# I pit the Westboro Baptist Church **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151 "2005-06-06T16:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/21 "2005-06-06T19:44:47Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Look at the subheadline. Ah. Just as you say. My apologies then. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/22 "2005-06-06T19:56:34Z")
I find it hard to take Phelps and co seriously anymore. I mean, the guy once came here to Pittsburgh in order to picket at the memorial service for Fred Rogers. MISTER FREAKING ROGERS? The guy’s batshit insane. When Jerry Falwell thinks you’re a disgusting homophobe, you might wanna ratchet it back a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/23 "2005-06-06T20:10:24Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I find it hard to take Phelps and co seriously anymore. I mean, the guy once came here to Pittsburgh in order to picket at the memorial service for Fred Rogers. MISTER FREAKING ROGERS? > > The guy’s batshit insane. When Jerry Falwell thinks you’re a disgusting homophobe, you might wanna ratchet it back a bit. At last, something on which we can agree one hundred percent! 🙂 Have you seen his latest? Bush is going to hell now for “making Rumsfeld, the Joint Chiefs, and the whole fag-infested military kiss Mohammad’s ass.” I’d link you to the PDF, but one hit is enough. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/24 "2005-06-06T20:14:56Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I find it hard to take Phelps and co seriously anymore. Anymore? You mean you took them seriously at some point in the past? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/25 "2005-06-06T20:21:39Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > At last, something on which we can agree one hundred percent! 🙂 > > Have you seen his latest? Bush is going to hell now for “making Rumsfeld, the Joint Chiefs, and the whole fag-infested military kiss Mohammad’s ass.” I’d link you to the PDF, but one hit is enough. Yeah-when you can get **Liberal** and I to agree, you’re pretty far gone. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/26 "2005-06-06T20:32:44Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Yeah-when you can get **Liberal** and I to agree, you’re pretty far gone. Hell, when you get me and Falwell to agree, that’s one of the signs of the apocolypse. ---
**Author:** ![Cemetery\_Savior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/27 "2005-06-06T20:59:58Z")
\ I hate when the east-coast paper’s first adjective is “Midwestern”. Not all places more than 20 miles from each coast are hotbeds of raving Bible-lickers. I mean, Dianetics was a good book and all, but you don’t see people crafting a nutball way of life after the content, right? …right? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/28 "2005-06-06T21:14:50Z")
> [@Cemetery Savior](#): > > Not all places more than 20 miles from each coast are hotbeds of raving Bible-lickers. That’s true. There are some real nice places as much as thirty miles inland. Past that, though, it’s pretty much a cultural wasteland. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/29 "2005-06-06T22:31:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s true. There are some real nice places as much as thirty miles inland. Past that, though, it’s pretty much a cultural wasteland. Hey! We’re not a cultural wasteland here in Colorado. Why, we have Focus on the Fami…, umm, Marilyn Musgra…, umm. Look, I’ll get back to you on this one, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/30 "2005-06-07T03:55:17Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s true. There are some real nice places as much as thirty miles inland. Past that, though, it’s pretty much a cultural wasteland. Don’t cry Don’t raise your eye It’s only Red-State Wasteland. 😃 Montana: Republican Presidents, Democratic Governors, Libertarian Residents. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/31 "2005-06-07T09:10:04Z")
Try living in the town the WBC calls home, the way I do. I see them about every other week at my church, plus assorted places during the week. About their signs, and where they show up to picket, it’s not about homosexualtiy exactly, it’s about being seen. They don’t picket(usually) small churches on quiet streets, they picket at bigger congregations on streets that have plenty of traffic. The WBC pickets at all manner of events around town, just to get the “word” out. Fred and his crew are, literally, obscene themselves. The following story is true. I was at a local Episcopal church, on the day of the festival of Pentecost. It’s a custome that folks often wear red clothing to church, to remember the gift of the Holy Spirit. So this little old lady, in a white blouse and red skirt, is hobbling into church, using a cane. And one of the Phelpsites screams at her that she’s wearing a red skirt to hide the blood pouring out of her rectum, due to being a fag. The WBC alleges all manner of violent attacks against them, but they also have physically attacked people, like the minister of the church I was a member of about ten years ago. Went onto church property to do it too, after alleging he tried to attack them with a hammer, while pounding in a sign near them on the church lawn. