Fred Phelps is a Sick SOB

What is going on in the head of a man who heads an organization which churns out sick rubbish like this? Is there anything whatsoever these idiots spend their time doing other than obsessively feeding their hatred of homosexuals?

I don't have much patience for Freudian theorizing, but in the case of gay-bashers like Phelps I'm forced to make an exception. There are only two possible explanations for the man's unbounded hatred of "fags": either he was raped by one and is now seeking to take revenge on all gays everywhere, or he harbors strong homosexual urges of which he's deeply ashamed, and indulging his emotions in this way is his way of proving to himself and the world that he's not one of those "filthy queers" he claims to hate so much. If the latter theory is correct, there's little separating him in spirit from the likes of John Wayne Gacy, who liked to call his victims "worthless little queers and punks" before buggering and then strangling them.

Comments

[Andrew]

He also did the same thing after September 11, and after the Boxing Day tsunami as well...

[Andy]

He clearly suffers from a mental pathology. It is too bad that he is dragging the rest of his family along with him. Before hating on gays, he used to beat his family, according to estranged members of his family.

What's the best method for dealing with psycho cases like this? Paying attention to him just feeds his needs, but ignoring him seems like it tacitly condones him.

[Mrs Tilton]

As for what to do about Phelps, I am reminded of an old ad parody in Titanic, the German satircical magazine. Back in those days, there were these annoying 'What would *you* do?' public-service ads all over the place (the people featured would, predictably, feed the poor, bring about World Peace etc.) In the Titanic version, a Village People Leatherman-type (his name in the caption: 'Detlev Rüssel') stated (and here I shall revert to the German, which Abiola can read, lest the sensibilities of any of the breast-feeding mums hanging around here be offended): 'Ich würde Bischof Dyba [an RC bishop and notorious homophobe, since deceased] mal so richtig durchbügeln, dass er endlich weiss, wovon er spricht.'

One must admit, though, that Phelps's 'Island of the Sodomite Damned' does have a certain ring to it.

[mentalacrobatics]

I have a burning desire to slap the man.

[Jim]

On top of everything else, he's a vicious heretic who slanders the name of Christ just by claiming to be a Christian. Too bad some church doesn't go after a cease and desist order on this piece of dog vomit. It would be a good lesson to a lot of people who think basically think like him but manage to keep their mouths shut, at least in public. If that doesn't work, maybe we should just burn him.

[Peter Nolan]

Am I missing something - are the soldiers whose funerals he's picketing gay?

I'm surprised the mourners, especially the soldiers, don't beat the s**t out of him.

"There are only two possible explanations for the man's unbounded hatred of "fags": either he was raped by one and is now seeking to take revenge on all gays everywhere"

If it hasn't happened already, it can't happen soon enough.

[Andrew]

"Am I missing something - are the soldiers whose funerals he's picketing gay?

I don't think the soldiers are gay - the idea is that America is being justly punished for our decadent morals or some such nonsense. So the more tragic deaths, the better, according to this twisted logic.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-funeral28jun28,1,4816654.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[Abiola Lapite]

Hmm ...

["Shirley Phelps-Roper, a lawyer for the Kansas church, said Monday that the funeral demonstration was nothing personal against Piper, who was not gay.

"We are protesting the sins of this nation," Phelps-Roper said. "That doesn't exclude him."]

Such generosity of spirit!

[Chuckles]

[...he's a vicious heretic who slanders the name of Christ just by claiming to be a Christian...]

Thats the contortion called Calvinism for you! The man clearly isnt a heretic - his beliefs are standard Calvinist fare and I dont see how he could be expected to come to any other conclusion. It is quite a bit ridiculous to expect a God who hates Children before they were born NOT to hate homosexuals. Phelps, at least, is consistent.

[Mrs Tilton]

Chuckles,

not really 'consistent Calvinism', if by that you mean consistent with Calvin's thoughts. Calvin would have taken a dim view of homosexuality, no doubt, but his view would not have been materially different to that of almost anybody else alive in his day.

I suppose one could fairly say that Phelps is consistent with the hypercalvinism expressed in the famous 'TULIP' scheme of the synod of Dordt. (However, I believe Phelps is some sort of Baptist; though there was always a Calvinist-influenced stream within Baptistism, if I am not mistaken the American Baptist churches derive from the strongly anti-Calvinist Arminian tradition; a tradition Dordt specifically aimed to extirpate.)

In any event, there's something a bit inconsistent in Phelps's *emphasis*, wouldn't you say? I could call a homophobic Calvinist consistent when the ratio of his utterances on homosexuality to his utterances on (say) injustice to the poor and powerless approximate the ratio of Jesus's utterances on these topics (which would be zero) or at least Paul's (which would be very low). Phelps, by contrast, seems a singer of one note. One would almost think the bloke a bit obsessed.

