The following link is to a column appearing in today’s paper here in Topeka. It just makes me wonder what will happen when Fred finally kicks the bucket,
First, I get the “fag church” statement being hateful…But what is the deal with the girl’s flag?
And who is Fred?
Maybe I am just dense.
Fred.
You’ll probably wish you didn’t know after you read.
The flag was probably burned in response to “fag America” or something, I dunno. These days very few people know.
It’s so sad. The girl’s responses were rote - driven by years of indoctrination and brainwashing. She’s on the cusp of adulthood and hasn’t an independent thought in her head. The older son seems to enjoy only the confrontational aspect of it. While most kids his age rebel by wearing outlandish clothes or dye their hair various shades to stand out from the “norm” with shock value, he uses picketing. Sad. Very sad.
But, hey, it beats burning in Hell for eternity. 
I think those kids have been brainwashed by their families. I feel sorry for them. They’re not allowed to think for themselves. How sad.
Okay, that made me ill.
Oh, my. I had never actually been to the God Hates Fags site. I had no idea that there were assholes of this . . . magnitude. I am confused as to how someone who has never even met a gay person in their insular community could base their entire life activities and belief system on hating them. What an odd deployment of energy.
Wow.
I think having my flesh eternally burnt to a crisp would be preferable to spending much time with these people, so maybe I’ve made the right life choices after all.
Jacob wants a degree in criminal justice? To pursue a career in law enforcement?
Please don’t let that happen.
It’s not natural to go out with your friends? Talk about a cult.
And the fact that the daughter, Rebekah, answers every question with, “At least I won’t burn in Hell!” is just as telling.
How sad. I am going to be hopeful and think that this family is fed by the flame of Fred’s hate and maybe, just maybe, he he finally kicks, that driving force will dissipate.
I hope. 
Esprix
I just had cause to post about Freddie baby in Great Debates. Here’s the thread if you’re interested.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=102530
This thread REALLY belongs in the Pit. Then we could say what we REALLY think.
Gah!
Why, when I know how irritated Phelps makes me, do I read things like that?
Now I need to go smack a racketball around.
Second oldest Phelps daughter Margie works in law enforcement, in the Sheriff’s Dept. on some committee. This group had three days of meeting at the Topeka library last week. I work in the library cafe, where there refreshments came from, and when she was out front arranging the bill I just kept out of sight.
If you go to http://www.godhatesfundies.com there’s a bio of Fred and what it was like growing up as one of his kids.
I cannot harden my heart against his offspring. What he does at funerals pales in comparison to how he treated his own children. About three of his kids will not speak to him at all. Neither will his sister, if I’m not mistaken.
Those kids-they were the worst victims of Fred’s hatred.
Ain’t that the truth. One can only hope that someone will be able to reach them so this madness will not spread.
This is interesting reading if you’ve got this time- it basically talks about growing up as a Phelps.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/michael_haggerty/expose3.htm
Oh.
My.
God.
I just read that link, andygirl, the whole article.
There was a time where I would have said, “Well, he’s an SOB, but at least he believes he’s doing good. He’s at least consistent that he believes he’s warning gay men and lesbians away from something that he believes will send them to Hell.”
I take it all back - every single word.
Put aside the child abuse, the fraud, the disbarment, the tax evasion, the torture, the brainwashing, the manipulation, the hate and the fear. All of that alone changed my mind. But if we’re talking from strictly a “religious” viewpoint (and with him, you know we’re using the word in barely even its Merriam-Webster sense), he states outright that he believes homosexuals cannot be saved under any circumstances. That means he is being hateful just to be hateful.
I never really truly realized that before.
The man is pure, unadulterated evil. Period.
I am sick to my stomach and I’m going to bed. Ugh.
Esprix
You know, aside from the sense of macabre it would bring, I would be really interested in seeing a thorough psychiatric evaluation done of Fred.
But then I’m a glutton for punishment…
I made an error in an earlier post to this thread. Margie Phelps does not work for the Sheriff’s Dept. but for the Dept. of Corrections, the prison system.
I too would love to see a shrink’s report on Phelps.
Esprix-it sounds like Calvinism-you know, we’re all predestined for Heaven or Hell?
I wonder what made the guy pick on gays specifically? It sounds like he’s got some MAJOR problems.
It also sounds like he has the entire town under his thumb-like he’s the town nutbar that you don’t want to cross, because he’s mad as a hatter and dangerous as a constipated rattlesnake. Is that what it’s like in Topeka-is everyone afraid of him?
I have a feeling when he dies, the church will quickly collapse. His kids may even get better-because it sounds like they’re all in denial. As one of his sons said, he deliberately made them outcasts, so that they couldn’t go and seek friends outside of the family-that way he’d have them under control.