# 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:** 4
### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/61 "2014-03-16T17:45:45Z")
I’m an atheist and think that this is the only life you get.
For that reason, I think it’s a shame that someone spent his so hatefully, so cruelly, so angrily.
The best “revenge” is looking at his life and realizing what a misery it was. We have one shot at joy, and he wasted it.
---
### Author:  [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/62 "2014-03-16T17:46:07Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> You’d only be taking yourself down to the level you believe Fred to be on.
Your brand of arrogance is particularly offsetting. Phelps deserves whatever he gets. Quit admonishing people that it should be any different.
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/63 "2014-03-16T17:47:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> “_Gosh_ darn.”
"Gosh darn _Phred._
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/64 "2014-03-16T19:00:55Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> God is forgiving and loving. He will show Fred to the apartment he picked out just for him in the West Hollywood section of Heaven. God will also introduce Fred to his new roommate Bruce the hairdresser.
“Oh dear, you’re gonna hate Tuesdays…”
---
### Author:  [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/65 "2014-03-16T19:30:01Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#):
>
> Why bother? The biggest show of contempt that you can offer the man would be to ignore his death completely. Show that all of his efforts in life had no impact. The alternative is to reinforce the idea that he did anything that mattered.
I totally agree with this. His entire family is gearing up for a shitstorm and will be gleefully anticipating how they will retaliate and that it means they’ve been right all along. Completely ignoring the whole thing will deflate and baffle the hell out if them. They’ll be so disappointed that they were the only ones showing up for a fight.
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### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/66 "2014-03-16T19:34:13Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#):
>
> \*“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” \*
Surely you’re not implying that people in this thread expressing some level of glee or scorn at his death are equivalent to Phred himself?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/67 "2014-03-16T19:36:54Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#):
>
> \*“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” \*
> [@MaxTheVool](#):
>
> Surely you’re not implying that people in this thread expressing some level of glee or scorn at his death are equivalent to Phred himself?
Oh, dumbfuck lazy moral equivalence. If only I had enough Nobel Prizes to honor all the people who use you. (I presume that’s what they’re after - then they’d finally shut up.)
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### Author:  [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/68 "2014-03-16T21:05:18Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> In an effort to address the good in people in their last days, I remind (or inform for the first time) that in his younger days, Phelps was a defender of civil rights for blacks.
> [Fred Phelps - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps#Civil_rights_cases)
I don’t think he has good in his last days. If he was evil and then turned good later I could overlook the evil but if you are good and then turn evil I think that evil overrules the good.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/69 "2014-03-16T21:11:36Z")
If you, in your dying moment of clarity and fear, repent of all of the evil that you have done during your life, I cannot accept it. Because you have had all of your life to come to that epiphany and have refused it. You have chosen to continue to do evil right up until the moment that you, at long last, see the darkness of the abyss, and realize that you too shall end. I shall not grant you the peace of believing that I forgive all that you have done, or that you bear no further guilt for those crimes.
Carry that weight, like a stone, into the Abyss. I shall not take it from you.
---
### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/70 "2014-03-16T21:22:09Z")
I’m told that one should speak only good of the dead.
Fred Phelps will soon be dead. Good.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/71 "2014-03-16T21:28:55Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> It’s never too late to come back to God.
>
> Never.
So, what your are saying is that Adolf Hitler, the go-to guy for these questions, not only could have, in his last moment of life, come back to God, but also could today, some seventy years later? Because that works for me. Never liked the whole eternal torment thing because people can change.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/72 "2014-03-16T21:31:50Z")
Don’t morticians insert cotton into the rectum to prevent embarrassing postmortem flatulence during funeral services?
If so, I’ll ascribe the faint smile on his corpse’s face to that.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/73 "2014-03-16T21:55:45Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> 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 | PinkNews](http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/03/14/excommunicated-westboro-baptist-church-member-suggests-fred-phelps-might-be-gay/)
>
> Some other linkies:
>
> Daily Kos: [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: [More Voices | Patheos](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/)
Actually, the more I read the first link, the more it sounds like Phred maybe got raped at Westpoint and his life’s subsequent crusade was the coping effort of a broken mind.
