# Hey, Baker, how's that Phelps cult coming along? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625 "2025-03-15T19:38:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/1 "2025-03-15T19:38:51Z")
I _think_ it’s **Baker** who lives quite near the compound. Let me know if I’m wrong. I hadn’t thought about them in awhile. Are they still up to their shenanigans, or have they fizzled out? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/2 "2025-03-15T19:59:24Z")
I’ll @ her so she’ll know to see the thread. @Baker ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/3 "2025-03-15T20:13:17Z")
Moderating: As there is no debate framed, this thread is headed to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/4 "2025-03-16T01:15:49Z")
Are you talking about the infamous Fred Phelps clan, from Wichita? From my vantage point, they pop up in the news periodically, and disappear as rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/5 "2025-03-16T01:27:20Z")
Yep, Baker lives in Topeka, home of the Phelps clan. I live near Wichita, about 2 1/2 hours south of Topeka. I follow local/state news rather closely, and I haven’t heard much about the Westboro Baptist Church recently. Baker, of course, would probably know a bit more. The last time I saw those clowns was about 6-7 years ago when I attended a Willie Nelson concert in Wichita. The Phelps family was picketing the concert, I guess because Willie likes to smoke pot? But I haven’t seen/heard of them since then. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/6 "2025-03-16T08:06:31Z")
They are still here but diminished. They were across the street from my church a couple of months ago. Once Pfred was gone another guy who had come to make a documentary about them got converted and took over. Some of the men shoved the women out of any active roles. But now that guy is gone and the daughters are back in. Some of the third generation has left and there aren’t enough to picket multiple places at once anymore. They have to go out of town to get any reaction because after thirty years here they are just part of the landscape. I read a book written by a granddaughter who has left, it was heart breaking. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/7 "2025-03-16T13:41:11Z")
I’m glad to hear that they’re lessening as time goes on. I hope that more of the third generation gets out and that the whole cult just evaporates and dies. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/8 "2025-03-16T23:11:16Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > From my vantage point, they pop up in the news periodically, and disappear as rapidly. At first I misread that last word as “rancidly”. Which also works. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/9 "2025-03-16T23:19:24Z")
The name of the book I mentioned was _Unfollow_, published in 2019, written by Megan Phelps-Roper. As I said it’s heartbreaking, a young woman going from true believer to open minded and feeling she had to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/10 "2025-03-17T22:36:45Z")
I see that the WBC will be picketing at Planet Comicon in K.C. this coming weekend. They note that the Planet Comicon people have suggested appropriate signs for them to carry, but that they’ll be using their Bible-tested ones, thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/11 "2025-03-18T00:41:34Z")
Evidently I (and perhaps Baker as well) am blissfully unaware of the ongoing activities of WBC. A future schedule of their Public Preaching is published on their website. Besides Comicon, they will be present at such godless events as Disney On Ice, Jerry Seinfeld, and Katy Perry. The link to their website is available upon request. I will not publish it here. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/12 "2025-03-19T01:54:00Z")
It has happened in the past that the cult says they will picket at given times and places, just to get things riled up. Then they don’t show. Their goal was always to piss off as many people as possible. The KC event will have people from all over, and they only have to go to one place. The churches they picket are not small congregations on back streets, they are on main drags. They did once picket Our Lady of Guadalupe, but the members drove them off. When they picketed the synagogue Beth Sholom, which is not on a main street, they picketed two blocks away with their anti-Semitic signs. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-baker-hows-that-phelps-cult-coming-along/1015625/13 "2025-03-19T05:30:16Z")
I’ve also heard stories of them showing up, and the news media giving them NO press. When they realized nobody was paying any attention to them, they packed up and left.