RE: “Fred Phelps’ death should be celebrated”
While former Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) leader Fred Phelps Sr. will be remembered as a hate-filled man who said some of the most appalling things I have ever heard, his death was nothing to “celebrate.”
There was perhaps nobody more hated by the LGBTQ community than Phelps, who was notorious for picketing the funerals of soldiers with his group and bringing his “God Hates Fags” signs with him.
Despite all of that, his death on March 19, 2014 at age 84 was not some huge victory.
The WBC is a very small church based in Topeka, Kansas. It is a closed church, and many of the members are part of Phelps’ own family. Their views are looked down upon by the vast majority, including most Christian groups, who saw them as “the most hated family in America” according to the Louis Theroux documentary. Therefore, their opinions held no real sway over anyone outside their own circle.
The WBC targeted not only sexual minorities, but also Jews, Catholics, and other Christian denominations. This did not exactly endear Phelps to a large part of the North American population. He disapproved of them and everything they stood for, and they in turn did not agree with what he was preaching.
While you can make the argument Phelps and his group made sexual minorities everywhere feel unsafe, there was no threat of violence. The WBC actually does not believe in violence.
The statement that we should “celebrate” his death is the same rhetoric used by outlets such as Fox News. Comedian and political pundit Dennis Miller once suggested on the O’Reilly Factor he would run the Tilt-A-Whirl at a carnival across the street to celebrate Phelps’ death. It is more of a statement made for shock value than a rational reaction.
Furthermore, Phelps’ death was not the end of the WBC. Let’s not forget that he was excommunicated from his church in 2013, and now that he is dead, they will most likely continue to spread their message.
Worse still, the children and grandchildren whom he indoctrinated are still being bred full of hate. It will not stop at Phelps’ death. In fact, according to the Orlando Sentinel, WBC member Steve Drain is likely to succeed him as leader, and the cycle will continue.
While Phelps’ death is not something to celebrate, he still does not deserve our forgiveness. Rather, in death he should receive what he never did in life—people who were willing to forget about and ignore him.
