# Fred Phelps is dying.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 16, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820 "2014-03-16T05:20:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/21 "2014-03-16T07:45:25Z")
Death is how nature cures the hate-filled. Nothing of value was lost, beyond the missed opportunity for human flesh to be worth more than the sum of his parts.
With each successive generation that particular brand of bile is slowly seeping deep into the cracks of the earth, and passing into oblivion. When we gain the wisdom to reject that kind of thinking, and we pass it on to the next generation, we improve all of mankind, forever. Wisdom gained is seldom lost.
Every personal victory over ignorance is worth a thousand losses, for that victory echoes throughout history, through each successive generation. Every loss is but the status quo, and every failure ending in death is merely another chance for someone else to achieve something better.
I celebrate every person who learned of his philosophy and rejected it out of hand, and there are far, far more of those on this earth than the opposition.
I take no pleasure in this man’s failures, or his death, but all I see in his absence are better and more hopeful opportunities for all of us. I simply cannot mourn any of this.
Warm regards to his family members who care for him despite his views, and especially to those who cared for him as a person but rejected his terrible ideas.
---
### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/22 "2014-03-16T07:45:59Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> _needle scratching sound_ Wait, what ? When did that happen, why, how, wherefore ? I thought he was the ironfisted guru telling everyone what to do and applying god’s own coercion and/or shunning on those who refused ?
Well, if he’s dying, it must be because God is punishing him for not hating gays hard enough.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/23 "2014-03-16T09:03:21Z")
I hadn’t heard of any of this.
I also wasn’t aware that any of his children had renounced the WBC faith – although I knew that some of his grandkids had.
Me too, I’m curious what that ex-communication was all about.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/24 "2014-03-16T09:17:08Z")
An excommunicated member of the WBC asks if Fred himself might have been secretly gay.
> **[Excommunicated Westboro Baptist Church member suggests Fred Phelps might be gay](https://www.thepinknews.com/2013/03/14/excommunicated-westboro-baptist-church-member-suggests-fred-phelps-might-be-gay/)**
>
> A former member of the adamantly homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, also know as the ‘God Hates Fags’ church, has spoken out about the church's controversial leader, and said that she thought he could be gay.
Some other linkies:
Daily Kos: [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/16/1285133/-Fred-Phelps-of-Westboro-Baptist-Protests-Near-Death](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/16/1285133/-Fred-Phelps-of-Westboro-Baptist-Protests-Near-Death)
Patheos: [Nonreligious Questions](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/15/fred-phelps-founder-of-the-god-hates-fags-westboro-baptist-church-is-on-the-edge-of-death/)
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/25 "2014-03-16T11:07:13Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> I’m curious what that ex-communication was all about.
He was caught sucking off a fireman.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/26 "2014-03-16T11:46:29Z")
The ironic thing about this is, that if there really was a God, like the one Fred believed in, that cared about us he would have long ago killed Fred.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/27 "2014-03-16T11:48:16Z")
> [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#):
>
> He was caught sucking off a fireman.
Well if it’s excommunication he was probably sucking off a network engineer.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/28 "2014-03-16T12:20:29Z")
Well, if God exists, then Fred will soon get a chance to be judged as he has judged others. Not even remotely a position I would wish to be in, given the awfulness that he has ascribed to God.
And really, even if God existed and he was forgiven and taken into heaven? Still a bit of hell to spend that eternity knowing the pain and suffering he had inflicted upon the world. And I mean, really KNOW it. To know the harm he did, to know how wrong he was. For all eternity.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/29 "2014-03-16T12:26:39Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> The ironic thing about this is, that if there really was a God, like the one Fred believed in, that cared about us he would have long ago killed Fred.
I think the ironic part will be in how his followers decide to mourn his passing. I mean, do they go to his funeral?
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/30 "2014-03-16T12:32:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> I think the ironic part will be in how his followers decide to mourn his passing. I mean, do they go to his funeral?
Be funny as hell if they protested it.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/31 "2014-03-16T12:40:51Z")
Couple of questions:
How does one get ‘excommunicated’ from your own, made up, church?