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/32 "2005-06-07T13:22:40Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Those who are just hearing about Fred Phelps might find this [site](http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/michael_haggerty/expose3.htm) interesting, yet horrifying. Alternate link [here](http://www.10percent.org/exposephelps.html). Fred Phelps is insane in my opinion, as are his followers, which are his mostly children/family and their spouses. I’ve been reading this for the past two days, and this is positively the most horrifying case of non-sexual child abuse I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/33 "2005-06-07T14:37:57Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > The WBC alleges all manner of violent attacks against them, but they also have physically attacked people, like the minister of the church I was a member of about ten years ago. Went onto church property to do it too, after alleging he tried to attack them with a hammer, while pounding in a sign near them on the church lawn. One of these days, i sincerely hope something very bad and very nasty happens to them. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/34 "2005-06-07T14:38:57Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > I’ve been reading this for the past two days, and this is positively the most horrifying case of non-sexual child abuse I’ve ever seen. Of course, Margie Phelps, Fred’s second daughter, has a son, Jacob, who was “adopted”. But they don’t say from where. Hmmmmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/35 "2005-06-07T14:40:54Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > The WBC alleges all manner of violent attacks against them, but they also have physically attacked people, like the minister of the church I was a member of about ten years ago. Went onto church property to do it too, after alleging he tried to attack them with a hammer, while pounding in a sign near them on the church lawn. IIRC, a number of the Phelps clan are lawyers? I seem to recall hearing that they’ll allege an assualt, then sue, and are using that tactic to generate income. Can anyone confirm or debunk that? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/36 "2005-06-07T16:17:59Z")
I never heard of any of these people being lawyers. Further it is hard to imagine suing you in Your Town while they commute from Their Town to make court dates. There are surpassingly few of these people, most of them kin. At least two, I seem to recall work as prison guards. Somehow that creeps me out real bad. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/37 "2005-06-07T16:20:48Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Fred and his crew are, literally, obscene themselves. The following story is true. I was at a local Episcopal church, on the day of the festival of Pentecost. It’s a custome that folks often wear red clothing to church, to remember the gift of the Holy Spirit. So this little old lady, in a white blouse and red skirt, is hobbling into church, using a cane. And one of the Phelpsites screams at her that she’s wearing a red skirt to hide the blood pouring out of her rectum, due to being a fag. :eek: Wow. I mean just…wow. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/38 "2005-06-07T16:24:50Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > I never heard of any of these people being lawyers. Further it is hard to imagine suing you in Your Town while they commute from Their Town to make court dates. Fred himself is a lawyer, and did a lot of work for civil rights causes back in the day, before he turned all crazy and evil. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/39 "2005-06-07T16:40:11Z")
The link **Zabali** posted lists Phelps and several of his children and their spouses as lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/40 "2005-06-07T16:43:26Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > I never heard of any of these people being lawyers. Really? All along I’ve heard that most of them are. Phred hisself has been disbarred, but many of the others still practice. [Here:](http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/default.asp) > [@](#): > > Trained as a lawyer, Fred Phelps was disbarred in 1979 by the Kansas Supreme Court, which asserted that he had “little regard for the ethics of his profession.” The formal complaint against Phelps charged that he misrepresented the truth in a motion for a new trial in a case he had brought, and that he held the defendant in the case up to “unnecessary public ridicule for which there is no basis in fact.” Following his disbarment from Kansas State courts, Phelps continued to practice law in Federal courts. In 1985, nine Federal court judges filed a disciplinary complaint charging him and six of his family members, all attorneys, with making false accusations against them. The Phelpses fought the complaint but lost. In 1989, Fred Phelps agreed to surrender his license to practice law in Federal court in exchange for the Federal judges allowing the other members of his family to continue practicing in Federal court. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151.md?page=3)