Inside Westboro Baptist Church

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Schadenfroh

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
Found this very insightful article regarding an examination of the most notorious church in the country.

I knew the Baptist moniker is in name only, as no Baptist convention recognizes them and The Southern Baptists Convention's leaders have condemned them.

But, I thought that WBC was a sizable group that was mostly uneducated and were funded by far right-wing groups, looks like my assumptions were all wrong.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134198937/a-peek-inside-the-westboro-baptist-church

The membership:
the church only claims about 100 members. Almost all of them come from the family of Fred Phelps.
...
He visited them in their compound in an upscale neighborhood of Topeka. He found them polite, normal people - a model of success.
...
They're college educated. They're well-spoken. The daughter herself argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Click to expand...

Regarding support / funding from other organizations:
Westboro Baptist Church is an organization that essentially has no friends whatsoever on the far right, the far left or anyplace in between.
...
Do they have secret contributors? Phelps-Roper is adamant they do not.
" We all work, and we all pay our own way. We don't ask for anything from anyone, and we don't take anything from anyone."
Click to expand...

Primary Funding:
They have a very well-respected law firm and people in town said, well, you know, we don't like them, but if we want to win a case, we'll go to them.
...
The protests are in themselves a source of some income, according to Mark Potok. Over the years the Phelpses have filed lawsuits against communities that try to stop them from demonstrating.

Mr. POTOK: And as a general matter they have won. They know their First Amendment rights very well, and they've been very good at defending them.

HAGERTY: When they win, they often receive tens of thousands of dollars in court fees.
Click to expand...
Interesting, seems they cause a fuss, bait people, slap a lawsuit on them when they try to kick them out and then cash in on the results of said lawsuit. Their hometown's law business seems to be quite successful and skilled. Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) should hire these people and put their abilities to use in trying to win control of Linux and Unix, maybe they could actually win a case with them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps#Civil_rights_attorney
In another twist, their leader, Fred Phelps was a civil rights lawyer:
"I systematically brought down the Jim Crow laws of this town," he says.[4] Phelps' daughter was quoted as saying, "We took on the Jim Crow establishment, and Kansas did not take that sitting down. They used to shoot our car windows out, screaming we were ****** lovers," and that the Phelps law firm made up one-third of the state's federal docket of civil rights cases.
...
In the 1980s, Phelps received awards from the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Blacks in Government and the Bonner Springs branch of the NAACP, for his work on behalf of black clients.
Click to expand...

While they are obviously not what I expected, it does not change my opinion that their actions are despicable.
 
Lemon law

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
20,984
3
0
Our OP has revealed the methods to destroy the WBC. The point is and remains, the WBC is not a religious organization in any way, its a legal money making conspiracy.

Because if the WBC can't offset their $200,000 per year annual travels expense by suing various entities, for more than $200,000/yr in damages, their wheels fall off. I also remember that in one case of a fairly impoverished town, the WBC canceled their protests when the town could not possibly be able to afford being able to furnish them the police security they needed. And why should any municipality in the nation be forced to provide those aholes with police protection, let the WBC provide their security on their own nickel. And work on that legal vulnerability of the WBC.

Meanwhile its a grand and glorious game for the WBC to count on being able to sue, making more their own travel money as a money making process, but even though none of us should hope for it, as sure as God made little green apples, some hot head will take a gun and murder one or more idiots from the WBC. And if the community in question provided adequate security, and if the lone perp is never caught or is caught, the Westboro church may start viewing the calculus of idiot games quite differently.

Because they have no grounds for a civil lawsuit, when it escalates to criminal matter. And if they can even win a dime, their lost soldier(s) for stupidity will have lost their life for a senseless cause.

Meanwhile make sure the WBC has no ability to make a dime on civil lawsuits. If the WBC wants to spend $200,000 a year on being idiots will travel, make sure the WBC wastes all $200,000 of those travel expenses without a hope a dime in recovery.
 
wuliheron

wuliheron

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2011
3,536
0
0
Why on earth would you want to take a perfectly legitimate job from hard working people when we already have so many unemployed? This is another middle class business, not some Wall street crook, politician, or psychopathic industry willing to kill people by the thousands for a profit.

Just think of it as you would porn or any number of socially frowned upon industries. It's a growth industry and I'm sure we'll see plenty of mom and pop operations like this getting in on the ground floor before it become more socially acceptable and the big boys push them out of the action.
 
manimal

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,559
8
0
Do you think they will start wearing track suits and tennis shoes and drink the special coolaid?
 
W

Wreckem

Diamond Member
Sep 23, 2006
9,549
1,130
126
classy said:
This is surprising.



That is impressive.
Click to expand...

How many have been disbarred like their father. F

Fred Phelps was permanently disbarred for his harassment tactics, similar to what Westboro employs today. Thats when he became a "pastor."

Its not a church. It is a family business.
 
R

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
They all went to my high school like 3 years ago. It was 5 idiots with picket signs vs 1500 student, separated by police fences.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom