Who will go to Fred Phelps’ funeral?

[DonViejo]

The Westboro Church leader is reportedly "on the edge of death"

MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

There’s a saying that goes, “Live your life so the Westboro Baptist Church will want to picket your funeral.” But when the time comes, who will be there for Fred Phelps’?

Over the weekend, Phelps’ estranged son and LGBT rights activist Nathan announced on Facebook that the 84 year-old patriarch of the hate-spewing Westboro Baptist Church was excommunicated from his own church last summer, and is “now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas.”

Just a month ago, a representative from the Westboro Church told church spokesman Steve Drain twice told the Topeka Capital-Journal that Phelps was “healthy.” When challenged this weekend, church spokesman Steve Drain said only that “We don’t owe any talk to you about that. We don’t discuss our internal church dealings with anybody. It’s only because of his notoriety that you are asking.” But he added, “For a very long time, we haven’t been organized in the way you think.”

You’re likely not shedding too many tears that Fred Phelps, a man so riddled with bile he was the head of a group that vowed to disrupt the funerals of the child victims of Sandy Hook massacre, will apparently soon no longer be sharing a planet with the rest of us. Oh, the man who popularized the phrase “God hates fags?” The one who’s spent years sending his minions to stand around spewing vitriol wherever there are Jews, homosexuals, entertainers, or groups of mourners? Not really crying over here. Even the cryptic revelation from Nate Phelps that since the summer, “He was moved out of the church and into a house, where he was watched to ensure he wouldn’t harm himself” doesn’t rouse a whole lot of sympathy. And if you are having a moment of hope that his group’s tactics will die with him, that seems sadly unlikely. Though the church itself has kept relatively quiet about Phelps’ status, it’s preferred instead to keep up with its usual announcements like Friday’s notice that “Thank God for 4 more dead troops. We are praying for 4,000 more. We will picket their funerals in their home towns.”

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http://www.salon.com/2014/03/17/who_will_go_to_fred_phelps_funeral/

[MADem]

1. I certainly hope FRED shows up!!!!!

[babylonsister]

2. ...

[DonViejo]

5. LOL!!

A variation on an old Irish prayer seems appropriate today: "May he be in hell a half hour before the god(s) know he's dead."

[TexasProgresive]

3. How about all those excluded from the St. Patrick's day parades.

And they should dress how they like-you know, be themselves like they would at any party.

[oldandhappy]

4. I vote for no one to show up

I am in favor of a very loud empty place.

[truebrit71]

6. ^^This^^

This miserable, hate-filled piece of human excrement thrived and craved attention...it would be fitting that in his death no-one gave a shit...

[riderinthestorm]

7. Yup. agreed nt

[Tikki]

9. +++++…except the workers who lower him into the ground...

That would be true justice…


Tikki

[geek tragedy]

8. half the congregation can attend, the other half can protest nt

[littlewolf]

10. LOL you made me smile thanks. nt

[FSogol]

13. and they can switch halfway through.

[NuclearDem]

11. Fred who?

[lapislzi]

12. I will go.

Not because I am sad at his passing (I'm rather relieved). Not because I want to cause a spectacle (not my style).

But because love must be shown to be the stronger force. Because despite being one of the most loathsome human beings on the face of the earth, he should be buried with the dignity he would have denied to thousands of others.

Because I don't know much about Jesus, but I think it's something that maybe he might have done. And that he probably had the right idea with that.

Peace to you all.