Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps (born November 13, 1929) is the controversial leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, an alleged cult, in Topeka, Kansas, United States, which is notorious for its web sites godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com. Gay rights activists, as well both mainstream and fundamentalist Christians, have denounced him as a producer of anti-gay propaganda and violence-inspiring hate speech. The church is located in the basement of his home, which is the center of a block-wide fenced compound, the other houses in which are occupied by nine of his thirteen children.

In 1994, a reporter working for Stauffer Communications, Inc., filed a lawsuit about ownership of a book he had been researching for them, which details the life and activities of Phelps. Because the text of the book was entered as Exhibit A, the text entered into public domain. A link to one source of the text of this book is included below.

The distributed text describes Phelps as a ferocious child-abuser and wife-beater and proposes that he was instrumental in the death of his eldest son's first wife. Most of these claims are supported by two of Phelps' sons and one of his daughters, but are denied by their other siblings, who are not estranged from Phelps.

More recently, Phelps was the subject of nationwide controversy when his family proposed, in a referendum, the removal of workplace protection for homosexuals in Topeka. The measure was defeated, 53 percent to 47 percent. Also in 2005, Phelps's granddaughter, Jael, was an unsuccessful candidate for Topeka's City Council.

The Early Years

Childhood

Fred Phelps was born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1929, the first of two children; his sister, Martha-Jean, was one year younger. His father, Fred Wade Phelps, was a detective employed by the local railroad, aka a railroad bull, whose job it was to keep people from illegally riding the rails. Fred recalls his father often came home from work "With blood up to his shoulders". Fred's mother, Catherine Phelps, was a homemaker. The family were devout Methodists. Catherine died of throat cancer at the age of 28, when Phelps was five years old. It was the first significant experience of his life and one that appears to have impacted him greatly. One of Fred's only memories of his mother is the fact that since she was the only woman on their street who owned a musical instrument (a piano), she used to push it to the front of the house, open all the doors and windows, and play for the pleasure of the neighbors. Her funeral was attended by the mayor of Meridian (who was also a pall bearer), a city councilman, two judges, and every member of the Meridian police force.

Shortly after his mother's death, his maternal great-aunt, Irene Jordan, moved in with the family and became a surrogate mother; she was killed in a motor vehicle accident in 1950, shortly before Fred's 21st birthday.

High School

Friends and enemies alike recall the young Fred Phelps as a bright, quiet young man; he was well liked in high school, despite not being very sociable, and in spite of his tendencies to be overbearing and arrogant. By Fred's own admission, he never dated, possessing no interest in members of the opposite sex. He played in the school band (cornet, later switching to bass horn), was on the track team (he specialized in hurdling), and worked as a field reporter for the high school newspaper. Also during his time in high school he became a Golden Gloves boxer, going to state twice and winning by KO both times. In his graduation-year yearbook, his classmates predicted that he would end up as a professional boxer.

Conversion

Throughout the course of his time in high school, Phelps was groomed to go into the military; upon his graduation (sixth in a class of over 200), he was accepted into West Point, though because he graduated early at the age of sixteen, he would have to wait a year before attending.

In the interim, Phelps waited around Meridian for the time to come to ship out. He became dear friends with another boy, John Capron, with whom he spent most of his time; Fred introduced John to his sister Martha-Jean, and the two began dating; they would eventually marry.

In the Spring or Summer of 1946, Phelps and Capron attended a revival at East End Methodist Church in Meridian. According to friends of Phelps and Capron, the two boys took more interest in the sermon than anyone else in attendance; Joe Clay Hamilton, a high school classmate of Fred's, would recall years later:

The two of them got religion. Both Phelps and Capron became very excited about religion. They couldn't distinguish reality from idealism.

In the realm of traditional fire-and-brimstone sermons, the one that Phelps credits for helping to develop his hatred was relatively tame by any standards: Christ inviting all men to come into God's service, likening the afterlife and God to a rich man who has made a great banquet and invites many to come dine with him.

After the sermon, Phelps, according to Rev. B.H. McAllister, the Baptist minister who would eventually ordain him, became a religious zealot, full of rage and firey hatred, and developed eccentric tendencies, though McAllister declined to comment on what sort of tendencies.

Fred's sister recalled her brother's sudden change as being quite grim:

Fred, bless his heart, just went overboard. If you didn't accept it, he was going to cram it down your throat.

