Post on 26-Oct-2014
transcript
A Presentation By Marie Beshears
The Westboro Baptist Church was founded in 1955 when Phelps moved to Topeka, KsThe Church was started in Phelps home and remains there today
Primitive BaptistCalvinisticOne has no bearing on his or her own salvation
Those who are saved are predestined by God
Phelps became a Baptist preacher at age 17He soon began protesting non-Christian acts
In 1964 Phelps earned his law degree from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas
Phelps had trouble finding a judge to be a character witness for him
This caused him problems when he tried to join the Kansas Bar Association
He bypassed this problem by finding other individuals to write letters of recommendation for him
In 1979 Phelps is permanently disbarred by the Kansas Supreme CourtHe had harassed and sued a court reporter because she allegedly delivered a document late
The next year Phelps was suspended from federal courts until 1982 asa result of the same case
In 1991 Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church make their biggest attack on gaysThey call this the “Great Gage Park Decency Drive”This was the first of many pickets of a public park commonly known as a gay meeting place
In 1991 the Westboro Baptist Church started practicing their picketing campaigns outside of Kansas
The Westboro Baptist Church and Phelps have been the reason for anti-funeral picketing laws around the nation
The first big media stunt of the Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing the funeral of Matthew ShepherdHe was a gay student who was brutally simply because he was gay
The church was seen with signs reading “God Hates Fags”
The Church claims that America is being punished for allowing gay lifestyles
They also claim that the deaths of soldiers by IEDs is because of a small explosive attack on their compound in 1995
In 2006 The Westboro Baptist Church picketed the funeral of Matthew SnyderA gay American Marine that died in
battleThe Church’s picket included signs reading “Thank God for dead soldiers”
Snyder’s father sued the Church for invasion of privacy
Snyder’s father had to pay court costs to the Westboro Baptist Church after loosing the case
The Supreme Court Ruled that the First Amendment protected the Church’s right to protest funeralsThis did not change the anti-
funeral picketing laws in 43 states
David G. Savage, W. B. (2011, March 03). Supreme Court sides with churchgoers who picketed military funeral. Los Angeles Times .
Fred Phelps. (n.d.). Retrieved May 19, 2012, from Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/fred-phelps
Fred Phelps Timeline. (Spring 2012). Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report (Issue Number: 101).
Froese, P., & Bader, C. (2010). America's Four Gods: What we say about God & what that says about us. Oxford University Press.