Doesn’t absolve the hate and plain evil, but it does make the character more tragic than comedic.
---
### Author:  [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/74 "2014-03-16T21:57:56Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> I wish him and his family the peace and strength they gave to those whose funerals they picketed.
Well, keep in mind that lots of his family never participated in those and were excommunicated by him for doing so.
The OP is talking about Phelps son who was kicked out by his father and actually contributes to LGBT causes.
I was saddened to hear in the OP that he and other family members “excommunicated” aren’t allowed to meet with him.
Them, I feel sorry for and find the rest of the family disgusting.
Phelps himself I have no sympathy for.
When I see how he’s treated his own family I’m reminded of the biblical saying “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind”.
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### Author:  [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/75 "2014-03-16T22:17:06Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#):
>
> Well, keep in mind that lots of his family never participated in those and were excommunicated by him for doing so.
>
> The OP is talking about Phelps son who was kicked out by his father and actually contributes to LGBT causes.
>
> I was saddened to hear in the OP that he and other family members “excommunicated” aren’t allowed to meet with him.
>
> Them, I feel sorry for and find the rest of the family disgusting.
>
> Phelps himself I have no sympathy for.
>
> When I see how he’s treated his own family I’m reminded of the biblical saying “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind”.
When I clicked on this thread, I didn’t think I was reading in the BBQ pit, then I saw y’all’s responses. Funny, but the OP sure doesn’t sound like they are pitting Nathan or Fred Phelps.
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### Author:  [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/76 "2014-03-16T22:18:29Z")
I’ve read some of Nathan Phelps’ posts on reddit a while back. I’m very proud of him getting out of that life of hatred faith.
Exactly why was Fred excommunicated from his own church? Have his faithful followers gotten even more ridiculous?
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/77 "2014-03-16T22:21:26Z")
> [@Locrian](#):
>
> I’ve read some of Nathan Phelps’ posts on reddit a while back. I’m very proud of him getting out of that life of hatred faith.
>
> Exactly why was Fred excommunicated from his own church? Have his faithful followers gotten even more ridiculous?
If it is true he was ousted the reasons haven’t been stated yet, and it’s likely they never would be. If it’s true he’s in the hospice then they are taking care of him physically. Perhaps, instead of “excommunicated” what was meant was “ousted from his position as church leader”
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### Author:  [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/78 "2014-03-16T22:33:10Z")
There is absolutely no criticism (implied or overt) of any responses suggested by this posting; I just truly find it fascinating that Fred Phelps is being talked about in the BBQ Pit (of all places!) in such a civil fashion. 😕😕
If I had anything to say (I don’t) it would probably also be civil, but it just strikes me as so blindingly out of character for the BBQ Pit+Fred Phelps combination.
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### Author:  [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/79 "2014-03-16T22:39:33Z")
I guess someone has to point out the good that has come from his life and actions. The [Patriot Guard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Guard_Riders)formed in protest.
At first, they just went to funerals for troops who were killed in duty and only when invited. But now they (I’d like to say “we” but I only go in missions when I have time, so I’m not a dedicated member) provide comfort and support to families of Veterans and LE no matter how they have fallen. I recently attended a funeral for a Korean Vet. He died of end stage Alzheimer’s. His family seemed comforted by our actions and presence.
If not for Fred, I would have never heard about the funeral, much less been there holding a flag.
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-is-dying/683820/80 "2014-03-16T22:43:11Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> Actually, the more I read the first link, the more it sounds like Phred maybe got raped at Westpoint and his life’s subsequent crusade was the coping effort of a broken mind.
Why on earth are some people trying to make excuses for this jerk?
Some assholes are merely assholes – they’re born that way.
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