Phelps Chartered

Education

Civil Rights Attorney

Disbarment

The trial became an exhibition of a personal vendetta by Phelps against Carolene Brady. His examination was replete with repetition, badgering, innuendo, belligerence, irrelevant and immaterial matter, evidencing only a desire to hurt and destroy the defendant. The jury verdict didn't stop the onslaught of Phelps. He wasn't satisfied with the hurt, pain, and damage he'd visited on Carolene Brady.

Activities and statements

All of Phelps' recent actions were in conjunction with the congregation of Westboro Baptist Church; see Westboro's notable activities.

Religious beliefs

Phelps says he's an old school Baptist, which includes John Calvin's doctrine of unconditional election, the belief that God has elected certain people for salvation before birth. In reality, his teachings are not historically Baptist or Calvinistic, but rather an extreme Hyper-Calvinism.He says that almost nobody is a member of the elect, and furthermore that he and the members of his congregation (mostly his family) are the only members of the elect, because they're the only ones not afraid to publish the current relevant application of the word of God — in particular, that "God hates fags."
   During 1993–94 interviews with the Topeka Capital-Journal, the four Phelps children (out of thirteen, Mark, Nate, Katherine and Dotty) who had left the church asserted that their father's religious beliefs were either nonexistent to begin with or have dwindled down to nearly nothing. They insist that Westboro actually serves to enable a paraphilia of Phelps, wherein he's literally addicted to hatred. This statement would serve as the inspiration for the title of the book about Phelps' life, which was never published due to fear of lawsuit, but became public when the author sued the publisher, who maintained that it was a work for hire and therefore couldn't be taken to another publisher, attaching a copy of the manuscript to the suit as an exhibit thus making it public record. The record was eventually sealed, although the document had already been released over the Internet.
   Two of his sons, Mark and Nate, insist that the church is actually a carefully planned cult that allows Phelps to see himself as a demigod, wielding absolute control over the lives of his family and congregants, essentially turning them into slaves that he can use for the sole purpose of gratifying his every whim and acting as the structure for his delusion that he's the only righteous man on Earth. In 1995, Mark Phelps wrote a letter to the people of Topeka to this effect; it was run in the Topeka Capital-Journal. The children's claim is partially backed up by B.H. McAllister, the Baptist minister who ordained Phelps. McAllister said in a 1993 interview that Phelps developed a delusion wherein he was one of the few people on Earth worthy of God's grace and that everyone else in the world was going to Hell, and that salvation or damnation could be directly obtained by either aligning with or opposing Phelps. As of 2006, Phelps maintains this belief. By their own count, WBC has conducted over 30,000 pickets, in all 50 states, in over 500 cities and towns. Their travel budget exceeds $200,000 annually.

The Laramie Project

Many of Westboro's pickets revolve around the play The Laramie Project; Phelps says he consistently sends his followers across the country to picket every performance he finds out about. The play documents the reaction of the people of Laramie, Wyoming, to the murder of Matthew Shepard.
   Phelps is a character in the play and is portrayed negatively. When the play was made into a movie by HBO, (The Laramie Project), Phelps and the WBC traveled to New York City to picket the HBO home offices with signs reading "United You'll Fall."

Political views

Phelps' stated political views and activities are primarily driven by his view that the United States is, "a sodomite nation of flag-worshiping idolators."

Anti-gay

In 2005, Phelps' granddaughter Jael was an unsuccessful candidate for Topeka's City Council; Jael was seeking to replace Tiffany Muller, the first openly gay member of the Topeka City Council.
   The family started protesting homosexuality in the late 1980s after Shirley Phelps-Roper’s then-toddler son was allegedly propositioned by a homosexual in a Topeka park, according to Phelps-Roper.

