Westboro Baptist Church
Thank God for dead soldiers. That was one of the slogans carried by members of the Westboro Baptist Church, an unaffiliated Primitive Baptist congregation in Topeka, Kansas. In 2016, Forbes counted about 70 members. Most of them belong to a single extended family, the relatives of the church's founder, Fred Phelps. The church is widely considered a hate group and a cult. It is best known for protests against gay people. It also directs hate speech at atheists, Jews, Muslims, transgender people and other Christian denominations. This documentary asks how so small a group became so famous, and what its members actually believe. It asks how the group pays for its travel, and why lawmakers and judges kept having to answer it. It also asks why so many of Fred Phelps's own children and grandchildren walked away.
On the 27th of November 1955, Westboro Baptist Church held its first public service on the west side of Topeka. It began as a church plant of East Side Baptist Church, which had been established in 1931 on the east side of the city. East Side hired Fred Phelps as an associate pastor in 1954. By 1955 he was pastor of the new congregation. Once Westboro was running, Phelps broke ties with East Side and made the church independent of any denomination. His vitriolic preaching drove away nearly the entire original congregation. Some members returned to East Side, and others joined different churches. He was left with a small following made up almost entirely of relatives and close friends.
Phelps had been a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The church's public campaign against homosexuality began much later, in 1989. It started after members discovered what they called a tearoom, meaning a public lavatory used for homosexual interactions. In 1991 the group began picketing Gage Park, six blocks northwest of its Topeka headquarters. Members said the park was a den of anonymous homosexual activity. The protests soon spread across the city, and within three years the church was traveling across the country. In 1994 Phelps explained that he took the negative reaction to his picketing as proof of his own righteousness.
The sanctuary displays the acronym TULIP prominently at the front, a summary of five-point Calvinism. Westboro Baptists believe in limited atonement, unconditional election, and double predestination, meaning God has already chosen both the saved and the damned. According to the scholar Rebecca Barrett-Fox, that belief can weigh heavily on members, and on those who leave. Her dissertation labels the theology Hyper-Calvinist. She reports that members see moral living as a sign of election. Because the saved are already chosen, members say they preach to the public not to save anyone but to spread a message of obedience to God.
The church sees itself as part of the Primitive Baptist movement. That identity shows in its style of worship, its approach to church discipline and its liturgical preferences. Members also claim a separatist, antiestablishment lineage. They attend a weekly service and follow what the church calls a literal reading of the Bible. Members also believe that all disasters and catastrophes come from the hand of God.
Every day, members of the church picket in Topeka. They also travel nationally to protest at the funerals of gay murder victims and of people who died from complications related to AIDS. They have picketed Kansas City Chiefs football games and live pop concerts. At its peak, the group could picket roughly 15 churches in a single day, most in Topeka and some farther afield. It also protested at the funerals of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the West Nickel Mines School shooting. Alongside those high-profile events, it protested many local, low-profile ones. Members are known to deface the American flag or fly it upside down, which draws counter-protests.
The church keeps its pickets legal. Members stay non-violent and obtain the proper permits, which helps them avoid legal trouble. Even so, the picketing of military funerals is what brought the group its greatest attention. That spotlight gave the church vast attention for its small size. On two occasions, the church accepted offers of radio air time in exchange for canceling an announced protest. The group also records parody songs. Steve Drain, its public information officer, told Vice News: "When we make our choice of songs, that really revolves around mostly popularity. It's mostly mainstream stuff, the whole idea of our doing parodies is to preach."
On the 20th of August 1995, a pipe bomb exploded outside the home of Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of Fred Phelps. The blast damaged an SUV, a fence and part of the house, but nobody was hurt. In 1996 two men were arrested and charged, and both admitted causing the explosion. They had mistaken the house for the pastor's. They wanted to retaliate for the church's anti-gay protests at Washburn University. One of the bombers was fined $1,751 and sentenced to 16 days in prison plus 100 hours of community service.
The Anti-Defamation League calls the church "virulently homophobic". It says the group's anti-gay rhetoric often covers for antisemitism, anti-Americanism, racism and hatred of other Christian groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center added the church to its list of hate groups for its homophobia. Members have also blamed homosexuals for mass-casualty events such as the September 11 attacks.
In 1996, Phelps launched a campaign called "Topeka's Baptist Holocaust". He claimed that attacks on church picketers were organized by Jews and homosexuals rather than random. The Anti-Defamation League keeps a sampling of the church's fliers about Judaism on its website. Margie Phelps, an attorney for the church, later said in an interview that the group targeted the American Jewish community because members had spent 19 years warning that America was doomed.
