They’ve weathered the departure of numerous members, including many who grew up in the church, and the death of their founder. Ostracized by other Christians, they rarely dated or married outsiders young adults were more likely to leave than find spouses and settle down in the church.īut the Westboro Baptists are an incredibly tightknit community that has bounced back more than once from adversity, such as the $10 million judgment against them for defamation that was overturned by the U.S. Nearly all of the congregants at the time belonged to the extended Phelps family, including nine of his 13 children, their spouses and their children. Since Phelps’ death in March 2014, some speculated that the church would dissolve. In a world so polarized and divisive, I found it meaningful, and still do, to reach out empathetically to even the most intense and oppositional of religious groups. Since so many outsiders hate, mock or ostracize the church, I committed to suspend my moral judgment and approach them as a scholar, with respect and curiosity. Personally, I wanted to know whether I could connect with them. As a professor of comparative religion, I wanted to understand the ethics in this community so dedicated to a cause that offended so many. I first met the Westboro Baptists in 2010, visiting Topeka and interviewing dozens of church members. Protesting chiefly what they perceived as America’s acceptance of homosexuality, members of the small Topeka church haunted gay pride parades, federal courthouses, even military funerals, wielding picket signs blazoned with slogans such as “Thank God for 9/11” and, most famously, “God hates fags.” (RNS) - No single congregation in America has had the kind of recognition, or notoriety, that the Westboro Baptist Church achieved in the 1990s under its controversial founder, Fred Phelps Sr.
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