Anti-Semitic

Phelps was cited by the Anti-Defamation League for his numerous anti-semitic comments:
On General Wesley Clark and John Kerry (of Jewish descent):
Anti-Swedish Phelps and the Westboro church run the website godhatessweden.com. Phelps has declared that the heavy Swedish losses in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, initially overestimated to be near 20,000, were God's punishment of Sweden for the promotion of homosexuality. In particular, Phelps has criticized Sweden's prosecution of Åke Green. Phelps' website depicts a granite monument designed by himself that claims that Green is a Christian martyr and Phelps has announced plans to erect copies of the monument throughout the United States.
   In response, Green has called Phelps "appalling" and "extremely unpleasant", which led to Phelps taking down his monument of Green.

Anti-Irish

In 2003 Phelps turned his attacks on Ireland. In a sermon preached on July 29 2007 in which he returned to the topic, he told his congregation that he'd launched a website godhatesireland.com to "expose Ireland as the Emerald (now Pink) Isle of the Sodomite Damned, –saturated with fags and dykes at every level of society and government." His most recent tirade was triggered off when the Literary and Historical Society, a debating society in University College Dublin invited Phelps to participate in a debate on homosexual adoption. He told his congregation that in the past he'd
   
   Phelps' attack on former president Mary Robinson and Senator David Norris, both widely respected figures, drew ridicule in Ireland.

Against flag idolatry

Fred Phelps refers to the United States as "A sodomite nation of flag-worshiping idolators."
   "Military funerals are pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool, 'They shan't lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shan't lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.'" Jer. 22:18&19.

Freedom of speech

Phelps is critical of laws against hate speech pertaining to homosexuality as sin. Hate speech laws in Sweden, resulting in the trial of Pastor Åke Green, and Canada are given particular emphasis by Phelps. Phelps has used the term "homo-fascist" to describe countries with such laws.

Democratic Party

Phelps has run in various Kansas Democratic Party primaries five times, but has never won. These included races for governor in 1990, 1994, and 1998, receiving about 15% of the vote in 1998. In the 1992 Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate, Phelps received 31% of the vote Phelps ran for mayor of Topeka in 1993 and 1997.

Support for Al Gore

Phelps supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic Party primary election. In his 1984 Senate race, Gore opposed a "gay bill of rights" and stated that homosexuality wasn't something that "society should affirm". Phelps has stated that he supported Gore because of these earlier comments. According to Phelps, members of the Westboro Baptist Church helped run Gore's 1988 campaign in Kansas. Phelps' son, Fred Phelps Jr., hosted a Gore fundraiser, which Al and Tipper Gore attended, at his home in Topeka. Gore spokesman Dag Vega declined to comment; "We are not dignifying those stories with a response."

Opposition to Al Gore and Bill Clinton

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Phelps protested Hillary Clinton during a campaign speech in support of the Clinton-Gore ticket at the University of Kansas on October 14, 1992. In Bill Clinton's second presidential campaign, Phelps and the Westboro church also opposed Clinton and Gore because of the administration's support for gay rights. The entire Westboro congregation picketed a 1997 inaugural ball, denouncing Gore as a "famous fag pimp." In 1998, Westboro picketed the funeral of Gore's father, screaming vulgarities at Gore and telling him, "your dad's in Hell."

Saddam Hussein

In 2003, before the fall of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War, Phelps wrote Hussein a letter praising his regime for being, in his opinion, "the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets." Furthermore, he stated that he'd like to send a delegation to Baghdad to "preach the Gospel" for one week. Hussein granted permission, and a group of WBC congregants traveled to Iraq to protest against the U.S. The WBC members stood on the streets of Baghdad holding signs condemning Bill and Hillary Clinton and anal sex. After Saddam was hanged, Phelps released a video commentary that stated that both Saddam Hussein and Gerald Ford (who had died the same week) were now in Hell.

Arrests

United States

Phelps was first arrested in 1951 and found guilty of misdemeanor battery after attacking a Pasadena police officer. He has since been arrested for assault, battery, threats, trespassing, disorderly conduct, contempt of court, and several other charges; each time, he (along with Westboro and its other members) has filed suit against the city, the police, and the arresting officers. Though he's been able to avoid prison time, he's been convicted more than once:

• 1994: Contempt of court This prompted the founding of "Godhatescanada.com." He has also strongly opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada and Canada's Supreme Court.