Family Estrangement

In January of 1947, Phelps dropped out of West Point before attending a single class, a move that Martha-Jean recalls devastated their father beyond consolation. The same year, Fred Wade Phelps re-married, a thirty-nine year old divorcee named Olive Briggs (Fred Wade was fifty-seven at the time). Phelps stopped speaking to his father, citing Biblical restrictions on marrying divorcees. He also broke off contact with his sister, who chose to stand by their father. Olive's sister recalled to the Topeka Capital Journal in 1994:

Olive would say he grieved over that every day of his life. That he never would have parted ways. It was his son who parted ways

Phelps' sister recalls:

Dad never really got over it

She also remembers Fred Wade Phelps telling her that every year, Phelps returned Christmas cards unopened; one year, Fred Wade sent photos of himself and Olive to Fred's children, only to have the photos returned cut into pieces.

Fred would only see his father one last time, in the late 1960s/early 1970s; the only Phelps children to meet him were Mark and Fred Jr; Mark, Nate, and Dorothy claim they never knew their grandfather's name until the Topeka Capital Journal ran an article in 1994. Mark would later recall his only memory of his grandfather was seeing Fred Wade sobbing on a train platform as Fred Phelps told him to never come back, write, or call; around the same time, Phelps' sister arrived to try and reconcile father and son. Mark recalls coming home from school one day to see a woman running crying away from the house, getting into a car, and driving a way. He would only learn years later that the woman had been his aunt. It was the last time that Fred Phelps would see or have any kind of communication with his sister, who was still alive as of 1995. She and John Capron spent most of the 1950s-1970s in Eastern Europe, as part of a Baptist mission that worked smuggling Bibles into communist countries. When John Capron died in the late 1970s/1980s, Fred Phelps was invited to the funeral, but did not come.

Fred Wade died in 1977, according to his friends and family, "A man at peace." Those who met Fred Wade later in life were never aware that he had a son. Of the property he left to Fred and Martha-Jean in his will, Martha-Jean was ordered to receive 7/8. Olive died in 1985, much to Fred's glee; he was not invited to or mentioned in her funeral service, and she left all of her money and possessions to Martha-Jean. Despire Martha-Jean's conviction that Fred developed what could be considered a palpable hatred of their father and a strong conviction that he would go to Hell, a tearful Fred Phelps recalled in 1994:

He was disappointed when I didn't go to West Point, which is understandable. He worked hard to get that appointment for me, and he was a very active Methodist, so he was disappointed in that. But my dad was a super guy that I loved deeply and I miss him.

Early Career/early signs of mental health issues

Phelps left Mississippi for Bob Jones University. While there, he was part of a failed mission to convert Mormons in the town of Vernal, Utah. It was one of the earliest examples of Fred's newfound personality: When one of the missionaries choked during a question and answer session, Phelps responded by attacking the person who'd asked the question, sparking a near riot. While in Vernal, Phelps was ordained a minister by the local Baptist Church; he returned to Bob Jones, only to mysteriously drop out. Years later, he cited an opposition to the school's racial practices (blacks were not allowed to attend until the 1990s); in 1994, a former employee of the university told the Topeka Capital Journal that the school staff actually feared Phelps, and he was given an ultimatum to either seek psychiatric counselling or be expelled.

Phelps moved to Canada, where he attended Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills for two semesters before dropping out and moving to Pasadena, California, where he received a two year degree in theology from John Muir College in 1951. The same year, Phelps received national attention for the first time when he was featured in an article in Time Magazine for his street-ministry efforts to outlaw kissing on campues in the Pasadena city limits. Phelps also sought to outlaw profanity, which would become a staple of his sermons in later years. The campaign ended badly: Police had to escort Phelps off of a campus and put him into protective custody after students tried to attack him. He returned to the campus again, and was told by police that he did not have permission to demonstrate there. When Phelps refused to leave, the officer attempted to remove him by force, and Phelps assaulted him, leading to his first arrest. He continued his street ministry from the front lawn of a sympathizer who lived across the street from John Muir College.

Marriage/Move to Topeka/First Ministry

Shortly thereafter Phelps moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he was taken in by a family. Years later they recalled him as "the perfect guest": during his stay, he helped to add a room onto the house and did all of the family's yardwork. The family's nanny, Margerie, is the only woman to whom Phelps has ever been romantically linked: They were married in May of 1952. Their first child, Fred Jr., was born May 4th, 1953; a year later, the family moved to Kansas, where Fred Sr. had been invited to be co-pastor at Eastside Baptist Church in Topeka. They arrived May 17th, 1954, the same day that the supreme court handed down its decision on Brown v. Board of Education. Fred Sr. took it as a sign from God that he should go into law.

