A Westboro Baptist Church Defector Describes Life After Leaving The Infamous 'Cult' | LADbible

His parents thought he was over-exaggerating his symptoms to get sympathy and attention from others, viewing it as an act of self-centered manipulation in a group characterised by self-sacrifice. His dad told him that he should be 'praying' to get rid of his pain instead of seeking the aid of the Internet. "You don't know shit [about fixing your back and shoulder pain]," his father had told him. This made little sense to Zach, as a recent graduate who held a bachelor's degree in science in nursing.

It culminated in Zach asking to be taken to A&E because his symptoms were reaching their limit, but his father refused and yelled at him. That's when Zach decided he'd had enough. He ran about 10 blocks to his cousin's place, who had left the church a few years earlier, and stayed the night.

Zach was told by his parents to come home the next morning to pick up his things, which were sitting on the front porch. His mum and dad didn't want him to come inside to pack, because they wanted to avoid his younger siblings seeing him and engaging him in conversation.

A Westboro Baptist Church Defector Describes Life After Leaving The Infamous 'Cult' | LADbible

Ex-Westboro Baptist Church member discusses her book, her estranged family and life after leaving / LJWorld.com

Libby Phelps Alvarez, 34, has written a book about growing up in the Westboro Baptist Church — and what made her decide to leave at age 25 and start a new life for herself in Lawrence. Here, in an edited and condensed version of the Journal-World's interview with the first-time author, the surprisingly bubbly and, for lack of a better word, normal Phelps Alvarez speaks openly about her childhood, her life post-WBC and why she still holds out hope for her estranged family. (Even "Gramps," as Phelps Alvarez lovingly refers to the late founder of Westboro Baptist Church, supposedly had a change of heart just before his death.)

Now married (with two small kids of her own) and working as a physical therapist in Lawrence, Phelps Alvarez, who writes under the name Libby Phelps, has also become an advocate for LGBT equality since fleeing her family's notorious anti-gay hate group nearly ten years ago. Her book, co-written by Sara Stewart and titled "Girl on a Wire: Walking the Line Between Faith and Freedom in the Westboro Baptist Church," debuted earlier this month.

Ex-Westboro Baptist Church member discusses her book, her estranged family and life after leaving / LJWorld.com

Federal appeals court upholds funeral picketing law; Westboro Baptist Church vows to take case to Supreme Court | Nebraska | omaha.com

While I applaud this ruling, I do wonder if it will set up a SCOTUS showdown taking into consideration Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443 (2011).  A case the WBC won.

The law bans protests within 500 feet of a funeral service from one hour before the rites begin to two hours afterward.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that it wasn’t unreasonable to limit the time and location of picketing because of “vulnerable physical and emotional conditions” of funeral mourners.
,,,

“This law strikes the appropriate balance between First Amendment free speech rights and the rights of grieving families to bury their loved ones in peace,” Peterson said in a press release.
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Friday’s ruling stated that members of Westboro Church have a First Amendment right to speak, but that right is “not absolute” and that some restrictions in “time, place, and/or manner” are allowed.

Federal appeals court upholds funeral picketing law; Westboro Baptist Church vows to take case to Supreme Court | Nebraska | omaha.com

Counter-protesters interrupt Westboro Baptist Church pickets at Blazers game, stage dance party | OregonLive.com

About 20 members of Westboro Baptist Church arrived at the Moda Center Saturday to picket the Portland Trail Blazers for its support of gay marriage -- only to be surrounded by several hundred counter-protesters who had already gathered.

Both demonstrations began peacefully. But as church members tried to regroup, the crowd followed. At one point a scuffle broke out as a counter-protester appeared to grab for a church member's sign.

The church members left after less than 20 minutes.

Counter-protestors stuck around for a dance party in the Rose Quarter, complete with stage lights and speakers.

Counter-protesters interrupt Westboro Baptist Church pickets at Blazers game, stage dance party | OregonLive.com

‘God Hates Fags’ church targets gay Christian singer, but her response is amazing · PinkNews

The Westboro Baptist Church has protested a Christian conference, over the performance of openly gay singer Vicky Beeching.

Christian rock singer Vicky Beeching came out as gay publicly in August, and speaking to PinkNews said she hoped her coming out would help others to do the same.

However, her keynote speech at the Gay Christian Network conference became a target for the notoriously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, from Topeka, Kansas.

The singer was not deterred by the group when appearing at the Portland event yesterday – even stopping to pose for a picture with them.

‘God Hates Fags’ church targets gay Christian singer, but her response is amazing · PinkNews

ADDENDUM::Grandson of Westboro Baptist Church Founder Is Exiled From Hate Group

There is no commentary I could add to this story that would do it justice. I wish Zach all the best that this life has to offer!