  People targeted by Fred Phelps

  Since the early 1990s, Phelps has targeted several individuals and groups in the public eye for criticism by the Westboro Baptist Church after their deaths. Prominent examples include President Ronald Reagan, Diana, Princess of Wales, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, National Football League star Reggie White, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Islam and Muslims, murdered college student Matthew Shepard, the late children's television host Fred Rogers, Jews, Catholics, Swedes, the Irish and US soldiers killed in Iraq. He has also targeted the Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts, center of the David Parker controversy. In 2007 he stated that he'd target the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral. Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of Fred Phelps, has appeared on Fox News, defending the WBC and attacking homosexuality.
     In a recent video sermon, Phelps targeted comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, claiming that they're among the "scoffers and mockers" referred to in the Bible, and used them as evidence that we're in the "last of the Last Days." He was particularly critical of Colbert's Emmy Awards show performance, in which Colbert, tongue-in-cheek, called the Hollywood audience "Godless sodomites." He compared Colbert's comments to the "blaspheming comics" of Sodom and Gomorrah and referred to both Colbert and Stewart as "sacrilegious buffoons."
     Phelps' followers have repeatedly protested the University of Kansas School of Law's graduation ceremonies.
     In August of 2007, in the wake of the Minneapolis I-35W bridge collapse, Phelps and his congregation have stated that that'll protest at the funerals of the victims. In a statement, the church said that Minneapolis is the "land of the Sodomite damned."

  Efforts to discourage funeral protests

  Legislation

  On May 24 2006, the United States House and Senate passed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, which President Bush signed five days later. The act bans protests within 300 feet of national cemeteries — which numbered 122 when the bill was signed — from an hour before a funeral to an hour after it. Violators face up to a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
     As of April 2006, at least 17 states have banned protests near funeral sites immediately before and after ceremonies, or are considering it. These are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,Michigan, Missouri, which passed the law, and Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Florida increased the penalty for disturbing military funerals, amending a previous ban on the disruption of lawful assembly.
     These bans have not been uncontested. Bart McQueary, having protested with Phelps on at least three occasions, filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Kentucky's funeral protest ban. On September 26 2006, a district court agreed and entered an injunction prohibiting the ban from being enforced. The ACLU of Ohio also filed a similar lawsuit.

  Other responses

  WBC is listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
     To counter the Phelps protests at funerals of soldiers, a group of motorcycle riders has formed the Patriot Guard Riders to provide a nonviolent, volunteer buffer between the protesters and mourners. On October 31 2007, a jury returned a $2.9m verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Later, the jury returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress. Phelps then announced his intention to appeal the decision.
     On February 4, 2008, U.S. district judge Richard Bennett reduced the amount of damages awarded in the case to $5 million. Bennett's ruling cited the need to weigh any harm Snyder suffered against the financial resources of the church. The church's appeal of the verdict is still pending.

  Fictionalized portrayals

  In early 2007, Kevin Smith announced plans to produce a horror film entitled Red State featuring a religious extremist based on Phelps as a villain.

  Electoral history

  Democratic primary for Governor of Kansas, 1990
• Joan Finney - 81,250 (47.18%)
• John Carlin - 79,406 (46.11%)
• Fred Phelps - 11,572 (6.72%)

Democratic primary for United States Senate, Kansas 1992

Gloria O'Dell - 111,015 (69.20%)

Fred Phelps - 49,416 (30.80%) Democratic primary for Governor of Kansas, 1994

Jim Slattery - 84,389 (53.02%)

Joan Wagnon - 42,115 (26.46%)

James Francisco - 16,048 (10.08%)

Leslie Kitchenmaster - 11,253 (7.07%)

Fred Phelps - 5,349 (3.36%) Democratic primary for Governor of Kansas, 1998

Tom Sawyer - 88,248 (85.28%)

Fred Phelps - 15,233 (14.72%) Source

Footnotes

Further Information

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