Banhammer:The Social Bash-Fest of America’s Idiots

Now, for the first iteration of my new series appearing exclusively in The Prospector, I have decided to spotlight a group that few know about, but doesn’t take much to hate. I’m talking about the Westboro Baptist Church, led by asshole-cum-pastor Fred Phelps. This is the cult (yeah, they are a cult, despite being “Christians”) of nut jobs that pickets the funerals of our fallen soldiers with signs declaring them “fags” and singing lewd songs about their superiority to the sinful hordes. We’ve heard about them on the news, spreading their hate speech and their anti-American drivel. They love getting this sort of attention; they see it as their chance to proclaim what the “ultimate judgment of God” will be.

The Church itself has been around for only a short time under its patriarch Fred, who also started the bloodline for the majority of its congregation. That’s right; Westboro is made up almost entirely of Phelps’ kin. Nestled in a quiet little suburb of Topeka, Kansas, the Phelps family has been spewing hate and indoctrinating their children with their ignorant, fascist, and extremist rhetoric. All of this wonderful “ministry” has been organized by Fred’s daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper. She is the face we see on “Hannity and Colmes” and various news programs.

The basis of their beliefs is that God has condemned pretty much everybody but their congregation. They present these beliefs through picket signs proclaiming “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God For Dead Soldiers,” the latter being because they see our soldiers fighting not for American freedom, but for a nation that abides by and supports behavior that is not “Godly” or somehow affronts their notion of what Christian people should be. “The commandment has gone forth; America is doomed,” Shirley said in the documentary “The Most Hated Family in America,” “because we are the evil angels…and it’s not because we are evil people, but because we’re bringing to you the message of the evil that God has determined upon you…” Call me an ass, but anyone who is so presumptuous as to label an entire nation as “evil,” especially their own, deserves to be ridiculed and possibly deported.

As to the man himself, Fred Phelps is rarely in the public eye, resigning himself to hiding in his suburban compound in Topeka or recording hate speeches for their website, http://www.godhatesfags.com. When the rest of his foul progeny aren’t out calling our troops “fag enablers” and picketing hardware stores (Husqvarna equipment is from Sweden, which recognizes same-sex partnerships), they are singing parodies of patriotic and Christian songs that express their hate and listening intently to their leader spew his rhetoric and profanity.

Of course, a few fruits have fallen away from the tree. About four of Phelps’ children have been disowned for turning away from the family and its cultist beliefs. Fred Phelps himself refuses to give a straight answer to anyone asking how many children he has, and will make any attempt to evade other questions posed to him, especially from journalists, that do not relate back to his unwavering theological teachings.

I ask you, the reader, be you Christian or not: Can we allow this hate group to continue their activities? Will we condone their continued picketing of soldier’s funerals, disturbing the bereaved and grief-stricken families of our nation’s fallen? The answer is, as it should be, no. If you have a heart or a conscience, you’ll do what you can to stop them. Their picket schedule is listed at http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html. Meet them where you can and tell them to either get out of the public eye, or get out of this country that they hate so much, yet is the only country that would tolerate their hatred for the sake of their freedom of speech.