Fred's position at Eastside was short lived; as some congregants would recall years later, he was a "reverend from Hell," encouraging his congregants to beat their wives and children; he was once forced to bail one of his parishoners out of jail after counselling the man to punch his wife in the face until she became "subjugated." Parishoners of Eastside recall one of Phelps' sermons in particular:

A good left hook makes for a right fine wife. Brethren, they can lock us up, but we'll still do what the Bible tells us to do. Either our wives are going to obey, or we're going to beat them!

Most congregants recall an incident one Sunday morning when Phelps' infant son, Mark, began to cry during his sermon; Phelps responded by walking down from the pulpit, punching the baby in the face, and then returning to continue the sermon, to the horror of his congregants. Phelps dismissal from the church came when a female congregant admitted that she had committed adultery. The next Sunday, Phelps' sermon revolved around the woman, repeatedly referring to her as a whore and encouraging the congregation to draw up an official "form" declaring her to be damned to Hell and excommunicated from the church. In response, the congregants voted to kick Phelps out of the church.

The only congregants to stand by Phelps were George Stutzman and the Hockenbargers, Charles, Karl, and Charles William (called Bill by fellow congregants), members of the Christian Identity sect of the Ku Klux Klan, and the mens' families. In 1992, one of the men's granddaughters, Jennifer Hockenbarger, married Phelps' grandson Ben.

Westboro

Phelps founded Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) in 1955. While running the church, Phelps graduated from Washburn University and worked as an attorney defending the civil rights of African Americans being discriminated against in Kansas. His career saw numerous ethical violations and numerous charges of stealing money from clients; he also went through periods of drug-binging and binge-eating, during which he took on no clients and the family sank into poverty. During this time the family's only income came from the children going door-to-door selling stolen candy.

Rev. Phelps alleges that his success resulted in animosity among the white legal establishment and his eventual disbarment by the Kansas Supreme Court for ethical violations. (PDF file of Phelps's point of view on his disbarment (http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/feb2004/Monograph_2-14-2004.pdf))

The year after being disbarred, he continued to practice law in Federal Court before he was finally disbarred from that in 1989 as well, also for ethical violations; in an unprecedented move, the motion for disbarrment was signed by every federal judge in the state of Kansas. His final disbarment resulted from a plea deal through which the Federal Court would stop their disbarment hearings against the rest of his family.

Purpose, theology, and pickets

For a summation of Phelps' stated goals and theology, as well as information on his pickets, please see Westboro's goals, theology, and picketing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church_%28Topeka%29#The_Group), as they are the stated goals and theology of the entire congregation and not exclusive to Phelps.

Personal Beliefs

During 1993-1994 interviews with the Topeka Capital Journal, four of Phelps' children asserted that their father's religious beliefs were either non-existant to begin with or have dwindled down to nearly nothing since his conversion to Baptism; they claim that Westboro serves to enable a paraphilia of Phelps, wherein he is literally addicted to hatred (this statement would serve as the inspiration for the title of the book about Phelps' life). Two of his sons, Mark and Nate, claim that the church is actually a carefully planned out 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 is 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 Capital Journal newspaper.

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 only 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.

Some on the internet reject all claims made by anyone who has ever been involved with Westboro, including Phelps' estranged children; they believe that Phelps is actually a brilliant performance artist crafting the greatest piece of art ever made.

The Laramie Project

A large portion of Westboro's pickets are "retribution pickets" revolving around the play The Laramie Project; Phelps constantly 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. The reason for these protests is that Phelps is a character in the play, and is portrayed negatively; indeed, some of his ardent supporters claim that the play constitutes libel. Phelps himself says about his portrayal in the play: They did not interview me, and portrayed me in a false light that amounts to defamatory misrepresentation.

However, all of Phelps' dialogue in the play is taken verbatim from his own sermons.

When the play was made into a movie by HBO, Phelps travelled to New York to picket the HBO home offices with signs reading "United You'll Fall". Whenever Phelps sends picketers, he faxes a "review" to local newspapers for publishing; every review he sends is identical:

"The fag play 'The Laramie Project' is a tacky bit of melodrama—unaffecting and drearily predictable—without artistic merit or redeeming social value."

