Westboro Baptist Church
Surviving or thriving? New film on Westboro Baptist doesn’t get it
By Hillel Gray — July 23, 2019
(RNS) — The filmmaker is often more interested in building solidarity with his audience against a mythic enemy than truly understanding his subject.
They’re still here: The curious evolution of Westboro Baptist Church
By Hillel Gray — July 17, 2018
(RNS) — No single congregation in America has had the kind of recognition, or notoriety, that the Westboro Baptist Church achieved in the 1990s. While still fiercely anti-homosexual, it has seen a subtle shift in its messaging that injects ideas about Jesus and love, clarifies doctrine and even invokes positive language.
In ‘The Story of Us,’ Morgan Freeman explores the human condition
By Aysha Khan — October 11, 2017
(RNS) The new six-part series — a follow-up to last year's 'The Story of God' — looks at places where religion has divided, and brought people together.
How Pokémon Go is luring millennials to the church (parking lot)
By Aysha Khan — July 11, 2016
(RNS) Father, Son, Holy...Bulbasaur?
Did Gov. Bobby Jindal censor Westboro Baptist’s free speech?
By Sara Weissman — July 29, 2015
(RNS) In response to the Louisiana governor's order barring Westboro protesters from the funerals of two shooting victims, church leader Benjamin Phelps said in a YouTube video that “God sent the shooter.”
Westboro Baptist Church to picket Beau Biden’s funeral, rosary prayers
By RNS staff — June 5, 2015
(RNS) The funeral Mass starts at 10:30 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church; President Obama will give the eulogy. Westboro plans to picket from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., as people arrive at the church.
Love thy neighbor: Westboro’s ‘God Hates Fags’ message vs. a drag show (VIDEO)
By Sally Morrow — October 24, 2014
(RNS) Steve Drain, spokesman for Westboro Baptist Church, says the intersection of 12th and Orleans streets is "the epicenter of the moral struggle of the covenant."
Topeka goes from ‘God Hates Fags’ to ‘God Loves Gays’
By Heather Adams — October 7, 2014
(RNS) The project shows the power of harnessing online media -- in this case, the crowdfunding site Indiegogo -- to push back against hate speech from a reviled source.
COMMENTARY: Ukrainian order to register Jews may have a Westboro corollary
By Jeffrey Weiss — April 21, 2014
(RNS) What’s this got to do with Westboro, the church whose members are notorious for bringing their “God hates fags” signs to military funerals? Lots.
COMMENTARY: Phelps touched on fears and anger many feel
By Tom Ehrich — March 25, 2014
(RNS) In his anti-gay message, Phelps touched on fears and angers that many people feel.
COMMENTARY: Grieving for Fred Phelps in Topeka
By Phil Griffin — March 21, 2014
TOPEKA, Kansas (RNS) When my partner died due to complications from AIDS in 1995, the Phelps people came to protest his funeral. I thought I was prepared.
Atheist Nate Phelps on his father: I mourn ‘the man he could have been’
By Kimberly Winston — March 21, 2014
(RNS) “My father was a man of action,” activist Nate Phelps said after his father's death, “and I implore us all to embrace that small portion of his faulty legacy by doing the same.”
ANALYSIS: Fred Phelps’ hateful legacy may be the opposite of all he intended
By Cathy Lynn Grossman — March 20, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) The image of Christianity that Fred Phelps painted was a hateful, judgmental collection of rabble-rousers -- an image that, paradoxically, did more to help his targets than it advanced his message.
Phelps deathbed reports have foes keeping watch
By Jolie Lee — March 19, 2014
(RNS) While some post anti-Phelps comments on Facebook, at least one blogger is urging the LGBT community to be more charitable and "show love to the most unlovable person."
Fred Phelps nears death, as told in tweets
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey — March 17, 2014
(RNS) Amid reports that the "God Hates Fags" founder is near death, the old-fashioned protestor is getting the instantaneous social media treatment.
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