The Phelps Family Tragedy

[CLANG]

I just read an article by Nate Phelps, estranged son of Fred Phelps, of the "God Hates Fags (and everything else)" infamy. In my hatred of Phelps and their "church", it never occurred to me that these people are captured by the hatred of their patriarch, and are living their own hell, suffering from PTSD, as well as contempt and self-loathing. Fred Phelps is a terrible person in ways that seem unfathomable to ordinary people.

If you have the time, please read this essay. It is long, but well worth reading. It gave me a full understanding of what is the Phelps Family Tragedy.

http://www.natephelps.com/10801.html

[DangerousRhythm]

1. Interesting. Thanks for the link!

I will be reading this one for sure. These people (and most "cult" type things) are fascinating to me.

[XOKCowboy]

2. Whew. Gotta let that absorb for a while.

Poor kid.

[LiberalAndProud]

3. Fred Phelps needs some serious jail time.

Wife beater and child abuser. A clear and present danger.

[CLANG]

4. I agree. I can't imagine what he's done to his wife.

The man is a cruel, vindictive psychopath.

[MadMaddie]

33. That was my first thought too

don't forget child labor?

If he is abusing the young children like this today why isn't he in jail?

[cali]

5. I wish Fred Phelps would just keel over and dies.

[SidDithers]

21. Wonder if there will be protests at his funeral?...nt

Sid

[wolfgangmo]

38. Well.. assuming that his family will still be alive ...

then yes, there will be protests at his funeral.

But it will be his own family protesting themselves or him or fags or god or whateverthefuck they are protesting that day.

[Kablooie]

29. And I wish there was a God who would judge him.

[mrfrapp]

6. K&R

This is an extremely well written article.

[Philosoraptor]

7. E-e-e-e-e-excellent.....

[tanyev]

8. Marking for later.

[underpants]

9. Horrific

[Voice for Peace]

10. k/r nt

[Bluzmann57]

11. Thank you for the link

Quite an interesting read. I feel sorry for Nathan Phelps ans now there is a greater understanding of the Phelps clan. But why is Fred Phelps still walking around a free man? And how do they raise all that money to travel around the USA and make asses of themselves? Candy sales? Please. I believe there must be some criminal activities going on somewhere.

[MadMaddie]

34. Lawsuits! They are all lawyers and they make a lot of their

money off of provoking others to attack them in some way.

[dmr]

53. Yea, Phelps started with his kids selling candy to lawsuits

he should've been jail years ago on spousal and child abuse.

:grr:

[Dinger]

12. Wow, I Need Some time Too (nt)

[CraftyGal]

13. Wow! n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

14. Here's one from another son, Mark Phelps

"PSYCHOTIC FRED PHELPS FAMILY EXPOSED"



Snippets:

When her father was beating someone and screaming at the top of his lungs, frequently Margie would take her terrified younger brothers and sisters away for several hours. When they thought it was over, they'd come back like cautious house cats, sneaking in softly, Margie on point, to see if the coast was clear. The boys tell how one day their father was in a barbershop and noticed the leather strap used to sharpen razors. It struck his fancy as a backup to the mattock handle, so he had one custom-made at a leatherworker's shop near Lane and Huntoon.

"It was about two feet long and four inches wide. It left oval circles- red, yellow, and blue," says Mark. "Usually the circles would be where it would snap the tip-on the outside of your right leg and hip...because he was righthanded." According to Mark and Nate, their father wore out several of the leathermaker's straps while they were growing up. As Mark Phelps became the angel-appointed in Fred's family cult, Nate was assigned the role of sinner. For Mark, his brother was the needed scapegoat. For the rest of the family, Nate was a problem child, the delinquent of the brood. Brilliant like his dad (Nate's IQ has been measured at 150), the middle son followed another drummer from the time he was a toddler. When he was five, he remembers his father telling him, 'I'm going to keep a special eye on you'. The regular beatings started shortly thereafter.

Nate endured literally hundreds of such brutalities before walking out at one minute after midnight on his eighteenth birthday. His siblings both inside and outside the church agree that Nate got the lion's share of the 'discipline'. "Nate was a very tough kid," says Mark. "I don't know how he endured it, but he did. He'd get 40 blows at a time from the mattock handle. He was just tougher than the rest of us and my father adjusted for that."

Today, raising his family in California, Nate is a devout Christian and a warm, friendly, considerate, mountain of a man. But at 6'4" and 280 pounds, it would be...instructive...to see father and son in the same room today with one mattock stick between them. "I sensed early on this man had no love for us," says Nate. "He was using us. I knew it. And I always made sure he knew I did."