In expressing their opinions on the play, Phelps' children have each expressed nearly identical opinions:

"The fag play 'The Laramie Project' is a tacky bit of melodrama—maudlin, unaffecting, drearily predictable—without artistic merit or redeeming social value."

Affiliations with Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro

In 1997, before the fall of Saddam Hussein during the second Gulf War, Phelps wrote him a letter praising his regime, and received special permission from the Iraqi government to send a group of his children to Baghdad to protest against the American government. Hussein granted permission, and a group of WBC congregants traveled to Iraq to protest against the U.S. The parishoners stood on the streets of Baghdad and in heavily patronized Baghdad establishments holding signs reading:

• GO HOME (with a cartoon of Bill Clinton)
• BABY KILLER (with a cartoon of Hillary Clinton)
• BABY KILLER (with a cartoon of Bill Clinton)
• FAG GORE
• FAG USA= SODOM
• STOP THE HOLOCAUST (in reference to Phelps' "Topeka Baptist Holocaust" campaign)
• FAG USA (with a picture of an inverted, burning American flag)
• USA SIN (with a picture of anatomically incorrect stick figures engaged in anal sex)

Phelps mourned the fall of Hussein's regime and has consistently criticized the invasion of Iraq, citing, "IRAQ=USA=SODOM" and keeping a toll on his webpage celebrating the death of every American soldier killed and pronouncing loyalty to Iraq.

Phelps has also repeatedly championed Fidel Castro for Castro's stance against homosexuality; in 1998 Harper's magazine published a letter Phelps sent to Castro in which he praised Castro and lambasted the US. In 2004, when a pro-homosexual Cuban refugee announced plans to travel to Cuba, Phelps sent another letter to Castro "warning" him of the man's plans and requesting travel visas for a group of WBC congregants so that they could follow the refugee around Havana with signs bearing anti-US and anti-homosexual slogans.

Affiliations with Al Gore and Democratic Party

In the 1980s, the Phelps family were strong political allies with then-senator Al Gore. The home of Fred Jr., Phelps' eldest son, located in the Westboro compound, acted as Gore's campaign quarters for one of his senate races, and the Westboro compound was host to a fundraiser. Numerous photos exist on the internet of Fred Phelps Jr. and his second wife, Betty Phelps-Schurle, posing with Al and Tipper Gore in Phelps Jr.'s home. Phelps also served as a Gore delegate on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988. (link with photos.)

http://www.lcrga.com/archive/200010251159.shtml

During the 1992 presidential election, Fred Phelps and Fred Phelps Jr. led the members of Westboro in campaigning around the state of Kansas for Bill Clinton and Al Gore; Fred Phelps Sr. would later state in fliers that he did so with the belief that Gore would fall under WBC's political influence should he and Clinton win the election.

In January of 1993, Fred Phelps, his wife Marge, Fred Phelps Jr., and Betty Phelps-Schurle were invited to (and attended) the innagural ball in Washington D.C. (SPLC report). (http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:QD5jeX4KZ8gJ:www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp%3Fsid%3D184+%22fred+phelps%22+%22al+gore%22&hl=en&start=5)

In the ensuing four years, Phelps (and consequently Westboro) turned against Gore for his and Clinton's decided pro-and-neutral stances on homosexuality. Gore nevertheless invited Fred Phelps, Marge, Fred Jr., and Betty back for the 1997 innaguration; they responded by bringing the entirety of Westboro to the White House and picketing on the front lawn during the ball, (report on Phelps' ball picket) (http://www.qrd.org/qrd/media/radio/thiswayout/summary/newswrap/1997/461-01.27.97) with signs proclaiming that Gore, Clinton, and both mens' families were going to hell not necessarily for their stances on homosexuality, but because they had "betrayed" Westboro.

In 1998, Westboro picketed the funeral of Gore's father, screaming vulgarities at Gore and telling him "your dad's in Hell."

Rev. Phelps has run in numerous Democratic primary elections for governor of the state of Kansas in 1992, 1994, and the last time in 1998, when he came in last with 15,000 votes out of a total of over 103,000 votes cast, or %15.

In the aftermath of the election, in an incident that would be repeated years later when Phelps circulated a fuzzy petition to outlaw homosexual work protection, numerous Kansas residents who had cast votes for Phelps came forward to express their distaste for him. They claimed that Phelps had lied about his intentions to numerous constituents, using double-talk and fuzzy language to confuse them; neglected to mention his stances on race, religion, and homosexuality, and campaigned mainly on the platform of a "good ol' boy" Southern gentleman and retired lawyer unfairly prosecuted by the system. (Residents request removal) (http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:85gRT_YYAzsJ:www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/010505topeka.htm+%22fred+phelps%22+petition+signatures+removed&hl=en&start=2)

http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/05/kansas.results/

Non-homosexual prejudices

For a comprehensive look at Phelps' racism and anti-semitism, see racism and anti-semitism, as his views are shared by the congregation.

