Anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church Leader Fred Phelps Dies

Phelps was an ordained Baptist minister, although his church
was not affiliated with any mainstream denomination

BBC: The former leader of a US church that was widely known for its inflammatory anti-gay protests has died, his family has said.

The Reverend Fred Phelps Sr, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, died on Wednesday evening at 84.

The church, made up mostly of his family, rose to international notoriety with its practice of picketing funerals of fallen US troops.

It claimed their deaths were punishment for America's tolerance of gays.

'Diabolical'

Their signs read "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Thank God for 9/11" and the like, and bore messages offensive to gay and lesbian people. » | Thursday, March 20, 2014

Supreme Court Rules for Anti-Gay Church
Mar 2 - In a case pitting free-speech versus privacy rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a church has the legal right to stage anti-gay protests at U.S. military funerals. Jon Decker reports

Anti-gay US Christians Theaten to Picket London Primary School
THE GUARDIAN: Kansas fundamentalists plan protest against lessons about homosexual relationships

Photo of Fred Phelps, the US anti-“fag” fundamentalist, courtesy of The Guardian
A group of American Christian fundamentalists whose slogan is "God hates fags" is threatening to picket an east London primary school over its anti-homophobia work.

A row broke out at George Tomlinson primary school in Waltham Forest, north-east London, earlier this month when some parents pulled their children out of lessons planned for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender history month. The school used books on homosexual relationships, in one case between two male penguins.

Members of the Westboro Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas – which has been the subject of a Louis Theroux television exposé – say they will picket the school next Friday afternoon.

The group's founder, Reverend Fred Phelps, was barred from entering Britain last month to stop him spreading "extremism and hatred". He had intended to picket a play about a homophobic killing.

A message on the group's website announcing their plans said: "God hates the UK and the Tomlinson school fag tyranny, where conscientious parents face religious persecution for withdrawing their children from lessons on lying fag so-called history." >>> Polly Curtis, Education Editor | Friday, March 20, 2009

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Keep the Hate-Mongers OUT! NOT WANTED in the United Kingdom!
Extreme American 'Christians' of the Westboro Baptist Church, the ‘God Hates Fags’ variety, have been banned from the United Kingdom. These vile, disgusting, intolerant, intolerable people are not wanted this side of the Pond. They can peddle their hate where they are – in their own little, narrow, self-serving world: on the dark side of darkness! Photo courtesy of The Times – Mark
TIMES ONLINE: The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP.

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998.

It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow.

The pair have been known to picket US soldiers’ funerals, holding up banners with phrases such as "God Hates Fags" because they believe that their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays. Anti-gay Preachers Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper Banned from Britain >>> David Byers | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Brit Ban for Hate Preachers
THE SUN: TWO American hate preachers were banned tonight from entering Britain by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Extremist Christian leaders Fred Phelps and daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned to jet into the UK to protest against a play being put on by a gay youth group on Friday.

The fanatics are both members of the US Westboro Baptist Church - a sick sect which calls for homosexuals to be killed and CELEBRATES soldiers' deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Picket

Phelps, 79, and his daughter Shirley, 51, had targeted a performance of The Laramie Project, about the death of an American man killed for being gay.

They had boasted they would picket the play, due to be held at a school arts centre in Basingstoke, Hants.

But the pair will now be stopped by immigration officials on arrival and placed straight on a flight back to the US.

Home Office sources said other church members could also be flagged and stopped if they tried to enter Britain. >>> By Tom Wells | Wednesday, February 18, 2009

PINK NEWS: Labour's Gay Group Asks for Ban on God Hates Fags Church Members

LGBT Labour has written to the Home Office asking that members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church be refused entry into the UK.

The church, a tiny sect with around 60 members, often picket funerals in the US.

They claim God is punishing the world because homosexuality is tolerated.

The group said on their website GodHatesFags.com that they would be protesting at a performance of a gay-themed play in Basingstoke on Friday.

In a letter to Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, LGBT Labour co-chair Simon Wright referred to the Home Office decision to ban a Dutch MP who is critical of Islam from entering the UK because he would harm community relations.

"As the government refused entry to the UK to Geert Wilders last week, it is hoped that the same laws can also be used to prevent this family from entering the UK to spread their hated of homosexuality," said Mr Wright.

At least one Labour and one Tory MP have written to the Home Secretary about the issue. It is highly unlikely that WBC members will try to picket in the UK.

The publicity-hungry group have previously threatened protests in Canada, Australia and Sweden but never turned up. [Source: Pink News] Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk | Thursday, February 19, 2009

Full of God’s Love and Compassion, the Westboro Baptist Church Intends to Invade the UK with Its Homophobic Hatred!
THE TELEGRAPH: The fundamentalist US church notorious for picketing the funerals of dead soldiers plans to carry out its first protest in Britain this week, it has emerged.

Followers of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church have threatened to picket a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire during a staging of The Laramie Project, a play about an American youth murdered because of his sexuality.

The church from Topeka, Kansas is mainly composed of relatives of the founder, pastor Fred Phelps, who style themselves "the most hated family in America".

Their core belief – that God will punish the West for its acceptance of homosexuality – has seen them protest at dozens of servicemen's funerals brandishing garish placards stating "God hates the USA" and "Thank God for dead soldiers".

Details of the church's first picket in Britain was posted on their website with the slogan "God Hates England; Your Queen Is A W----".

"Some of the best Bible preaching in the history of the world came out of that dark dismal land, but now it is full of all abominations," the notice read. Westboro Baptist Church Announces First Anti-homosexuality Picket in Britain >>> By Matthew Moore | Monday, February 16, 2009

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"God Hates Australia!"
WESTENDER (Brisbane): Fundamentalist US Church accuses Australia of sodomy, idolatry, apostasy and peverted sex, among other things

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, are being urged to picket the Australian Consulate in Chicago, Illinois, in "religious protest and warning."

According to protest organisers, Australia is a "Sodomite nation, an evil and dangerous country practicing morbid idolatry and every form of peverted sex."

The Church went on to say "Their island insulation from reality is no excuse for their apostasy and their filfthy abandonment to Sodomy."

The Westboro Baptist Church is notorious for its uncompromising and vehement stance on social issues in the US, accusing even conservative religious leaders of being soft on homosexualtiy.

Since 1991, WBC has conducted over 34,000 peaceful demonstrations opposing "the fag lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth."

The picket is planned for the morning of Monday, December 8. [Source: Westender] Undated

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