Fred Phelps: the end?/Fred Phelps- Dead

[samurai_sarah]

I agree-- WBC gets off on negative attention. Suing people who step over the legal line in dealing with them is how they fund their shit. I hope no one is there so they get a taste of just how irrelevant they are to everyone.

You're both kinder than I am. My personal hope is that any who grieve him find no solace in their hateful faith. I hope, against hope, that that'll give them pause to think about the grief they have caused others.

[Coconut Flan]

One article I read said that their church doesn't believe in having funerals or memorials. Perhaps they will have him cremated and never say what they did with the ashes.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I heard that the WBC doesn't believe in funerals for the dead of their group. They probably don't want people to do what they do to others

[sparkles]

I will never ever sympathize with the actions or beliefs of the Phelps clan, but if the picketing and the "God hates everything" campaigns are all you know about them, I suggest you read a little about them. Most of the docus I've seen focus solely on their picketing activism, but back in the 60ies and 70ies Fred Phelps was actually a civil rights lawyer.

It is a really strange and twisted mix of civil right activism and support for minorities, religious fanaticism and a family that has a become a law unto themselves.

Whatever good he may have done in the past will forever be overshadowed by his later actions. The world is a far better place now that he's longer in it.

[tankgirl]

But if he has been excommunicated, wouldn't they basically just leave it to the state or his estate (if he has anything), to take care of dumping, his old rotten bag of bones? Wouldn't all his family just be ignoring his ever having been? Not sure how that works with that group.

Honestly, I hope his death passes with only a side eye and a cautionary tale about being, an awful, hateful person. Otherwise, he is nothing to remember. Good riddance, and let what ever Deity or not is up their make the last call on this asshole.

[Stephanie66]

Meh. Even when he was a civil rights attorney, he made liberal use of the N word. He was nasty then, too. Just better at fooling people then. He was disbarred back in the 90s sometime. His kids would have been, too, if not for a plea bargain.

[Black Aliss]

For those who wish to pray:

A PRAYER FOR FRED PHELPS

by Mark Sandlin

Good and gracious God,

We lift up a prayer

for the misguided –

for those who hate

and belittle

and abuse

in your name.

For those

who wish to see

the hate go on,

the anger be fed,

the world continue

on its unsustainable path

of division and judgement.

In short,

we pray for ourselves --

for that moment of relief

we felt

when we first heard the news

that Fred Phelps

was dying.

For the way

we tried to justify

the feeling –

to justify allowing his hate

to grow into a reflection

in us.

Guide us toward lives

that more fully reflect

you.

May we learn to replicate

the embrace you offer

to all –

the very embrace

Fred Phelps will soon know.

Create in us a spirit

that is more willing

to risk

the radical practice

of loving our enemy.

Remind us that that is the path

to healing a broken world –

that it is your desire

for us,

for our nation,

for the world.

Remind us to be

repairers of the breach

rather than those

who broaden the divide.

Teach us

that you do not call us

to love

what Fred Phelps has done.

You only call us

to love the man.

With that in mind,

we pray for him

and for forgiveness

for his hateful

and hurtful ways.

We pray for his family,

who must also

repair a breach

as they come to terms

with the passing of

their father,

former leader,

pastor,

loved one.

Death seldom

comes easy,

even to the most

tortured of souls.

We pray for reconciliation.

Between us.

Between him.

Between them.

May his hateful actions

inspire us toward

a more loving response.

May our instinct to lash out

be subdued

by our will to create a better world.

And

may our anger and resentment

unravel and be released

as we expand our ability

to share love

more abundantly.

Amen

from thegodarticle.com

[Mary C Doates]

I heard that the WBC doesn't believe in funerals for the dead of their group. They probably don't want people to do what they do to others

I was hoping WBC would picket his funeral. It would be fitting.

[ljohnson2006]

RIP Asshole.

[Patsy]

Meh. Even when he was a civil rights attorney, he made liberal use of the N word. He was nasty then, too. Just better at fooling people then. He was disbarred back in the 90s sometime. His kids would have been, too, if not for a plea bargain.

Yeah, he wasn't doing it for civil rights.

[Earthshine]

Well, it looks like Fred died on International Day of Happiness.

How fitting!

[Jana814]

How many of this guys kids was he estranged from.

[Nobodysdoormat]

So, this guy had Alzheimer's and his family let him rot away in a house all by himself? Am I right? No one to care for him until he stopped eating? Is this correct? If his is true, they should go to jail for elder abuse.

[Jana814]

Meh. Even when he was a civil rights attorney, he made liberal use of the N word. He was nasty then, too. Just better at fooling people then. He was disbarred back in the 90s sometime. His kids would have been, too, if not for a plea bargain.

Interesting, sounds like he was always a "winner"

[lawfulevil]

November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014. Better late than never, I guess.

[ADoyle90815]

Several of my Facebook friends have decided to change their profile pictures to that of Matthew Shepard because they would prefer that we remember him instead of that cult leader.

[Toothfairy]

I hope he's forgiven for his sins. God doesn't like ugly.

[already hungover]

"Huh, I didn't know heaven would be so WARM!" - Fred Phelps, this morning.

[Janus]

As with all cults, the death of the leader marks a power struggle to determine the new leader/s. The winner/s of the power struggle assert their newfound authority with an iron fist and the cult undergoes some changes (to align with the new agenda) or will crumble and fade.

My Opinion only: As stated by others, I think the excommunication was not for any real "sin" but to stop either Phelps naming Shirley as his successor (if he had any clarity of thought left) or a symbolic move to 'mark' the end of a Phelps (hence Shirly) led Dictatorship. I think Shirley has been moved to the 'back seat' and all those people saying Shirley will lead the Church are wrong.

Wouldn't surprise me if she ends up excommunicated eventually, too - depending on how well she takes the backseat position she's been put into.

[Iokaste]

Whatever good he may have done in the past will forever be overshadowed by his later actions. The world is a far better place now that he's longer in it.

I hope no one read that as me trying to vindicate Fred Phelps! I just thought it was an interesting aspect to this whole mess, one that makes the WBC even more intriguing and disturbing to me.

A lot of the people discussed here do not come across as terribly bright and many of them practically shun real education, the Phelps are articulate in interviews, pursue higher education, send their children to public school, keep up to date with current affairs and yet they reach such mind blowingly disgusting conclusions.

[Jana814]

"Huh, I didn't know heaven would be so WARM!" - Fred Phelps, this morning.

Haha!!

[apple1]

November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014.

I would have guessed him to be older. (My Dad was born in 1927, is still living, and doesn't look or act as old as Phelps did when I last saw a video clip).

I guess hate ages a person.

[nausicaa]

According to e x-member Lauren Drain, single members of WBC are forbidden from marrying or having children, which means that no further members can be born into this madness.

That is so odd. Why on earth would they make a rule that limits the numbers of their group? Shouldn't they be pushing all the members to pop out as many babies (i.e., future members) as possible?

[docmom]

Unashamedly stolen from another site:

My mother always said to only say nice things about the dead. He's dead. How nice.

[maybeizfundie]

So, this guy had Alzheimer's and his family let him rot away in a house all by himself? Am I right? No one to care for him until he stopped eating? Is this correct? If his is true, they should go to jail for elder abuse.

I didn't know this part of the story. While it is sad that they would do that, I'm not at all surprised. He should have been jailed for child abuse decades ago, he was a horrific abuser. It wasn't the right thing for them to do, but it's not at all shocking.

I was surprised that he'd been "excommunicated". I kind of wonder how that went down. His daughter Shirley (?) seemed to have soaked up his abrasive, gleefully hateful persona and I wonder if it was a coup on her part.