Drug and alcohol dependency

Following his graduation from Washburn University in 1962, Phelps became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates, which he often combined with large quantities of alcohol. One of his sons claims that his first memory in life is a drunk Phelps shotgunning to death their neighbor's German Shepherd in front of the owner's child as a punishment for the dog defecating on Phelps' lawn.

Phelps continued to take drugs, consume alcohol, and binge eat for six years, and would often go for days or weeks without leaving his bedroom. Because of his habits Phelps stopped earning money for the family, and because he refused to allow his wife to get a job, the family's financial resources quickly dried up.

In the mid-1960s Marge Phelps loaded her ten children into the family car and attemped to flee Fred, but found that none of her relatives or friends had the resources to accommodate eleven extra people. The family was forced to return to Fred, who promptly brutalized his wife.

In 1968, following a botched suicide attempt, Phelps overdosed on a cocktail of alcohol and amphetamines. He slipped into a coma and was rushed to the hospital, where he remained comatose for a week. Upon his return home he put himself on a detoxification diet, drinking only water and eating no solid food for several weeks. There is no evidence that Phelps has since relapsed.

Spousal and child abuse

Though the children that remain loyal to him claim that they were only spanked as children, there is an abundance of evidence to support the claims of two of his daughters and two of his sons that Phelps was physically abusive to his children and wife.

Phelps' sons Nate and Mark, who claim that they were among the most abused, each suffer permanent debilitating injuries consistent with their stories of Phelps beating them with a mattock handle. According to the boys, he woke them one Christmas Eve in the 1970s while under the influence, bent them over a bathtub, and struck them nearly 300 times with the mattock handle.

In 1972 the boys showed up to school covered in welts, bruises, and bleeding wounds; the school nurse determined that Nate exhibited signs of shock. The family was investigated by social services, but Nate and Mark claim that their father threatened them with death if they spoke about their beatings. Phelps likewise issued threats against individual police officers and school staff, and filed a lawsuit against the school claiming they beat his children; the charges against Phelps, and Phelps' lawsuit, were dropped, but the affidavit that the school principal issued to social services remained on file as concrete evidence to support the stories of child abuse.

In the early 1990s Nate Phelps was diagnosed as suffering post traumatic stress syndrome. He and his brother have each been diagnosed as having suffered damage to the muscle tissue and tendons in their buttocks and legs, and both have scarring on their backsides, which they claim is the result of Phelps beating them with a custom made four-inch-wide strop. Around 1994 Nate was diagnosed as suffering bone chips and severe damage to the muscle tissue in his knees.

Marge Phelps, the boys' mother, suffers from bone chips and severe cartilage damage in her right shoulder, consistent with a story three of the Phelps children tell about Fred throwing her down a flight of stairs.

Many of the Phelps children who remain at Westboro openly admit to using physical violence against their children; Phelps' son, Jonathan, boasted to the Topeka Capital Journal in 1994 that he regularly beat his wife, Betty, and his children. On occasion members of the church have dared police and government officials to try and take legal action against them.

Criminal record

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 has sued the city and arresting agency. Though he has been able to avoid prison time—often on technicalities (he escaped prison time on an assault and battery charge because an appellate court ruled he didn't receive a speedy trial)—he has been convicted numerous times:

• 1987: Witness intimidation, threats, and attempted extortion (charges were brought up by the Kansas Bar Association and used as evidence in Phelps' disbarrment and the launching of disbarrment hearings against his children)
• 1992: Disorderly conduct
• 1993: Disorderly conduct
• 1993: Witness intimidation
• 1994: Contempt of court
• 1994: Two counts of assault (reduced to disorderly conduct on appeal)
• 1995: Assault and battery
• 1997: Two counts of disorderly conduct
• 1998: Disorderly conduct

Timeline featuring Phelps' criminal record (http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:QD5jeX4KZ8gJ:www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp%3Fsid%3D184+%22fred+phelps%22+campaign+governor&hl=en&start=3)

Phelps' 1993 convictions stemmed from a raid on the offices of his family's lawfirm, "Phelps Chartered," in which $37,000 worth of equipment was seized as evidence. Phelps later sued the city of Topeka for seizing the equipment and won $43,000 in damages. By the time an appeals court overturned the ruling, the statute of limitations had expired and Phelps was allowed to keep the money.

