Every church has its own set of beliefs on countless topics including ethics and morality, religion, sexuality, and other controversial issues. Westboro Baptist Church is an infamous Baptist church lead by Fred Phelps in Topeka, Kansas. The church is classified as a hate group due to its hate speeches against the government, military, gay community, and many other groups. The church was formed in 1931 as a branch of another Baptist church in Topeka, East Side. In 1954 Phelps was hired as an associate pastor for East Side and became the pastor of Wesbtboro a year later. Phelps disaffiliated Westboro with East Side, making the church an unaffiliated Baptist church in Topeka. An article by Mark David Bradshaw, Sound & Fury: Fred Phelps and Life Inside Westboro, gives readers an inside look at the family life and story of Fred Phelps. The recounts of his life and family are heavily related to the speeches and protests at this church.
At the age of 24, Phelps moved to Topeka with his wife in 1954 and raised 13 children while leading Westboro. He forbade them from joining any extracurricular activities or celebrating holidays like Christmas. Additionally, he made his children run excessively and sell candy as a form of income. He abused them as punishment for not following his strict rules. Phelps forbade his children to date and when he found out his son Freddy was seeing a girl he targeted her and called her names like "whore" until she commit suicide.
Phelps was also a lawyer and created a lawfirm that was responsible for most of Westboro's legal activity. He abused this firm and his license when suing people for anything he did not agree with. He sued the school his children attended when the contacted police to investigate potential child abuse in the Phelps' home. In 1979 he was disbarred from practicing law due to this activity.
When analyzing Phelps' story, readers should analyze his actions and how they affected the church he led. His leadership as a patriarch of a family can be compared to his leadership of a congregation as a pastor. He was never open to new ideas and would not let his family explore anything that was not a part of his plan. This form of tyranny can brainwash the followers of the church which leads to the protests and hate speeches. People of Topeka and surrounding areas should be aware of these things before joining such a radical organization or hate group.
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