This February, Zach, who was born and raised in the church, left Westboro, having suffered for weeks with a back injury his parents believed could be cured with prayer. After begging them to no avail to take him to the emergency room, he decided he was done being a martyr. “I don’t love this religion anymore,” he said.

In the eyes of the church, that declaration was an unforgivable offense worse than blasphemy. And it meant that Zach would be excommunicated. He knew he would never be able to talk to his parents again, and all traces of him would be scrubbed from his family’s home and their place of worship. The congregation would classify him as an apostate who would spend eternity in hell.

[,,,]
The church’s obsession with homosexuality derives from Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shall not lie with mankind as womankind; it is an abomination.” However, it is a common misconception that Westboro believes homosexuality is a worse sin than any other—murder, for instance, is just as bad. The difference is a matter of tolerance. Murder is outlawed, whereas homosexuality is not. Westboro focuses on the latter because of the belief that God compels them to do it.

[,,,]
This insularity­ reinforces the members’ belief that they are distinct from the rest of mankind and must protect themselves. Steven Hassan, an author who has extensively researched the subject of cults, refers to it as “phobia indoctrination.” “It implies that if you leave, you’ll be harmed,” says Hassan. “What happens in people’s minds is they can’t imagine a positive experience [outside of the church].”

[,,,]
Every Sunday, Zach would listen to his grandfather Fred Phelps preach the word of God. His style recalled the backwoods pastors of an earlier era, all hellfire and brimstone. Pulling from the most brutal passages of the Bible, Fred laid out his argument that God was ruthless, not loving. For as long as Zach had known him, Fred’s primary focus was homosexuality. “The United States is a fag nation,” he would often say during services. His warnings of impending destruction were often bizarre and accidentally comical. “You’re going eat your babies!” he once said.

[,,,]
In May, as Zach told the world about his grandfather’s “change of heart,” he underwent his own spiritual transformation. “I had an epiphany,” he recalls. In an interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal, he described his new perspective. “I feel like I have unconditional love for every person around the world,” he said. “I feel like I have found the Holy Grail, the overarching solution to solving all of society’s problems.”

Grandson of Westboro Baptist Church Founder Is Exiled From Hate Group

Appeals court upholds ‘black Jewish’ group’s right to spew hateful rhetoric in public

Very reminiscent of this case He Looked Hate in the Eye

A Pennsylvania appeals court upheld the right of black Hebrew Israelites to spew hateful slurs at passersby on city-owned property in Philadelphia.

A group from the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge received city permits to speak near the Shops at Liberty Place, where they loudly declare their hatred toward white people and other racial groups and refer to women as whores.

“The scriptures say black woman, shut your damn mouth,” one man shouted at passersby, according to court documents. “That’s what the scriptures say. Learn in silence. The scriptures say learn in silence. You understand? Shut your mouth, black woman. You understand?”

he owner of the nearby high-rise development sued, claiming the group’s demonstrations were a public nuisance – but the Superior Court upheld a previous Common Pleas Court ruling that found the Black Judaism group had constitutional protection.

“This was a fringe organization whose messages, though abhorrent to some, were exercising First Amendment freedoms,” their attorney, James Funt, told KYW-TV. “We are a free society, (and) speech should be combatted with more speech. We don’t want to end up in a slippery slope because we want to chill the speech of another group because it’s more convenient or it’s not offensive.”

Appeals court upholds ‘black Jewish’ group’s right to spew hateful rhetoric in public

You’ll Want to Support This Documentary About a Former Westboro Baptist Church Member

I wish I had a million dollars. Please read and support in any manner you can!! Maybe some day thanks to Nate's efforts I will be able to forever close my file on WBC,,,

You’ll Want to Support This Documentary About a Former Westboro Baptist Church Member

See also:
Kickstarter Campaign::Not My Father's Son - Nate Phelps Documentary


Facebook::Not My Father's Son

Fourth Phelps-Roper sibling leaves Westboro Baptist Church | CJOnline.com

The church he grew up in was too busy pointing out problems to look for solutions, he said. He has been able to spend the past two months investigating the second part of that equation.

His conclusion: “Most problems come from a lack of understanding of how we affect other people and things around us. I feel like I have found the holy grail, the overarching solution to solving all of our society’s problems, and I want to learn more. I want to do more.”

Phelps-Roper said he has been driven to help, he said, because of the treatment he has received since he left: Doctors have treated the back pain his parents wrote off as an attempt for attention.

Homosexuals have offered to buy him meals, drinks and shown him empathy and love.