In December 1996 two Topeka police officers came forward claiming that then-police chief Beavers had, in 1993, enacted a "no-arrest" policy that actively ignored complaints against Phelps and WBC members. Beavers was quoted as saying:

The Phelpses are not going to live in my house. Don't these officers know the Phelpses can sue us and take our houses? Commander, do you understand my order?

An investigation was launched by the City of Topeka and the Topeka Sheriff's department in 1996. It was determined that Chief Beavers had been allowing Phelps and WBC protestors to commit crimes without arrest, and that Phelps and WBC members had taken advantage of their knowledge of the policy by becoming more abusive towards Topeka citizens. Following the findings of the city and Sheriff's office, Beavers was asked to resign, and his successor immediately repealed the "no arrest" policy.

Canada

Phelps and congregants have been arrested on numerous occasions in Canada for violation of that country's hate crime laws. On one occasion, the congregation had their signs confiscated by customs, and responded by going to the province capital and burning and spitting on the Canadian flag, and threatening to urinate and defecate on it. Should Phelps ever try to enter Canada again, he would be arrested and tried for violation of hate crimes laws.

Notable activities

For a look at Phelps' more infamous actions and statements, refer to Westboro's Notable Activities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church_%28Topeka%29#Claiming_divine_retribution.2FNotable_Activities), as all of these actions and statements were done and made in collusion with the entirety of the congregation.

Health

In Topeka, Kansas, there is much speculation regarding Phelps's health. He is reported to be suffering from an advanced form of cancer or Parkinson's Disease and has made few recent appearances. Recent photographs showing apparent partial facial paralysis suggest that he may have suffered a very mild stroke for which he was never hospitalized. Also, the length and incoherence of many of his recent sermons, as well as a large number of bizarre claims (including "George Bush worships Mr. Peanut, whose name is the great God Goober"), suggest to many that he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, senility, or has suffered brain damage due to his amphetamine and barbiturate addiction in the 1960s.

External links

Phelps's sites

• godhatesfags.com (http://www.godhatesfags.com)
• godhatesamerica.com (http://www.godhatesamerica.com), and a sample page:
• godhatescanada.com (http://www.godhatescanada.com)
• godhatessweden.com (http://www.godhatessweden.com)

Supporters of Phelps

• Bart McQueary is the name of a radical Kentucky Calvinist. His website (http://www.bartmcqueary.com/), which was taken offline in May of 2005 and replaced with an WMV animation created by Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church for their own site, attacked residents of Kentucky and was considerably more overtly vulgar than Phelps'.

Critics of Phelps

• godhateswbc.com (http://www.godhateswbc.com)
• godlovesfags.com (http://www.godlovesfags.com)
• godhatesfigs.com (http://www.godhatesfigs.com)—a spoof of Phelps's original site
• godhatesrags.com (http://www.godhatesrags.com)—another spoof of Phelps's original site
• godhatesglobes.com (http://www.godhatesglobes.com)—a spoof that encourages social action against fundamentalist governmental policies
• godhatesshrimp.com (http://www.godhatesshrimp.com)—another spoof of Phelps's original site
• BaptistWatch.org (http://www.baptistwatch.org)—contains the biography of Phelps entered as an exhibit in the Stauffer Communictions Inc. lawsuit
• godhatesfredphelps.com (http://www.godhatesfredphelps.com/) —speaks of hate crimes committed against others.
• Rotten.com's biographical summary of Phelps (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/fred-phelps/)
• A fictional CNN-style obituary of Phelps (http://www.danstheman.com/SPECIALS/2005/phelps.obit/)
• Wisconsin Christians United (http://www.wcuweb.org/) —Organization headed by radical Milwaukee street preacher Ralph Ovadal, who, while employing protest tactics similar to Phelps, is critical of him, and also claims Phelps' female family members once physically attacked one of his followers.

Biographies

• Hate for the love of God (http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/specialsection.shtml)—biographical special section from the Topeka Capital-Journal, first published in 1994
• Addicted to Hate: The Fred Phelps Story (http://www.rslevinson.com/gaylesissues/features/collect/phelps/bl_phelpscover.htm)—The full text of the book, mentioned in the article above.