In fact, Mark adds, Nate's obstinate resistance so angered his father that, by age nine, when a family outing had been planned, frequently Nate not only missed it, but Fred would remain behind with him. "And during the course of the day, my father would beat Nate whenever the spirit moved him. " Mark remembers the family coming back once to find Pastor Phelps jogging around the dining room table, beating the sobbing boy with a broom handle; while doing so, he was alternately spitting on the frightened child and chuckling the same sinecure laugh so disturbing to those who've seen him on television. When he wasn't allowed to go along, says Mark, "Nate would literally scream and chase mom as she drove off with us kids in the car. He knew what was coming after we left." The older brother remembers the little one racing alongside the windows, begging for them not to leave him until, like a dog, he could no longer keep up. Mark sorrowfully admits he felt no empathy for him, only relief it wasn't happening to himself. "I just stared straight ahead. I didn't know what he was yelling about. I was just glad to get the hell out of there." But how could their mom tolerate that? Wouldn't the maternal instinct cut in at some point? Wouldn't the lioness turn in fury to protect her cub?

http://www.congressunderfire.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=109&topic_id=54&mesg_id=54&page=2

[roguevalley]

45. actually, in a pride if the patriarch male is displaced, the new male

will kill all the cubs and the females, though nervous, won't interfere. It forces receptiveness and hours later they will mate and make new cubs.

[OneBlueSky]

15. Fred Phelps problem is that he's batshit crazy . . .

he seems to have this inner need to hate everyone and everything, and to let the world know about it . . . he uses his "religion" as a bludgeon, and his god is a hateful and vengeful being who just can't wait to strike down all "non-believers" . . . which, apparently, includes anyone not named Fred Phelps . . .

there's a part of me that actually feels sorry for the guy -- but it's vastly outweighed by the part that finds him and his belief system despicable . . . I'm glad Nate found a way out of his father's crazy world, and hope that other family members will find ways to do the same . . .

[wolfgangmo]

39. I wonder if the Phelps family is the model for "christian" law schools.

God knows the the telebangelists don't turn their nose up at any money that can be conned or gamed from the system. And places like Liberty were specifically set up so that these asshats could have a steady stream of income off the innocent. I wonder if they looked at Phelps, saw an opportunity and ran with it.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. just read it all -- Highly recommended!

Very well written. He puts the experience of growing up traumatized, the resulting frame of mind and the subsequent life's work of recovering from that into clear, eloquent words.

[SmileyRose]

17. Jail

period

[14thColony]

18. Very worthwhile read

I'd heard of Nate Phelps, but hadn't read anything by him. Very informative. I had no idea that Fred's highly acclaimed civil rights work in the 1960s was a cynical ploy to exploit others for personal gain. I thought he had been fairly normal, perhaps even a good guy, and then went batshit crazy later. Guess not.

I feel sad for the children and grandchildren and greatgrandchildren of his who will suffer at his hands long after he's dead.

[KittyWampus]

19. If Fred Phelps is beating children and wife, he needs to be arrested for that.

[timo]

20. I dont like phelps

I dont give all the family a pass either, what they do at our soldiers funerals is a complete and utter disgrace, I would truly have a hrad time resisting temptation if they were to pull that shit down here!!

[MadMaddie]

37. The whole family is traumatized and brutalized

I would think similar to the Patty Hearst kind of scenario or the young woman who was imprisoned for 18 years. Remember Jim Jones and the murder of his followers same thing.

This man is a criminal and should be in jail.

[timo]

55. i agree

just like the nazis who worked for hitler, I dont think the family gets a break, I think they should all get the chop!!

[That Is Quite Enough]

22. In Phelps' own view he is one of God's 'elect' and everyone else is doomed to hell

The man has quite the messiah complex: he's one of the only people in the world worthy of salvation, but he still has to 'warn' the masses against the sins of homosexuality, sunday school, people of all religions except Baptists and Calvinists, the military, flags, nation-states, and every politician in the world EXCEPT Saddam Hussein, whom Phelps really worships.

Not to mention 60 of the 75 or so members of the church are related to him. What a weirdo family cult.

[progressoid]

23. Wow.

just wow. :wow:

[DeschutesRiver]

24. Phelps is a mentally ill man hiding behnd the skirts of a religion he has made up

Half the stuff he "believes" is in contradiction of what his own "Bible" says in places.

He isn't religious, nor is he entirely sane. He created a little world for himself to match his genetic weaknesses and to allow his flaws to flourish, instead of facing the rejection or treatment that he needs.

