Two defect from Westboro Baptist Church

One of Phelps' sons is a member here (can't recall his forum name). He defected some time ago.
 
WBC loses two more members

I wonder if they are losing members faster than others are joining.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/two-more-members-leave-the-westboro-baptist-church

Buzzfeed says that the church is dying but the story seems to be anecdotal. Although the members leaving seem to have been fairly important ones.

It doesn't say for example how many members the church has today vs. 5 years ago or 10 years ago.

Anyone know anything like that?
 
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I frankly don't understand why anyone gives two ***** about a church of only 40 people. If they had a stockpile of chemical weapons I could understand why they'd get some press, but otherwise they seem like little more than a distraction.

(says the guy who just posted on a Westboro Baptist Church thread)
 
joesixpack said:
I frankly don't understand why anyone gives two ***** about a church of only 40 people. If they had a stockpile of chemical weapons I could understand why they'd get some press, but otherwise they seem like little more than a distraction.

(says the guy who just posted on a Westboro Baptist Church thread)
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I don't think that WBC is any worse than hundreds of other tiny, extremist congregations around the country. The difference is that they are phenomenally good at getting the press to give them free publicity. People like to see a train wreck and feel good about how bad others behave, I guess.
 
which one's are megan and grace?

I have a feeling Megan might be the one we thought (while watching Louie Theroux's doco) might leave, and then we were disappointed that she was still there when Louie went back.

Is Grace the pretty little one that was doing photography or something? We had high hopes for her - she just didnt seem crazy enough to fall for that crap.
 
Puppycow said:
I wonder if they are losing members faster than others are joining.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/two-more-members-leave-the-westboro-baptist-church

Buzzfeed says that the church is dying but the story seems to be anecdotal. Although the members leaving seem to have been fairly important ones.

It doesn't say for example how many members the church has today vs. 5 years ago or 10 years ago.

Anyone know anything like that?
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It's pretty much all Phelps family, isn't it? So the main way to join would be being born into it.

It's interesting that she still believes that they are loving people, and never (while she was in it) thought of it as hateful. Even though the word "hate" is right there on their signs & website name.
 
Megan and Grace Phelps-Roper Abandon WBC

Westboro Baptist church key member Megan Phelps-Roper leaves.

I don't want to be the "I told you so" guy, but I totally saw this one coming. I have watched an immoderate amount of WBC interviews and documentaries, and Megan always seemed detached. She left the impression on me that she was far too worldly and far too human to be a part of something so cloistered and fanatical. There was one moment in one of Louis Theroux's documentaries that I found particularly revealing: she began to cry when showing Louis some photos of friends whom she acknowledged would burn perennially in hell. Her aunt desperately smothered her emotional transgression with some quip about her friends being primitive enough to kill her niece "if it came down to it", but Megan offered only a reluctant nod. I've been waiting to hear of her defection for a long time now.

This news excites me greatly. It's refreshing, right? To be reminded of the persistence of social adaptation is quite freeing. I'm about as cynical as it gets on the matter of human habit, but sometimes things happen that push me to continue seeking the truth, and to avoid inventions or misconceptions. To me, this is some indication that I may indeed observe all of the desirable social changes that currently sit strewing in public discourse, and that perhaps I can help realise some of them myself.

I wish her and Grace the most wonderful, enlightening, and fun life possible.
 
All ready to forgive her?
I am glad she left, but she still has to answer for what she did (as an adult).
 
She didn't do anything illegal, so there's nothing she has to answer for, in this world or any putative other.
She finally got loose of a lifetime of mental abuse, and she should be warmly welcomed to the land of the thinking.
Good for her, and I hope everyone follows suit.
 
Mr. Purple said:
All ready to forgive her?
I am glad she left, but she still has to answer for what she did (as an adult).
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I don't feel any malice towards her at all, she was indoctrinated into these beliefs from a very young age, and she has gone through a very difficult transition to leave.
 
Mr. Purple said:
All ready to forgive her?
I am glad she left, but she still has to answer for what she did (as an adult).
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In her own words:

"We know that we've done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn't the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren't so, and regret that hurt.


"We know that we dearly love our family. They now consider us betrayers, and we are cut off from their lives, but we know they are well-intentioned. We will never not love them.


"We know that we can't undo our whole lives. We can't even say we'd want to if we could; we are who we are because of all the experiences that brought us to this point. What we can do is try to find a better way to live from here on. That's our focus."
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Fair enough and well put, seems to me.
 
Legend said:
That's a cruelly simplistic way to view the situation.
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Maybe I am missing something, I don't follow the WBC in great detail. I hold her responsible for the actions she committed as an adult.

Why on earth wouldn't we? She had crazy parents? Well that line starts five million miles away to the left...

Again, for the record: good for her taking a step in the right direction, but for me there is no amnesty here.
 
Mr. Purple said:
Maybe I am missing something, I don't follow the WBC in great detail. I hold her responsible for the actions she committed as an adult.

Why on earth wouldn't we? She had crazy parents? Well that line starts five million miles away to the left...

Again, for the record: good for her taking a step in the right direction, but for me there is no amnesty here.
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You most definitely are missing something.

No one's saying we don't "hold her responsible for her actions", whatever that actually means, but that throwaway phrase hasn't anything to do with forgiving her and welcoming her to take her first steps as a mentally sound individual. These people were her family and this was her creed since the day she was born. The concept of sacrificing your familial links is difficult enough without the addition of shameless and obsessive brainwashing. It took her longer than it should have to work out that she was doing loathsome things and was herself a loathsome person, but that's understandable and she's on the right side of things now. It makes no sense to be a prick of it.
 
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Legend said:
You most definitely are missing something.

No one's saying we don't "hold her responsible for her actions", whatever that actually means, but that throwaway phrase hasn't anything to do with forgiving her and welcoming her to take her first steps as a mentally sound individual. These people were her family and this was her creed since the day she was born. The concept of sacrificing your familial links is difficult enough without the addition of shameless and obsessive brainwashing. It took her longer than it should have to work out that she was doing loathsome things and was herself a loathsome person, but that's understandable and she's on the right side of things now. It makes no sense to be a prick of it.
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Seriously? I am the prick?

Maybe you are right. I forgot about all of the funerals that I attended and caused suffering at.

Oh wait...
 
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