36:57Z")
TMZ has a nice little thing on him
> **[Fred Phelps Dead -- Westboro Baptist Church Founder Dies](https://www.tmz.com/2014/03/20/fred-phelps-dead-westboro-baptist-church/)**
In case that gets changed or for those that don’t want to click on the link, it’s nothing more then a TMZ page with a headline that says that Fred Phelps is dead and video of Celebration by Kool & The Gang
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### Author:  [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/3 "2014-03-20T18:37:34Z")
If this is out of line, mods, I am very, very sorry.
But good fucking riddance to bad rubbish.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/4 "2014-03-20T18:45:09Z")
More of the group have been leaving, most recently Shirley’s two daughters. With any luck, this will help finish the group off.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/5 "2014-03-20T18:46:42Z")
The universe just got a tiny bit less sucky.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/6 "2014-03-20T19:15:35Z")
God must have killed him for being too soft on gays.
I wonder if WBC will protest at his funeral.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/7 "2014-03-20T19:20:40Z")
I guess God hates Phelps.
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### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/8 "2014-03-20T19:52:21Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#):
>
> God must have killed him for being too soft on gays.
>
> I wonder if WBC will protest at his funeral.
I heard somewhere (heard, not read, so I don’t have a cite and what I heard may not be true of course) that his family actually had the audacity to say they want the funeral to be a private matter.
Either that wasn’t really said or (if it was) they’re massively trolling us (which is what they usually do every other time, I think).
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/9 "2014-03-20T19:58:20Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> TMZ has a nice little thing on him]
Out-fuggin’-standing. I don’t have a lot of use for TMZ’s brand of celeb obsession, but this entry redeems their occasional excesses. One of the editors must have looked up “subtle” in wikiwords. 😃
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/10 "2014-03-20T20:03:05Z")
On the one hand, my first thought is “and STAY down, you redneck bastard.” On the other hand, I do grieve - it really is a shame that a guy with so much obvious ability would use it in such shameful ways. It really is an object lesson for all of us - Fred Phelps’ life is a great example of what not to do.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/11 "2014-03-20T20:03:49Z")
What ability is that?
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/12 "2014-03-20T20:12:04Z")
To be a self-aggrandizing media whore with a willingness to do anything for attention and outrage. When you give the likes of Lady Gaga and Lindsay Lohan a bad name, you really need to take your life in review.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/13 "2014-03-20T20:14:17Z")
Oh, yeah, if only he’d used those powers for _good_. Like, um, some noble media whore whose name I can’t think of. At least Lady Gaga can sing.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/14 "2014-03-20T20:20:58Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com)’s coverage: [http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/westboro-church-founder-dead/index.html?hpt=hp\_c2](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/westboro-church-founder-dead/index.html?hpt=hp_c2)
Clarence Darrow is said to have once remarked, “I never wished anyone dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with a great deal of satisfaction.”
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/15 "2014-03-20T20:26:17Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> What ability is that?
Organizing, promotion, personal energy. Wouldn’t you like to have a guy as dedicated as Fred Phelps working for a good cause?
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/16 "2014-03-20T20:50:38Z")
e.g. What if Hitler focused on being a painter instead of a genocidal dictator.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/17 "2014-03-20T20:52:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> [CNN.com](http://CNN.com)’s coverage: [http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/westboro-church-founder-dead/index.html?hpt=hp\_c2](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/westboro-church-founder-dead/index.html?hpt=hp_c2)
>
> Clarence Darrow is said to have once remarked, “I never wished anyone dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with a great deal of satisfaction.”
Only lawyers, priests and philosophy majors can split hairs that finely. 😃
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/18 "2014-03-20T20:57:59Z")
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> Organizing, promotion, personal energy. Wouldn’t you like to have a guy as dedicated as Fred Phelps working for a good cause?
I don’t think he had any cause other than himself, and he didn’t build anything. He has a pariah church of around 40 people, most of whom are his psychologically abused relatives, and in the end they kicked him out - and I read that his daughters are now out of power, too, which serves them all right. And there’s already a WBC splinter faction. So as tiny as it is, it’ll still probably collapse further. Having energy is a good thing, but he didn’t have energy so much as he had hateful egomania.
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### Author:  [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/19 "2014-03-20T20:58:07Z")
Another one bites the dust.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dead/684169/20 "2014-03-20T21:21:20Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> e.g. What if Hitler focused on being a painter instead of a genocidal dictator.
>
> Stranger
We got to Hitler in only 16 posts; not a record, but admirable nonetheless.
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