# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/41 "2005-06-07T17:00:59Z")
I think of these folks going all the way to Massachussetts to raise hell over some kids essay. Then I think of all the folks who descended upon Florida for days upon end during the Schiavo business. Then I think to myself; “It must be nice not having to work”. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/42 "2005-06-07T17:10:28Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > 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. (bolding added) Ummmmm… do these people have any idea what a “fag” actually _is_? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/43 "2005-06-07T17:17:05Z")
**Baker** , was the little old lady upset, or did she laugh at the ridiculousness of it? ---
**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, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/44 "2005-06-07T17:53:07Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > **Baker** , was the little old lady upset, or did she laugh at the ridiculousness of it? She never acknowledged hearing them, just went on into the building. Didn’t even look in their direction. Actually, pretending you don’t hear them like that drives them even crazier. Once, in 1993 I think it was, I was with some people from that same church, holding signs that countered the WBC message, stuff like “God Loves Everyone” or “Topeka Doesn’t Hate”, you know really radical stuff! 😃 Fred started yelling at us women about how we were all whores, because we cut our hair. We couldn’t _help_ but laugh and giggle at that(although we were advised not to react to their taunts), so he tried calling the police to have us arrested for disturbing the peace, for laughing too loudly. Believe me, I’m not making any of this up, I can show you tons of pics from my counter-picketing days. That man is scary. Before the church I mentioned got an injunction against them, our picket lines would be intermingled and Fred would walk up and down the sidewalk behing us. I’m not superstitious, but honestly, I felt some kind of chill, when he would pass. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/45 "2005-06-07T18:35:39Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > I can’t wait for the Rapture to sweep up these offensive morons. What would be better is if married homosexuals are the ones who get swept up in the Rapture, while Phelps and his ilk are left scanning the Bible to see what went wrong. The above once appeared in the comic strip [The City](http://www.derfcity.com). ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/46 "2005-06-07T19:03:56Z")
Damn it! :mad: I know this town. I lived near Dracut, in Lowell MA for a few years. I have my mechanic in Dracut. My SO works there as an EMT and knows all the cops and firemen there. I came into this thread hoping to contribute some inside info! Did ya know that the cops there have limited political power in the town? They can’t even afford new cruisers when they want them. Meanwhile the fire department has all the money they need. It’s a little town but they have three huge fire stations. This is because they are connected politically and aren’t afraid to use it. But, alas, there’s no debate here. Just a bunch of religious assholes that nobody in their right mind would support. Certainly nobody on the SDMB. This story might as well be from Anchorage or Albequerque. My contribution is worthless. This is almost as big a disapointment as when Lowell made the Drudge report, but it was only because one old lady beat up another old lady over her having more than 12 items in the fast line at the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/47 "2005-06-07T19:10:26Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > My contribution is worthless. May I have permission to quote this out of context? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/48 "2005-06-07T21:18:28Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > 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. I’ve known some real Baptists that were fairly homophobic, but they tend to stop short of this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/49 "2005-06-08T00:22:09Z")
**Debaser** : The Stupid is strong with them. So strong it drowns out pretty much everything else, making them one-note in an almost cartoonish fashion. If they weren’t real, and really abusive to their children, they would be absurd comedy almost too outlandish to be funny. Don’t feel bad about not having much original to say about the Phelpses and the Weisenheimer Brainless Cult. They are their own parody and counterargument. BTW, I agree with **This Year’s Model** : The quote and the attribution are priceless together and belong in someone’s sig. ---
**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 8, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/50 "2005-06-08T00:50:31Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > 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. Like hell he did. Read the expose linked. What he did was take black clients and file frivolous lawsuits. Then he’d charge them outrageous fees and sue them for not paying. He was eventually disbarred for this kind of shit. No, he was always crazy. He pulls that “civil rights lawyer” crap out to make himself look like a martyr. In the fifties, he made headlines when he launched a crusade against kissing on school campuses, or some shit like that. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/51 "2005-06-08T00:52:53Z")
He’s crazy, but he’s also crafty. He even got Al Gore to pay him a visit, way back when. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev.\_Fred\_Phelps#Affiliations\_with\_Al\_Gore\_and\_Democratic\_Party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Fred_Phelps#Affiliations_with_Al_Gore_and_Democratic_Party) ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/52 "2005-06-08T02:49:27Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > (bolding added) > > Ummmmm… do these people have any idea what a “fag” actually _is_? [Pedant Mode]I believe they believe that any sex out of the missionary position equals sodomy which equals being a “fag,” so it is possible to be a female “fag.”[/PM] That said, Jeezy Chreezy. This is why I hard a hard time telling people that I was brought up Bapist. Not this bat shit insane stuff, but, for lack of a better word, “normal” Bapist. I’m an agnositic now, so whatever. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/53 "2005-06-08T18:47:25Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What pisses me off is the the amount of publicity and attention that these few wingnuts have managed to generate. I understand why you would feel that way but I would have to disagree. I am glad they get all this attention and publicity because of the way I have personally seen it affect others who are anti-gay or homophobic. I have had family members reevaluate how they speak about and act toward gay people because they are so horrified at how looney-tooney these nut jobs look. The result has been an increased tendancy to be open minded, a definite rarity among most Baptisits. ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/54 "2012-02-10T15:27:34Z")
The Westboro Baptist Church is again proving just how vile they are. Know it’s not a big surprise but wanted to record my outrage. “Margie Phelps, daughter of the founder of the church, announced the pickets in a Twitter post on Wednesday. “This is why God’s cursed you w Josh Powells blowing up kids,” she wrote, referring to the state House’s passage of a gay marriage law on Wednesday.” [http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/God-hates-fags-church-to-picket-Powell-boys-3187547.php#ixzz1lzctJLto](http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/God-hates-fags-church-to-picket-Powell-boys-3187547.php#ixzz1lzctJLto) If I can get a sitter I’m going out on Saturday with a big sheet to block these bozos. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/55 "2012-02-10T18:50:32Z")
Don’t hold your breath waiting to see them. Of late they don’t show up for many of the out of state pickets they announce. The only reason they say they will do it is so that it can count in their totaling of how many pickets they’ve done, or scheduled. I see them a couple times a week actually, I’m from Topeka, where the rock the Phelps clan lives under is located. About one Sunday in three they picket my church. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/56 "2012-02-10T18:52:27Z")
Cant’ we just make a Westboro Pit sticky,so we can accumulate all our venom in one never ending thread? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/57 "2012-02-10T19:46:20Z")
I look forward to the day WBC gets eaten by zombies. Although if the zombies are looking for brains, then WBC might be safe. ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151/58 "2012-02-10T22:47:11Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Don’t hold your breath waiting to see them. Of late they don’t show up for many of the out of state pickets they announce. The only reason they say they will do it is so that it can count in their totaling of how many pickets they’ve done, or scheduled. > > I see them a couple times a week actually, I’m from Topeka, where the rock the Phelps clan lives under is located. About one Sunday in three they picket my church. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll look for outside verification of wbc’s presence before heading down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-westboro-baptist-church/307151.md?page=2)