Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church Dying in Hospice

(source)

I learned early today that Fred Phelps Sr. -- founder and pastor of Westboro Baptist Church -- is "on the edge of death" and receiving hospice treatment. Not only that, but his estranged son Nathan Phelps reported last night the the elder Phelps has been excommunicated from the very church that he founded since August 2013:

I've learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the "God Hates Fags" Westboro Baptist Church, was ex-communicated from the "church" back in August of 2013. He is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made. 

I feel sad for all the hurt he's caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I'm bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.

Hemant Mehta from the Friendly Athiest blog reached out to Nathan Phelps and posted the following information:

I just got off the phone with Nate and he confirmed what he had written. The rumors had been flying for several weeks, he said, but after a conversation with some of his fellow “excommunicated” family members, he found out that the rumors were true. He elaborated on that final line, too, saying that the Phelps family is now blocking anyone who is no longer with the church from seeing him, including Fred’s sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews.

Why was he kicked out of his own church? Did he have a change of heart near the end of his life? There’s no definitive answer to that and Nate has heard different things (so any explanation is pure speculation right now).

I have known about Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church since the very early 90s. He and his church have irked me for decades with their ongoing "God Hates Fags" protests of funerals and churches. Sadly (and this is completely directed towards me), I have always been much more bitter towards politicians and everyday people who only became upset with Westboro Baptist Church's protests when they began protesting military funerals.

This church had been protesting the funerals of gay men for years. Nobody ever attempted to pass any legislation to curb such behavior when they were protesting actual fags. It was only when they protested military funerals as symbols of America's supposed love of fags that people began looking for ways to protect mourners from the Phelps' filthy protests.

You wouldn't know it from my past two paragraphs, but I've largely gotten over that bitterness. I almost never think about Fred Phelps or his crazy daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper or any of the other remaining members of Westboro Baptist.

I have spent some time reading the comments following Nathan Phelps' announcement about his dying father and I've read another similar thread posted by one of my Facebook friends. It's an interesting range of thoughts. Many people are already lining up to protest the funeral of Fred Phelps Sr. I don't see the point:

You know that his family is expecting a massive funeral protest. I wonder what would happen if he died and nobody protested. I wonder if his family would learn anything if others demonstrated a level of grace that they rarely offered to others?

I'm not naive. I don't believe that the remaining members of Westboro Baptist Church will come to this epiphany if nobody shows up to celebrate the passing of a man who made a name for celebrating the passing of others. It's possible that some of the more religiously perverse members of the church might actually see that lack of protest as sign of God's approval.

But it's a start. Mehta noted in his post that a good chunk of Phelps' children and grandchildren have fled from Westboro Baptists during the past decade and most of those have been the younger under-30 crowd. That indicates that the church is slowly fading away -- if only through attrition.