They’re not a church, certainly not a Christian one. They’re a cult, with all of the blind fanaticism that word evokes.

ReubenJCogburn on December 5, 2006 at 12:06 PM

ReubenJCogburn has got this exactly right! I am a Southern Baptist and I can assure you that everything this group does is anathema to the Baptist Church, or any Christian church for that matter. Any group of people can call themselves a Baptist Church since there is no “copyright” on the term, so the real church can’t do anything about it. And these people seem to have an agenda, to malign all of Christendom. Maybe they are being paid to do exactly that. They travel all over the country to disrupt these funerals, which is totally despicable, but my point is … where do they get all the money? Don’t these people have jobs and families to attend to? So while I agree with ReubenJCogburn that they are most probably a cult, there is also a small possibility that they are a very media savvy anti-Christian group.

It’s funny how these videos get reposted at other sites and see surges of popularity. I remember when I first saw this video earlier this year, I think it was in June when this video came out.

ViperPilot on December 5, 2006 at 12:04 PM

I was glad to see this post. I was having DeJa Voodoo when I finally got around to watching that clip of those crazy people running from the crowd. Seems to me like I saw it earlier than June. I did enjoy the interviews with the crazy woman. I missed those the first time around.

ok I’m lying.

I don’t know who these Phelps creeps represent,

Last I checked it was the Democratic Party and Al Gore.

Maybe the straignt community should start holding fund raisers for AIDS research.

Catseye on December 5, 2006 at 2:26 PM

Actually that’s a FANTASTIC idea. Not so much on the AIDS research, but as a fund for the families of the Soldier. (Nothing wrong with AIDS research, but it doesn’t have much to do with honoring a dead soldier.)

I suggest this: We conservatives set up a fund. We could call it the Freedom Defenders Fund (FDF). For every minute a solider’s funeral is protested by the Phelpses or any Wacko group, the family of the soldier is granted some monetary amount. I’d like to see as much as $1000.00 per minute, but the fund would have to be pretty big to support that.

Can you imagine after a bunch of nuts like the Phelpses protests a soldier’s funeral, they see a big story on the news about the family they protested getting a $60,000.00 or more check because the funeral was protested for an hour? Talk about a BURN! I would imagine that they would go away rather quickly after that. I guess at that point the fund could be used as a way to help soldier’s families defray any costs associated with burial and tying up of the soldier’s affairs. Although there will always be some nutjobs around that think it’s cool to protest some poor grieving family.

Ok, I’ve laid out the idea. Does anyone here have any clue how to get this puppy off the ground?

I thought you were going somewhere else with that….”whew”

BacaDog on December 5, 2006 at 2:30 PM

Heh.

This crowd seemed all geared up to slap these nutbags around but good. Those windows don’t break too easily…glad no one got hurt bad…I guess.

Romans 2:23-24
23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

…boasting in the damnation of sinners and those whom *THEY* regard as sinners…it’s the same as boasting in the law, boasting of their own righteousness….

…giving unbelievers something to scoff and laugh at. Satan has plenty of tricks to cheat people into unbelief — “…who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Romans 1:18 — so they don’t need Fred Phelps’ help any.

Galatians 5:22-23–”…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

I guess the Phelps don’t have those verses in their Bibles. Along with Romans 3:23–”For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of GOD.”

In this particular case I think there is probably some mental disorder at play. Or maybe I hope so. — honora

…go back up to the top and link over to that Tyra show clip again…take a *CLOSE* gander at Shirley. She doesn’t get *NEARLY* as worked up there as I’ve seen her elsewhere…her coal wagon doesn’t make it all the way outta the mine….

Has anyone ever tried to picket their church and homes? Maybe with signs such as “GOD HATES IDIOTS” — jman

…there are well over a dozen, probably two dozen, attorneys in the family. They’ve probably got harrassment covered legally with the city of Wichita (where they live). Try it, they’ll sue. They like to sue. They live to sue.

Phelps doesn’t represent Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals. All he represents is his own crazy, warped, hate-filled world view. — JaHerer22

…have to agree with you there. That San Fran city councilman from a couple of threads ago…”We don’t need a military”…he was spewing pie-in-the-sky Leftist “enlightenment”.

Phelps is a breed all his own, resembling but not related to vermin like rats, roaches and boy bands. Shirley is his frequent mouthpiece nowadays, as I think the old man himself is winding his warranty down, so to speak. Get her ramped up — as I saw her during one of their previous outrage periods on Hannity & Colmes — and she’s a *RAVER*! I wanna party with her!

No…don’t like the ol’ Party of Treason, but you can’t pin Phelps even on them…it’d be almost beyond the pale to pin ‘em on Chavez or Castro. These folks defy comparison, and the rest of Creation is relieved.

they’re a family…a *SEVERELY* disfunctional family. — me

I assume you are using the word family, the way one talks about the Manson family. These people give cults a bad name. — BohicaTwentyTwo

…no, I mean family…as in biological unit.

The Westboro Baptist Church has, at its core, the Phelps family, in-laws, kids, and a few hangers-on.

I wonder what sort of a carnival ride it would be to take a bucket chair through Fred Phelps’ head, as you would through “Pirates of the Caribbean” at Disneyland.

…you’d probably have to show after….

They know exactly how to play to our emotions and get us riled up against them. Their primary purpose is to get us so riled-up against them that we give them free press coverage to spoute their nonsense over mass-media.

Lawrence on December 5, 2006 at 3:39 PM

In other words:

STOP FEEDING THE TROLLS!

;)

One of their main reasons for doing these things is to get free media face-time. The local media in Kansas has finally learned and has stopped reporting on their antics, so now they have branched out to other states.

Lawrence on December 5, 2006 at 12:30 PM

Interesting.

EFG on December 5, 2006 at 12:46 PM

The Phelps cult is not dangerous, in a physically way. What they are, really, are media whores seeking attention and free media publicity. And we all foolishly play into their hands.

They know exactly how to play to our emotions and get us riled up against them. Their primary purpose is to get us so riled-up against them that we give them free press coverage to spoute their nonsense over mass-media.

Gays, blacks, Norwegians, Muslims, tuba players–doesn’t matter who is hated, the hater is always the same: bitter, looking for someone to blame for their sad life. In this particular case I think there is probably some mental disorder at play. Or maybe I hope so.

You can’t say the N word but you can do this.

Or then again, maybe not so much. All those damned Americans keeping them down.

Mmmmmm…..backlash.

My husband is a minister, and we accept as Christian brothers and sisters people in many different kinds of churches, but IMHO Phelps’ church is a non-Christian cult that preaches a hate-filled message in direct contradiction to Christ’s Biblical gospel. the God I serve is indeed a God of justice and judgment, and sin will be punished, but He is also a God of mercy, and His Holy Scriptures tell us that it is His kindness that leads men to repentance for their misdeeds.

I thought you were going somewhere else with that….”whew”

No…there’s a leather community that would be glad to participate, but beating is a reward, not a punishment in that community. Besides, Phelp’s crew might discover they actually like it, so why encourage them!

Where I come from, we call refer to this as:
The laying on of hands…WITHOUT prayer.

It is purportedly a little known doctrine of the Christian faith.
(Just kidding.)

Further note (I realize you’re kidding, but I just want to take the opportuntity). The PGR are NOT violent. They use entirely legal means to shield the mourners. That is, visually, with big flags, and auditorially (is that a word?), with engine noise.

It’s because the community beat them…

I thought you were going somewhere else with that….”whew”