The bizarre part to me is that his wife has enabled him in his fantasy, to the point of allowing herself to be beaten and subjected to extreme mental abuse. She is also a few beers short of a sixpack, and is as deep into a fantasy religious experience as her lunatic husband.

It is amazing to me that Fred Phelps is still alive, given all the provacation he doles out to others who are suffering or grieving.

There are tons of examples of mentally disturbed individuals creating their own take on religious matters and making up their own "religious faiths," when they are nothing more than control freaks who have found a way to express their fucked up souls with a religious cover.

Thanks for posting that link - it is indeed a tragedy, but the wierd thing to me is how many others he is able to convince to dump their common sense and humanity to be near "the great Fred". It is a disease.

[BrklynLiberal]

35. Absolutely right! +1000

Phelps would never have chosen a woman who would not have allowed him to dominate and abuse her.

Parasites are drawn to their prey. They can pick them out of a crowd in seconds.
And sadly, certain prey just roll over and show their necks immediately

[Roon]

25. This information is why phelp's website can't have a forum

I posted this information every day on their message board until they shut it down. www.godhatesfags.com can't have a forum/chat now. Good thing too! Fred knows me. :-)

[RagAss]

26. Where the fuck is Jim Jones when we need him.?

[Quantess]

27. Nate Phelps has lived a terribly abusive upbringing.

Sad.

[Kablooie]

28. Here is a BBC documentary about them called "The Most Hated Family in America"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOrz5k0jWdU

This is worth watching. It's creepy.

[Quantess]

31. That was fascinating.

I'll watch parts 7 through 8 tonight when I have time.

[Cleita]

30. This is heartbreaking. There is something wrong in our society where

we don't protect women and children from this type of patriarchal tyrant. The laws and society protect the abuser, not the victims, by allowing men like this the right to run their families as they see fit. I think the churches are at fault too by promoting this kind of biblical patriarchy in the modern world where it has no place, if it ever did.

[Initech]

32. The Westboro Baptist Church should be considered a terrorist organization.

You know you're hated when even the Klan speaks out against you.

[Stevenmarc]

36. I wish someone would introduce Fred to one of those snake handling sects

[D23MIURG23]

40. Where is CPS on this one? n/t

[Brickbat]

41. I've read his stuff before and it's amazing to read. I boil with rage when I see those small

children being taught to hate. It's so sad. I admire Nate Phelps so very much.

[eppur_se_muova]

42. Wow. What a powerful story. Such a tragedy.

Such a shame it takes people so long to mentally escape from their upbringing. He lost a lot more than the 18 years he spent under Fred Phelps' roof.

[rpd123]

43. If you want to see the elusive hold of the patriarch...

Just watch the BBC documentary on the Phelps family by the wonderfully insightful Louis Theroux. There are only a few moments of him on the program but he proves himself to be a bitter paranoid control freak. Why did so much hate and nonsense find its way into the American cultural dialogue? it exists and it's real. Just like Sarah Palin. we can ignore it or laugh at it but it's real and the question is-why?

[coyotespaw]

44. And Hitler had a smothering mom, Barbara Bush never hugged her boy enough...

There is a level of evil that cannot be excused. These shits danced across that line long ago. It's nice to know why these vile fucks do the evil they do, but only so we can try to stop it in the future. I cry no tears for the family that didn't have enough fuzz on their naughty bits to stand up against what is plainly obviously wrong.

[ejbr]

46. Wow....when this jerk dies,

his family is going to need some serious deprogramming. Thanks for sharing.

[undeterred]

47. Wow, he's come a long way.

His father belongs in prison for all that abuse.

[slay]

48. Wow. K&R.

I feel so bad for his kids like Nate. :( Least he has seen through the bullshit now. An amazing read. Thanks for posting this.

[havocmom]

49. .

Not gonna read it before bed. Maybe tomorrow. Thanks for posting

[shellgame26]

50. Fascinating

[mackerel]

51. Very long but worth the read.

It still amazes me that people are so conflicted about believing or not believing. I suppose it has a lot to do with your upbringing.

[mackerel]

52. Very long but worth the read.

It still amazes me that people are so conflicted about believing or not believing. I suppose it has a lot to do with your upbringing.

[TlalocW]

54. I look forward to the death of Fred Phelps...

For obvious reasons of course, but I also look forward to hearing the echo of the Phelps' clan's collective head exploding when they find his huge cache of gay porn.

You know he's got one.

TlalocW