Merged Fred Phelps nearly dead/Is dead.

KatieG said:
Exactly! Sylvia Browne is/was a historical figure but neither Browne nor Phelps are worth the horse apples I clean out of my horse's stall. :D
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You find Sylvia Browne "fascinating"? Are all historical figures "fascinating"?

Not to me.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
More on why he was excommunicated http://cjonline.com/news/2014-03-17...er-power-struggle-call-kindness-within-church
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How very...

Mundane.

It was a typical church power struggle, the kind that causes schisms in numerous Protestant branches. If the church were larger Shirley and her group would probably have taken a slice of the members and gone elsewhere.

I wonder if this signals a further radicalization of the church. The members have apparently been disenfranchised of whatever voice they once had. The excommunication appears to have been over a call for the members to treat each other with kindness. Fred appears to have missed the fact that if all you preach is hate, hate is all your church will have. He expected real compassion in an environment where "love" and "respect" are just synonyms for "fear."

I have a sinking suspicion we're looking at the church of hate being hijacked by another fringe group, like Sovereign Citizens or racists.
 
trustbutverify said:
You find Sylvia Browne "fascinating"? Are all historical figures "fascinating"?

Not to me.
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Fascinating in the sense that they should be studied and lessons learned from their aberrant behaviour. Stalin or Hitler are fascinating studies but not in a good way. I think it's important to know how they thought and how they executed their plans for domination.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
tl;dr

Is there a Readers Digest version?
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Not only tl; but also an emotionally challenging read. Gave me bad dreams.

Fred is a lying, thieving con man who beat his wife and kids with a mattock handle; his record as a civil rights lawyer is overstated and he's actually quite racist; he drove the girlfriend of one son to suicide. I could go on. I won't.

Sometimes a subject requires a bit more effort to gather the data and tl;dr is your problem, not a problem of the source. A fully informed opinion requires information.
 
ApolloGnomon said:
Fred is a lying, thieving con man who beat his wife and kids with a mattock handle; his record as a civil rights lawyer is overstated and he's actually quite racist; he drove the girlfriend of one son to suicide. I could go on. I won't.
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Don't forget the perjury and disbarrment.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
tl;dr

Is there a Readers Digest version?
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He abused his children very badly when they were growing up. He probably sexually abused at least one of his daughters. He drove one young woman pretty much insane when she wanted to be romantically involved with his son. She later died of a drug overdose after he forced his son to throw her out after they eloped.

He trained his kids to be good little money-makers from the get-go. His first wife died under mysterious circumstances that were never fully investigated, probably because spousal abuse wasn't really something the police took seriously in that time and place. She probably died as a result of Fred being physically abusive.

That covers as much as I could stomach.
 
"That covers as much as I could stomach"

Yep. Pretty awful. Took me all day to read & left me depressed. I don't regret reading it though.
 
ApolloGnomon said:
Not only tl; but also an emotionally challenging read. Gave me bad dreams.

Fred is a lying, thieving con man who beat his wife and kids with a mattock handle;
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Two hundred blows with that handle in one 'discipline' session. He wrenched his wifes' arm out of socket so bad she required surgery -- which Phelps refused to allow.

Someone ought to beat him two hundred times with a mattock handle.
 
ApolloGnomon said:
And spamming the courts with a flood of frivolous lawsuits.
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Yeah even before his well deserved disbarrment his disciplinary record was poor. His daughter Shirley was also involved in the harassment, perjury, falsification of documents and dishonesty that ended his legal career.
A vile excuse for a person.
 
John Jones said:
Two hundred blows with that handle in one 'discipline' session. He wrenched his wifes' arm out of socket so bad she required surgery -- which Phelps refused to allow.

Someone ought to beat him two hundred times with a mattock handle.
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And this is the man who was thrown out of his own church for encouraging kindness between the members.

Think about that for a second. What exactly are these eight deacons into that a man who beat his children with a mattock handle in his gentler moments wanted them to back off?

:boggled:
 
halleyscomet said:
And this is the man who was thrown out of his own church for encouraging kindness between the members.

Think about that for a second. What exactly are these eight deacons into that a man who beat his children with a mattock handle in his gentler moments wanted them to back off?

:boggled:
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I'm having trouble reconciling the supposed reason for excommunication with the man described in the article. We don't have all the facts.
 
ApolloGnomon said:
I'm having trouble reconciling the supposed reason for excommunication with the man described in the article. We don't have all the facts.
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Because the man was the dictionary definition of a hypocrite. He changed his theology more easily than he changed his underwear. The only things that really remained constant were A) his hatred for pretty much everyone who wasn't an actual member of his church, and B) his right to have absolute control over people within that church.

Shirley listened to and obeyed him...she had to, she'd been programmed to since birth, and held a subservient position that she felt was forced upon her by God himself. This new group of elders, by contrast, openly questioned and challenged Fred.

His call for more "kindness" had nothing to do with an actual desire for kindness; it was about trying to maintain his own position of power within the church.

Karma sucks.
 
commandlinegamer said:
With decent column formatting. My eyes are bad enough already.

Anyway, I think the guy deserves to remembered in an appropriate fashion: perhaps a manufacturer of, ahem, reproductive assisting implements might name a product range after him.
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I think there should be a line of sex toys geared towards gay men named after him, all of them designed to do the, er, receiving.

The "Fred Phelps Catcher" For real men only! :jaw-dropp

Available in three sizes:

1. So Snug Fred Phelps could pitch into this.
2. Just enough room for most men.
3. Oh God, oh God, who are you, Mr. Ed?!?

I wonder if there are any manufacturers of similar products who would be interested in producing versions of their wares with alternate branding. I should get quotes and start a kickstarter.
 
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