Has Nathan or any other offspring ever, before this moment, publicly spoken out against the fathers hateful ways?
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/32 "2014-03-16T12:57:39Z")
> [@elbows](#):
>
> Couple of questions:
>
> How does one get ‘excommunicated’ from your own, made up, church?
>
> Has Nathan or any other offspring ever, before this moment, publicly spoken out against the fathers hateful ways?
No one should be surprised- Fred’s daughters have been running the show for a long time, and he’d been pushed into the background ages ago. His daughters had been treating him like a nuisance and an old crank for years.
And yes, Nathan has spoken out publicly against his family many time before. Here’s a speech he gave at a “Rally for Reason,” with many of his angry relatives present and shouting at him. I myself am a faithful Catholic, but it’s hard not to feel for Nathan or to admire him.
> **[Nonreligious Questions](https://www.patheos.com/nonreligious-questions/)**
>
> Whether you’ve been turned off by religion in the past or have a question about one of the world’s religions, check out what Patheos has to offer.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/33 "2014-03-16T13:07:58Z")
No one should be surprised he’s been excommunicated from his own made up church?
Did he make up a church where his daughters have the power to 'excommunicate ’ him?
How is ‘excommunicated’ even applicable to a made up church?
Who makes themselves head of their own church and empowers others to unseat them?
Just when you thought they couldn’t appear any stupider, they do!
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### Author:  [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/34 "2014-03-16T13:12:50Z")
> [@elbows](#):
>
> How is ‘excommunicated’ even applicable to a made up church?
Procedure sounds just the same as all the real churches if you ask me.
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### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/35 "2014-03-16T13:18:31Z")
> [@elbows](#):
>
> No one should be surprised he’s been excommunicated from his own made up church?
>
> Did he make up a church where his daughters have the power to 'excommunicate ’ him?
>
> How is ‘excommunicated’ even applicable to a made up church?
>
> Who makes themselves head of their own church and empowers others to unseat them?
>
> Just when you thought they couldn’t appear any stupider, they do!
Well, all churches are “made up” at some point by someone.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/36 "2014-03-16T13:20:44Z")
> [@elbows](#):
>
> No one should be surprised he’s been excommunicated from his own made up church?
>
> Did he make up a church where his daughters have the power to 'excommunicate ’ him?
>
> How is ‘excommunicated’ even applicable to a made up church?
>
> Who makes themselves head of their own church and empowers others to unseat them?
>
> Just when you thought they couldn’t appear any stupider, they do!
In a very small (it’s nothing but family, and has no other members) church, it’s completely unsurprising that a nasty, unpleasant old crank could be deposed by younger, more energetic family members.
And to anyone who was paying attention, it’s been obvious for years that Fred Phelps wasn’t the boss of his family any more.
The only thing that’s surprising is that his daughters formally “excommunicated him,” when they could/should just have locked the old coot away from the world and pretended he was too sick to attend the latest protest.
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### Author:  [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/37 "2014-03-16T13:21:21Z")
Since we are both going to die my only consolation is that Fred Phelps will be dying before me. I’d protest at his funeral…but then I’m not a classless asshole.
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/38 "2014-03-16T13:23:35Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#):
>
> Since we are both going to die my only consolation is that Fred Phelps will be dying before me. I’d protest at his funeral…but then I’m not a classless asshole.
I won’t shed a tear if others are more “classless” than I am, though.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/39 "2014-03-16T13:34:29Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> The ironic thing about this is, that if there really was a God, like the one Fred believed in, that cared about us he would have long ago killed Fred.
No, that truly is not what God is like. God loves everyone. He may be disappointed or very angry with the choices they make, but, like a parent, he never stops hoping they will reform and turn back to him.
**I live in Topeka**. I’ve seen Fred in years past, and stood on picket lines against him, close enough to touch. He was a dreadful, evil man as he was.
But after a lot of thinking and prayer I have come to realize that if I believe that Saul of Tarsus(the Fred of his day) could become Paul, professing God and dying for him, then that could happen for Fred too. It’s never too late to come back to God.
Never.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/40 "2014-03-16T13:46:51Z")
May he be comforted by the knowledge that his funeral will be well attended.
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