Jael Phelps said in a 2011 interview that church members publicly burned a copy of the Quran while a Muslim man scolded them. They then picketed the funeral of that man's wife the following week. In 2010, the church had said it would burn a Quran again. Margie Phelps told Fox News that Barack Obama would "absolutely" go to Hell and was "most likely the Beast spoken of in the Revelation." On the 20th of January 2013, church picketers protested his second inauguration. They carried a legal permit and signs that called him the Antichrist.
Eleven of Fred Phelps's thirteen children are lawyers. All five lawyers at Phelps Chartered, the family law firm, are his children. Phelps founded the firm in 1964, and it has since been used to sue communities that are targets of the church's protests. The firm represents the church in its own lawsuits. When it wins, the fees can help fund the organization under the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976. The federal government considers the church a nonprofit organization, so it pays no taxes.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says the church is funded entirely from within and accepts no outside donations. Members of the Phelps family are expected to give ten percent of their earnings. The church's travel costs have run as high as $200,000 a year. One follower estimated that the organization spends $250,000 a year on picketing. Lawsuits have brought money back in. In the 1990s the firm sued the city of Topeka several times. It also won a series of cases against Topeka and Shawnee County over efforts to prevent or hinder picketing. Those cases brought in approximately $200,000 in attorney's fees and costs. The firm also collected $16,500 in legal fees from a case won against a Marine's bereaved father.
The family has also been on the receiving end of the law. In 1995, Fred Phelps's eldest grandson, Benjamin Phelps, was convicted of assault and disorderly conduct after spitting in a passerby's face during a picket. In 2004, Margie Phelps and her son Jacob were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct and failure to obey after ignoring a police officer's order. In June 2007, Shirley Phelps-Roper was arrested in Nebraska and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Her ten-year-old son had stepped on a U.S. flag during a demonstration, which Nebraska law forbids. Prosecutors later dropped the charges.
On the 14th of July 2006, Mundy Township, Michigan, billed the church $5,000. The church had told authorities on the 28th of June that it planned a protest at the Swartz Funeral Home. The police chief said the bill followed the church's failure to keep a verbal contract for security. A Phelps daughter claimed the Holy Ghost had told them not to fly to Michigan, even though they had bought airline tickets. Security at the Webb funeral had been heavy, with 15 fire trucks and officers from nearby jurisdictions. The township later said it would not pursue the matter.
A Topeka lawyer named Pedro Irigonegaray found a novel way to fight back. Phelps Chartered had sued a person who filed a criminal complaint against a church member, alleging emotional damage. Irigonegaray's team asked the court to let a psychiatrist evaluate the Phelps family members to measure that supposed damage. The Phelps firm settled without delay.
In Indiana, a bill introduced in the General Assembly would have made it a felony to protest within 500 feet of a funeral. Shortly before it was signed, church members threatened to protest in Kokomo at the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq. On the 11th of January 2006, a committee passed the bill unanimously, 11-0. Church members traveled to Kokomo, but were not seen during or after the service. On the 23rd of May 2006, Michigan banned intentional disruption of funerals within 500 feet of the ceremony. Six days earlier, on the 17th of May 2006, Illinois enacted Senate Bill 1144, the "Let Them Rest In Peace Act", to shield grieving military families.
The federal response came from Mike Rogers, a Republican member of the House, who introduced the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act on the 29th of March 2006. The House passed the bipartisan bill 408-3, and the Senate approved it unanimously. President George W. Bush signed it into law on the 29th of May 2006, at a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. The law bars protests within 300 feet of the entrance of any cemetery under the National Cemetery Administration. The ban runs from 60 minutes before a funeral to 60 minutes after it.
Arizona acted fastest. On the 11th of January 2011, the state held an emergency legislative session to bar protests within 300 feet of a funeral and within an hour of its start or end. The governor swiftly signed the bill ahead of the funeral on the 12th of January for those killed in the 2011 Tucson shooting.
On the 2nd of August 2012, Congress passed another bill restricting demonstrators at military funerals. President Obama signed it four days later and condemned the church. The bill was motivated primarily by the church's protests at memorial services. It mandates staying at least 300 feet, or 91 meters, away from funerals and from the homes of family members. That distance applies from two hours before a funeral to two hours after. Several petitions to the White House had asked Obama to recognize the church legally as a hate group, revoke its tax exemption as a religious organization, and ban protests at funerals and memorial services. The church condemned the restrictions.