At least 20 family members he was banned from speaking with for half a decade — including two sisters and a brother — have surrounded him with warmth and support.

[,,,]
He said his doubts started about age 18, when he started to examine his faith from the creature’s perspective, rather than just the creator.

He was upset the God his church taught about punished sinners, despite being the one to cause them to sin.

“I viewed my creator as sadistic,” Phelps-Roper said. “He sent them to hell because they sinned, but he compelled them to sin. I felt it was an injustice.”

[,,,]
Phelps-Roper said he feels as though he is being called to a new mission, one to lead a charge of love, understanding and empathy to bring people happiness. He said he had particular compassion for those suffering from neuroticisms and suicidal thoughts because he experiences the same. Now that he understands how to help, he said, he “has no choice but to speak up,” in an effort to save as many as he can.

“I still believe I’m being led by my creator here,” Phelps-Roper said. “I’m just not sure what his name is. I am sure he is one who has unconditional love for his creatures.”

That belief, he said, is a hybrid of his childhood faith and his experiences outside the church.

Fourth Phelps-Roper sibling leaves Westboro Baptist Church | CJOnline.com

Westboro Baptist Church Meets Wall Of Resistance At Golden Globes Weekend Protests (VIDEO)

Ah my favorite church to hate. Actually they are not a church but a family run cult that preaches hatred,,,

The controversial organization known as the Westboro Baptist Church spent the Golden Globes weekend protesting outside four different Southern California churches, only to find itself massively outnumbered by counter-protesters.

The Kansas-based WBC has gained infamy over the past few years for picketing military funerals and for its public use of anti-gay and anti-Semitic language. While few in number, the WBC makes up for its low membership with over-the-top, offensive publicity campaigns. However, the group's picketing attempts increasingly have been met with much larger counter-protests, as was the case at Sunday's pickets outside four churches in Glendale, Calif., reports Fox affiliate KTLA.

A human wall separated the WBC from Salem Lutheran Church before services began at 8:30 a.m. KTLA noted that things got a "bit heated" at Salem, but the services eventually began without incident.

Westboro Baptist Church Meets Wall Of Resistance At Golden Globes Weekend Protests (VIDEO)

David G. McAfee Interviews A Member of Westboro Baptist Church | The Secular Writings of David G. McAfee

I just recently started following McAfee and like what he puts out, straightforward and to the point. What is so obvious from this interview is that Hockenbarger doesn't even realize he has been brainwashed and just parroting what he has been taught to believe:

You keep acting like you don’t want to offend me by saying cult, but you tell me I listen to my family. No, I don’t.

McAfee: Just like any Christian, you were born into a family and you listen to them. It’s still indoctrination if it’s a small cult or a big religion. You teach your children something and you don’t allow anything else other than that.

Hockenbarger: That’s a lie. We live absolutely normal lives.

McAfee: Are you encouraged to question your actual faith and interact with people who have left the church?

Hockenbarger: Absolutely, people leave all the time. Most of my family doesn’t belong to the church anymore.

McAfee: And you have nothing against them for that?

Hockenbarger: No, absolutely not. But I’m not buddy-buddy with them.

McAfee: Why not? They’re still your family. Have you been taught not to be “buddy-buddy” with them?

Hockenbarger: Because it’s simple. They went their way, I’m going my way. It’s in the Scriptures.

David G. McAfee Interviews A Member of Westboro Baptist Church | The Secular Writings of David G. McAfee

Country Singer Vince Gill Blasts Westboro Baptist Church Protestors At Kansas City Concert

I learned something new today. I will be the first to admit that I would not have expected this of Gill or his wife (Amy Grant) as I have been prone to categorize both of them with a "diva" mentality. I guess 20+ years of life can change people,,,

Country singer Vince Gill isn't afraid to confront the Westboro Baptist Church head-on, and that's exactly what he did when members from the hate group decided to protest his Missouri concert over the weekend.

On Sunday, Sept. 8, Gill stepped outside at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., to face down some Westboro Baptist Church members gathered on the sidewalk. The hate group purportedly decided to protest Gill's concert because he is a divorced man who remarried, Country Music Television noted.

Country Singer Vince Gill Blasts Westboro Baptist Church Protestors At Kansas City Concert

Religious News Verses: Satanists and Witches | God Discussion

Not quite sure what to think of this. I in no way support WBC but the actions of the the Satanic Temple IMHO border on sacrilegious and just down right stupid and in bad taste; legal or not. But another side of me is wondering, is this being blown out of proportion by ALL involved?? A publicity stunt??

Religious News Verses: Satanists and Witches | God Discussion