[Chuckles]

Mrs Tilton -

Indeed I was referring to TULIP and I have never understood why focusing on this as THE Calvinist nugget is referred to as Hypercalvinism. It certainly embodies the essential rebuttal to the Arminians and I do not buy into the dodge that TULIP only makes sense within the context of the converted; i.e. as a mere assurance to those seeking salvation and who end up obtaining it. Phelps calls himself a five point Calvinist - but the name of his Church is Westboro Baptist Church; so I am not sure what that makes him - perhaps a Primitive Baptist or some other descendant of the Particular Baptists.
One may argue that TULIP doesnt sum up all of Calvin's thought; but thats like saying that Paul's disagreements with Peter dont sum up all of his teaching (which is in fact true) - but hardly relevant when those disagreements are applied to particular cases.
By Calvinism; there are those elected of God; and this election is entirely within the divine context. Thus, before Jacob's kids were born, God said "Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated". It is entirely consistent for Phelps to claim (even in the view of Christs sacrifice) that God Hates Fags (were we even to assume that Homosexuality was an entirely developmental phenomenon).
With regards to Phelps emphasis - you are of course correct, although a determined homophobe could get away with a nifty dodge.
For instance: Porneia, often translated as fornication can mean anything from Homosexuality to Bestiality to Temple Prostitution. On that alone; one can find many words in the Gospel and in the Epistles about the subject, though of course the flip side is also true - one cannot be sure what particular sexual deviancy is being referred to.
But the man is clearly obsessed - I dont see him protesting the list of abominations and divine hatreds listed in Proverbs 6: 16 to 19. [...He that soweth discord among brethren...] Now; I would love to see someone protest that!

[Jim]

"The man clearly isnt a heretic - his beliefs are standard Calvinist fare..."

Standard Calvinist fare is heresy in any Catholic or Orthodix church court, that is if the Orthodox even recognize it as Christian enough in the first place to be heretical rather than just heathen.

Gentlemen, don't waste your time trying to get a fix on the ancestry of his religious perversions. Calling himself Baptist is ore a marketing tool than anything else, which is what your get under the market conditions that shape religion when there is no established church. The one thing you can be sure of is that most believers on that side of the aisle know little and care less about the history of their beliefs. The defining feature of That tradition is its insitence that a believer can get everything Scripture has to offer by his own understanding independent of any other tradition.

"Porneia, often translated as fornication can mean anything from Homosexuality to Bestiality to Temple Prostitution."

That's quite some semantic drift then, because "porn-" refers to women. Then again, given Greek attitudes towards women, it might be a short hop to bestiality. But homosexuality sounds like a pretty long stretch, the kind of illiterate mistake you would expect in a northern barbarian in later centuries.

Back to Phelps - he can be however rightly-guided as he wants to imagine himself, but he should still be beaten to death the next time he tries to disrupt a soldier's funeral. Civilian parasite.

[Russell L. Carter]

"The defining feature of That tradition is its insitence that a believer can get everything Scripture has to offer by his own understanding independent of any other tradition."

I doubt it's even that sophisticated. Likely, their theology is obtained solely from Phelp's orifices. Cult of Personality, and all that.

[Jim]

I mean the whole American Bible Belt, not just Phelp's little cult. I doubt most of them have ever heard of him, though I also dobt many of them would denounce him either.

[Chuckles]

[...But homosexuality sounds like a pretty long stretch...]

Actuallly Jim, it might seem like Porne (in Porneia) refers to Women but the root of Porne is Pornos, clearly a masculine noun and not unrelated to Pernemi which refers to Sale. I have always seen Pornos as the sale of sexual favors/satisfaction and the original use seems always to refer to a male prostitute.
In any case, Pauls formulation of "effeminate" in 1st Corinthians (which some translations render as Homosexual) is Malakos (soft to the touch) - It doesnt seem like a far stretch to link femininity to Homosexuality.
I am not really interested in Phelps. I just think that is it peculiar to deploy a "God Loves the Sin and Hates the Sinner" argument so common of many Xtians when they address Homosexuality. This is what I mean when I say Phelps is consistent. Paul parrallels the Unbeliever with Belial in Ephesians. I dont know that God loves Belial; unless of course one adopts a hyperdualistic view of Human nature in Xtian theology - which is certain to lead to Gnostic fallacies - which is heresy etc etc etc. You start with one heresy; resolve it and end with another. I dont know that this is worth anyone's time. Best adopt the position of the Catholics and refuse to address the "mysteries".

[Jim]

Chuckles,

I always end up learning something from you.