On the 10th of March 2006, church members picketed the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew A. Snyder in Westminster, Maryland. The picket was cordoned off, held about 1000 feet from the church, and lasted roughly 30 minutes before the funeral began. Snyder's father, Albert, sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He named Fred Phelps, Rebekah Phelps-Davis and Shirley Phelps-Roper. He alleged they had published defamatory statements on the internet, including that he and his wife had "raised Matthew for the devil". Other statements denounced them for raising their son Catholic. The defamation count was dismissed on First Amendment grounds, but the other two counts went to trial.
District Judge Richard D. Bennett told the jury to decide whether the defendants' actions were highly offensive to a reasonable person. The jury also had to decide whether the actions were extreme and outrageous, and so shocking as to lose First Amendment protection. On the 31st of October 2007, the jury found Phelps, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis liable for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It awarded Snyder a total of $10,900,000. That figure combined $2.9 million in compensatory damages, $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy, and $2 million for causing emotional distress. On the 4th of February 2008, Bennett upheld the verdict but cut the punitive damages to $2.1 million. He ordered liens on church buildings and on Phelps's law office.
On the 24th of September 2009, a federal appeals court reversed the award. It held that the picket near the funeral was protected speech involving matters of public concern. Those included homosexuals in the military, the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, and the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens. On the 30th of March 2010, the court ordered Snyder to pay the church's court costs of over $16,000. Snyder's attorneys called that "adding insult to injury".
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on the 8th of March 2010. In May of that year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 42 other senators filed a brief supporting Snyder. On the 1st of June, Kansas Attorney General Stephen Six filed a separate brief for Snyder, joined by the attorneys general of 47 other states and the District of Columbia. Several news and civil rights organizations filed briefs supporting Phelps.
The Court ruled for Phelps on the 2nd of March 2011, by a vote of 8-1. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: "What Westboro said, in the whole context of how and where it chose to say it, is entitled to 'special protection' under the First Amendment and that protection cannot be overcome by a jury finding that the picketing was outrageous."
In August 2008, Canadian officials learned that the church planned to protest the funeral of Tim McLean, a Winnipeg resident killed on a bus. The planned message was that his murder was God's response to Canadian laws permitting abortion, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage. Canada barred church members from entering the country. In February 2009, British news sources found that the church had announced on its website a picket of a youth production of The Laramie Project. The production was to be held at Central Studio, Queen Mary's College, in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on the 20th of February 2009. It would have been the church's first picket in the United Kingdom.
Members of Parliament, LGBTQ groups and lobbyists appealed to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to block the group. On the 18th of February 2009, the Home Office announced that Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper would be excluded for "unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities". It added that other members could be flagged and stopped if they tried to enter. The next day, six British religious groups issued a joint statement backing the ban. They included the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Evangelical Alliance. Their statement said: "We do not share their hatred of lesbian and gay people."
The Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, two of the largest Baptist groups, have also denounced the church. The evangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. called Fred Phelps "a first-class nut". The church picketed Falwell's funeral on the 22nd of May 2007. In 2013, the Christian rock band Five Iron Frenzy recorded a song titled "God Hates Flags", with the lyric "If God is love you got it wrong waving all your placards and flags".
Counter-protesters have sometimes numbered in the hundreds or thousands. Many carry humorous signs, the most common reading "God hates figs". It echoes the Bible story of Jesus causing a fig tree to wither. Such signs appeared at counter-protests in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and at the University of Chicago. They also showed up at the Rally to Restore Sanity, which had nothing to do with the church. The American Civil Liberties Union and others praised the satire. Other signs read "God Hates Fred Phelps", "God Hates Bags" and "God Hates Shrimp". The dysfunctional Cooper family in Kevin Smith's 2011 film Red State was reportedly inspired by the church.
Some critics say the church is merely seeking publicity and that ignoring it would work better than counter-protesting. Bill O'Reilly called the group "evil and despicable" and offered to pay Albert Snyder's legal costs during the Supreme Court case. Michael Moore and the rapper Mac Lethal also criticized the group. In 2010 the church wrote a parody of the song "Crazy Train" for a picket held during the Snyder v. Phelps hearing. Ozzy Osbourne responded: "I am sickened and disgusted by the use of 'Crazy Train' to promote messages of hate and evil by a 'church.'"
Television has repeatedly examined the family. In 2005, British Sky Broadcasting used hidden cameras to film two of Phelps's granddaughters, Libby and Jael. On the 1st of April 2007, BBC Two aired Louis Theroux's The Most Hated Family in America. Theroux asked Shirley Phelps-Roper whether the protests might put people off the Word of Jesus Christ. She replied: "You think our job is to win souls to Christ. All we do, by getting in their face and putting these signs in front of them and these plain words, is make what's already in their heart come out of their mouth." During filming, the church picketed a local appliance store for selling Swedish vacuum cleaners. Members viewed that as supporting gay people because Sweden had prosecuted a pastor named Åke Green.
