Another Phelps Abandons The Westboro Baptist Church – Finds Gays Forgiving

[WillParkinson]

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/another-phelps-abandons-the-westboro-baptist-church-finds-gays-forgiving/news/2014/05/07/86879

Zach Phelps-Roper, grandson of the late Fred Phelps, has come out.

No, he hasn’t come out as gay. He has come out from behind the walls of the Westboro Baptist Church, where the 23-year-old has lived his entire life. Zach says he started picketing as soon as he was strong enough to hold up a signature Westboro “God Hates Fags” sign. His mother, Shirley Phelps-Roper, has taken over the leadership of the pseudo-religious group since the death of founder Fred Phelps.

According to CJOnline, Zach moved out of the family compound February 20, and has spent the last weeks sorting through his feelings about his life inside. His conclusion?

“I feel like I have unconditional love for every person around the world. The Westboro Baptist Church sees things differently than I do now.”

Zach is the fourth of ten siblings to escape the Kansas compound, and though he says he misses his mother, and especially his grandmother, he has been reunited with his three siblings and more than a dozen other family members, who have been shunned by the Westboros since their own departures. All have welcomed him, and so have strangers – to his shock and surprise, even gay strangers.

[PeaceNikki]

1. Always a good thing to read stories like this. I wish his peace and happiness in his new found

freedom from the chains of hate.

[libodem]

2. You said it very well

I second your statement.

[nomorenomore08]

3. "I feel like I have unconditional love for every person around the world."

I wish I could be more like that. But good for him.

[roguevalley]

4. he is now an ambassador to the good for the world. blessed be the peacemakers

[joeybee12]

5. Quite frankly, he shouldn't find it surprising that people are forgiving...

If he started protesting as soon as he was old enough to hold a sign, he was clearly brainwashed, and people realize that.