Son of a Bigot Article

[Luvchild]

This is from one of the Phelps' kids who escaped.

 

http://www.alternet.org/activism/son-bigot?paging=off

 

Just so sad. I'm glad he got out.

[tropaka]

wow, so he skipped the country to get away...

ETA - sorry, he went to California to get away.

It's sad that the siblings who left and helped him out went back

[debrand]

We heard from the time we were very young that we were to be separated from the world, and we were unique. We were God’s chosen ones. On one hand we had this sense that we were better than everybody else, and on the other hand we had this clear awareness that we were different from everyone else. That cut both ways. And then all of that ideology was supported and promoted with violence and psychological — I don’t know if you want to call it abuse, but you know those lessons we learned in that religious environment were such that we were constantly anxious and frightened for whether or not we were going to upset God

I don't want to be unfair and make it sound as if all fundamentalists preach violence but the idea of being superior to others isn't uncommon among some of the people that we snark on in this site. It is why some of their articles come off arrogant and self centered to us.

[nokidsmom]

I forget where I read this, but a few months ago read a very detailed account of his leaving on his 18th birthday.

Really glad he got out and is making efforts to counteract his very toxic dad.

[Luvchild]

I don't want to be unfair and make it sound as if all fundamentalists preach violence but the idea of being superior to others isn't uncommon among some of the people that we snark on in this site. It is why some of their articles come off arrogant and self centered to us.

My sister belongs to a Christian fundamentalist church, well a "Church of God" church, and at one point she brought home a handbook which their pastor had published. In it, it described how to "punish" your children by basically beating them and what to say to CPS officials if they were ever reported for child abuse. I was actually working at the juvenile court of our county at the time and I turned it in to some officers there. It was very disturbing.

[trplaxle]

It is so saddening that there are people out there, so full of hate. What a waste of life.

[fundifugee]

Was there a time when you thought to yourself, uh-oh, I actually haven’t left my father or the church or what happened in my youth behind?

I can’t pinpoint a specific time, but I can recall behaviors that seemed normal at the time. I would literally go away for two to three hours at a time and refuse to communicate with anyone and get lost in this morass of hateful thinking, and anger, and raging to the point where I would get really bad headaches and would be so tense that I could hardly move. And that was fairly normal. I would do that probably once or twice a month. But I just thought that was something that was a part of me. I didn’t recognize it was something that I brought with me from my youth.

Crap, that sounds familiar.

I turned 40 this year, and a friend from a similar, but far more abusive background turned 50. We are both still dealing with this sort of thing and it just sucks so much that you get to a point in life where you feel you've put it behind and are moving on, then it comes calling again. It is a life sentence. So not fair.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Im glad he got out from such an awful and abusive home.

[over-thinker]

I read that the other day. I am so glad he left and has found happiness. I'm sure there is still plenty of hand wringing on his dad's part.

[thoughtful]

Thanks for posting that, Luvchild.

Part of what's so crappy about the kind of upbringing these people get is that they have no role models for being a person -- just a decent, busy, loving person.

All the details may be rigidly controlled, but, in a way, they are as bereft as someone growing up on the streets.

He really had to reconstruct himself from the ground up.

[Shasta ODonegal]

Louis Theroux (son of Paul Theroux) created an interesting documentary about the Phelps:

Part One:

http://youtu.be/bOrz5k0jWdU

Part Two:

http://youtu.be/UCSshfI_ZlY

Part Three:

http://youtu.be/MdGE5GxP2nc

Part Four:

http://youtu.be/ayVFHMn6Y6w

Part Five:

http://youtu.be/JjAOsgu45Oo

Part Six:

http://youtu.be/Lv4ejurj1XY

Part Seven:

http://youtu.be/TkIgoKClCfg

Part Eight was removed by You Tube.

The Sequel

America's Most Hated Family In Crisis:

http://youtu.be/ogJSRs_OE0I

[holierthanyou]

I actually cried reading that original article.

Hatred sucks.

Kids growing up in hatred especially so.

[Naga Viper]

I don't want to be unfair and make it sound as if all fundamentalists preach violence but the idea of being superior to others isn't uncommon among some of the people that we snark on in this site. It is why some of their articles come off arrogant and self centered to us.

"Some"? I thought it was the majority of them.

I'm trying to look on the hopeful side of this, that someone could come from this upbringing and emerge, if not unscathed, still a fundamentally decent person. It's not easy, though.