On the 5th of June 2007, the ITV talk show The Jeremy Kyle Show invited Shirley Phelps-Roper and her daughters to speak by satellite. Kyle called the Phelps children "completely and utterly brainwashed". Later that month, the Channel 4 documentary Keith Allen Will Burn in Hell had Phelps-Roper admit on camera that her oldest son, Samuel, was born out of wedlock. Theroux returned on the 3rd of April 2011 with America's Most Hated Family in Crisis, which documented the departure of several young members. A third film, Surviving America's Most Hated Family, followed in 2019.
Mark Phelps, a son of Fred Phelps, left the church in 1973. He began what he called formal healing therapy in 1988, and was re-baptized in a local church in 1994. He said: "If I had to take my family to court and convict them of being followers of Christ, I am not sure where I would find the evidence." His brother Nathan left on his 18th birthday in 1976. Nathan has said he never had a relationship with his father, and that the church is a place for his father to vent his rage. He has also said that his father beat his wife and children with his fists and with the handle of a mattock, to the point of bleeding. Mark has supported and repeated those claims.
Since 2004, over 20 members of the church, mostly family, have left it and the Phelps family. In 2011 Forbes counted 80 members. Several of those who left have accused the church of brainwashing. Lauren Drain was excommunicated in 2008. She published an autobiography titled Banished in March 2013. In it she describes children like herself as brainwashed into the belief system, and she describes the consequences for questioning it, including her own banishment.
Libby Phelps-Alvarez, a granddaughter of Fred Phelps, left in 2009. Her book Girl on a Wire: Walking the Line Between Faith and Freedom came out in 2017 and documents her years inside the church. She is now an advocate for gay equality. Megan Phelps-Roper left in 2012 together with her sister Grace, and explained her reasons in a TED talk. Her book is titled Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope. She has noted that four of her siblings have also left. Her brother Zach became the fourth sibling of the Phelps-Roper family to leave, after Megan, Grace, Joshua and Noah. Zach tried to leave five times before he finally succeeded in 2014, when his views began to change. He now preaches about a life of empathy and unconditional love.
In March 2014, Nathan Phelps posted on Facebook that his father was in a hospice in Topeka and near death. He added that Fred had been excommunicated from the church around August 2013, for unclear reasons. Mark later reaffirmed those assertions. Nathan had predicted a leadership and theological crisis once Fred died, because Fred was the binding figure. He also noted that the church's beliefs hold that members are immortal, which a member's death would disprove. Church spokesperson Steve Drain denied that Fred was near death and refused to confirm the excommunication. Fred Phelps died of natural causes three days later, on the 19th of March 2014. A church spokesperson said the group had not had a defined leader "for a very long time". Shirley Phelps-Roper announced there would be no funeral, because Westboro does not "worship the dead".
Updated
Common questions
What is the Westboro Baptist Church?
The Westboro Baptist Church is an unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group and a cult, and it is best known for protests against gay people.
Who founded the Westboro Baptist Church and when?
Fred Phelps founded the Westboro Baptist Church. Its first public service was held on the 27th of November 1955, after East Side Baptist Church made him pastor of a new church plant on the west side of Topeka.
How many members does the Westboro Baptist Church have?
Forbes counted about 70 members in 2016 and 80 members in 2011. The membership consists primarily of Fred Phelps's extended family, and over 20 members have left since 2004.
What did the Supreme Court decide in Snyder v. Phelps about the Westboro Baptist Church?
The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 for the church on the 2nd of March 2011. It held that the church's picketing at a military funeral was entitled to special protection under the First Amendment.
Why did Congress pass a law because of the Westboro Baptist Church?
The Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act of 2006 was created primarily because of the church's funeral protests. It bars protests within 300 feet of the entrance of National Cemetery Administration cemeteries from 60 minutes before a funeral to 60 minutes after.
How does the Westboro Baptist Church pay for its protests?
The Southern Poverty Law Center says the church is funded entirely from within and accepts no outside donations. Family members are expected to give ten percent of their earnings, and the Phelps Chartered law firm brings in money through lawsuits and legal fees.
Has the Westboro Baptist Church been banned from any countries?
Canada barred church members from entering the country after learning of a planned protest at the funeral of Tim McLean in August 2008. In February 2009 the UK Home Office announced that Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper would be excluded.
All sources
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