Issue 25
News: Fred Phelps and Westboro.
When I first heard about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Basptist Church, I saw him on an episode of Michael Moore's The Awful Truth. In it, Mike and some gay friends travel across the country to spite the homophobes in the states that still banned Gay sex (this was before Lawrence v. Texas, which ruled such laws unconstitutional) and went to Topeka, Kansas to protest against Fred Phelps' frequent picketings. He pickets the funerals of random gay men, among other things. Of Course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. He claims that only his congregation, which consists solely of his wife, the descendants of 9 of his 13 children, the family of a Neo-Nazi, another "Drinking buddy (for lack of a better term)", and an ex-indie filmmaker who made a film about him. Another thing about them is that they follow the conventions of any type of Baptist theology, instead, they are best described as Hyper-Calvinists. Here are two small bits of info about Calvinism that are very essential; 1) It is predetermined which people are to go to heaven or hell. 2) Calvinism is very strict. Here is a summary of Phelps' Life: He is born in 1929 in Mississippi, he shows a strong preference for fighting, he becomes born-again at a revival, he is ordained by a man who later regretted it, He goes to BJU (which I told you about in Issue 6) and is expelled because he terrifies the administration, he meets his wife, he moves to Kansas, becomes a pastor at a church and is eventually expelled because of his pro-abuse stance, he creates Westboro with his two drinking buddies including the neo-nazi, has kids and beats the hell out of them, starts to picket gay people in the early 1990s, and starts a series of websites. Everybody he knows him who isn't a WBC congregant has revealed that he is clearly psychotic and regrets knowing him. Some of his lesser prejudices are Anti-Islamism, Anti-Catholicism, Anti-semitism, and (he will deny it, though) racism. There is a shirtload of stuff that can be read about him, and a lot of it can be found on Wikipedia and a n E-Book which I will link to at the end. On an endnote, I ask all readers to, when Phelps comes to your town to picket, create a copycat picket that mirrors him, but inverts his "values".
Band Name of the Day: To Be Filled Later. I just came up with this.
Film Idea of the Day: A man walks the earth for a few days, and views several acts of injustice and is forced to not act or react, just watch. Music by Brian Eno and Philip Glass, Narration by T.S. Eliot from Archival recordings of his poetry.
Review: Beckett on Film. This is a collection of 19 of Samuel Beckett's Plays collected and filmed. I saw each play and I must say: Thumbs up!!!
Quote of the Day: "I said the President of the United States gets his jollies m457ur8471ng horses!"
__________Fred Phelps, October 2, 2005.
Link of the Day: http://blank.org/addict/
The E-Book I mentioned earlier.
When I first heard about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Basptist Church, I saw him on an episode of Michael Moore's The Awful Truth. In it, Mike and some gay friends travel across the country to spite the homophobes in the states that still banned Gay sex (this was before Lawrence v. Texas, which ruled such laws unconstitutional) and went to Topeka, Kansas to protest against Fred Phelps' frequent picketings. He pickets the funerals of random gay men, among other things. Of Course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. He claims that only his congregation, which consists solely of his wife, the descendants of 9 of his 13 children, the family of a Neo-Nazi, another "Drinking buddy (for lack of a better term)", and an ex-indie filmmaker who made a film about him. Another thing about them is that they follow the conventions of any type of Baptist theology, instead, they are best described as Hyper-Calvinists. Here are two small bits of info about Calvinism that are very essential; 1) It is predetermined which people are to go to heaven or hell. 2) Calvinism is very strict. Here is a summary of Phelps' Life: He is born in 1929 in Mississippi, he shows a strong preference for fighting, he becomes born-again at a revival, he is ordained by a man who later regretted it, He goes to BJU (which I told you about in Issue 6) and is expelled because he terrifies the administration, he meets his wife, he moves to Kansas, becomes a pastor at a church and is eventually expelled because of his pro-abuse stance, he creates Westboro with his two drinking buddies including the neo-nazi, has kids and beats the hell out of them, starts to picket gay people in the early 1990s, and starts a series of websites. Everybody he knows him who isn't a WBC congregant has revealed that he is clearly psychotic and regrets knowing him. Some of his lesser prejudices are Anti-Islamism, Anti-Catholicism, Anti-semitism, and (he will deny it, though) racism. There is a shirtload of stuff that can be read about him, and a lot of it can be found on Wikipedia and a n E-Book which I will link to at the end. On an endnote, I ask all readers to, when Phelps comes to your town to picket, create a copycat picket that mirrors him, but inverts his "values".
Band Name of the Day: To Be Filled Later. I just came up with this.
Film Idea of the Day: A man walks the earth for a few days, and views several acts of injustice and is forced to not act or react, just watch. Music by Brian Eno and Philip Glass, Narration by T.S. Eliot from Archival recordings of his poetry.
Review: Beckett on Film. This is a collection of 19 of Samuel Beckett's Plays collected and filmed. I saw each play and I must say: Thumbs up!!!
Quote of the Day: "I said the President of the United States gets his jollies m457ur8471ng horses!"
__________Fred Phelps, October 2, 2005.
Link of the Day: http://blank.org/addict/
The E-Book I mentioned earlier.
Labels: Figures, Religious Right
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