Damsel, Arise: A Westboro Scion Leaves Her Church

[Dave Lane]

Long read just the beginning here check the link for the rest of the story:

Just after 11 last Sunday morning at Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, the Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter is starting the Sunday service as he always does. He runs through the opening salutation and the collect for the day, and then he welcomes everyone to church as he always does, introducing Old First “as a community of Jesus in Park Slope where we welcome people of every race, ethnicity and orientation to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.”

The congregation—some eighty strong on this sunny but cold February morning—is the usual mix of Park Slope churchgoing types: a smattering of journalists, a few artists, a handful of old ladies, some rambunctious children. But in the back row of the tin-ceilinged, wood-floored hall, there’s a visitor. It is Megan Phelps-Roper’s first time not only at Old First but also at any church not called Westboro Baptist. Yes, that Westboro Baptist, the Topeka, Kansas, congregation that has become famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) for its strident views on sin (and the abundance of it in modern America), salvation (and the prospective lack of it), and sexuality (we’re bad, in far more colorful terms).

For nearly all of her twenty-seven years, Megan believed it: believed what her grandfather Fred Phelps preached from the pulpit; believed what her dad Brent and her mom Shirley taught during the family’s daily Bible studies; believed (mostly) what it said on those signs that have made Westboro disproportionately influential in American life—“God hates pillowbiters”; “God hates your idols”; “God hates America.”

Megan was the one who pioneered the use of social media at Westboro, becoming the first in her family to go on Twitter. Effervescent and effusive, she gave hundreds of interviews, charming journalists from all over the world. Organized and proactive, she, for a time, even had responsibility for keeping track of the congregation’s protest schedule. She was such a Westboro fixture that the Kansas City Star touted her—improbably, as it turns out, because a woman could never have such a role at the church—as a future leader of the congregation.

Then, in November, she left.


https://medium.com/reporters-noteboo...70a30c0a2c0788

[Pitt Gorilla]

Great article. I'd like think that we all experience such reflection on a daily basis.

[Dave Lane]

I found it a really worthwhile read. There are several posters on this site that could use the contemplation Megan used.

Some who's name sounds a lot like Killer Clown, would do well to read it.

But won't

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

I found it a really worthwhile read. There are several posters on this site that could use the contemplation Megan used.

Some who's name sounds a lot like Killer Clown, would do well to read it.

But won't

everyone should read it.

[ClevelandBronco]

"But I don’t believe anymore that God hates almost all of mankind."

Godspeed, Megan.

Thanks for the link, Dave.

[KChiefer]

This girl's on her way to scissoring to Bob Marley, Amen!

Really though, good for her.

[Prison Bitch]

She was able to leave Westboro, but many liberals are unable to leave Obama on any issue, on any debate, on - frankly - anything. Think about it.

[go bowe]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

She was able to leave Westboro, but many liberals are unable to leave Obama on any issue, on any debate, on - frankly - anything. Think about it.

because leaving westboro is a lot like leaving obama...

because they are both evil vile fanatics and lunatics?

sure...

obama is a lot like westboro...

sure...

[RNR]

She is a mindless idiot who will soon find somebody else to think for her~

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by go bowe

because leaving westboro is a lot like leaving obama...

because they are both evil vile fanatics and lunatics?

sure...

obama is a lot like westboro...

sure...

Point was, she was able to criticize her church. Liberals never criticize their high priest. A recent poll of New Yorkers show Democrats there rate him higher than any President since they've been polling.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Point was, she was able to criticize her church. Liberals never criticize their high priest. A recent poll of New Yorkers show Democrats there rate him higher than any President since they've been polling.

Could you be anymore full of shit?

He's been criticized on drone strikes, Guantanamo Bay, lack of prosecutions for the financial crisis all by liberals.

[go bowe]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Point was, she was able to criticize her church. Liberals never criticize their high priest. A recent poll of New Yorkers show Democrats there rate him higher than any President since they've been polling.

rate highly = never criticize?

[go bowe]

Originally Posted by KC native

Could you be anymore full of shit?

He's been criticized on drone strikes, Guantanamo Bay, lack of prosecutions for the financial crisis all by liberals.

no no no...

those were conservatives dressed up to look like liberals, liberals don't criticize their high priest, don't you know?

[Prison Bitch]

So you're saying they will criticize him for not being liberal enough? That's the point. Westboro members criticizing Phelps for not being extreme enough would be laughable.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

So you're saying they will criticize him for not being liberal enough? That's the point. Westboro members criticizing Phelps for not being extreme enough would be laughable.

Obvious troll is obvious.