Pastor Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr, is the founder of which American church; he died in 2014 but received no funeral, as according to his daughter Shirley “this church does not worship the dead”?
"Megan Phelps-Roper Megan Phelps-Roper (born January 31, 1986) is a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), she left the church with her sister Grace in November 2012. Her mother is Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father was the church's founder Fred Phelps. She now lobbies to overcome divisions and hatred between religious and political divides. Phelps-Roper was born in Topeka, Kansas, and raised in the Westboro Baptist Church cult with her mother, Shirley Phelps-Roper and siblings. She graduated from Washburn University, and worked for her family's law firm after graduating. During her time still with the cult she would often"
"and did not confirm or deny the excommunication. Phelps died of natural causes shortly before midnight on March 19, 2014. His daughter, Shirley, stated that a funeral for her father would not be held because the church does not ""worship the dead"". According to Nathan Phelps, Fred Phelps' body was immediately cremated and no information about the disposition of his ashes has been released. The Recovering From Religion organization released a statement on behalf of Nathan, who is on their board of directors, about his father's death. ""Time"" published an obituary by author David von Drehle that described Phelps as"
"for intentionally burning a copy of the Quran in public a week earlier. On October 5, 2011, Fred Phelps' daughter, Margie, announced via her Twitter account that the church would be picketing Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs' funeral. CBS News and ""The Washington Post"" noted the irony in the fact that Margie used an iPhone to create the tweet. The church announced on December 16, 2012, that it would be picketing at the funerals of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. On April 15, 2013, the church posted a press release to its Twitter account in which"
"September 12, 1976, in Fresno, California. She is the daughter of Richard Phelps and Sharol Macleod. Phelps had five brothers and sisters, including older sisters Emily, Sophie, and Sky; older brother Richie; and younger brother, Jacob. Phelps' mother was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses church and raised her children in those beliefs. While her husband, Richard, did not consider himself a member, she attended services and events together with her children on a regular basis. As members of the Jehovah's Witnesses church, the Phelps family did not celebrate holidays, including birthdays, Christmas, and Easter. Phelps' parents were divorced when"
"church in August 2013, and then moved into a house where he ""basically stopped eating and drinking"". His statements were supported by his brother, Mark. Church spokesman Steve Drain declined to answer questions about Phelps' excommunication, and denied that the church had a single leader. Drain said that ""the church of Jesus Christ doesn't have a head"" and ""the Lord Jesus Christ is our head"". Referring to the church having a defined leader, he said that ""for a very long time, we haven't been organized in the way you think"". The church's official website said that membership status is private"
"a sampling of WBC's fliers regarding Judaism on their website. The WBC has described the Holocaust as God's punishment on Jews. The church's founder, Fred Phelps, was a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The Church's disapproval of racism and the use of physical violence by groups such as neo-Nazis and the KKK is stated on its website. The site's FAQ page states, ""[W]e don't believe in physical violence of any kind, and the Scripture doesn't support racism. ... The only true Nazis in this world are fags."" The Church has previously condemned particular nations, such as"
"the west side of Topeka about west of the Kansas State Capitol. Its first public service was held on the afternoon of November 27, 1955. The church was headed by Fred Phelps before his death in March 2014, though church representatives said the church had had no defined leader for some time before his death. The church consists primarily of members of Phelps's extended family, and in 2011, the church stated that it had about 40 members. The WBC is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination, although it describes itself as Primitive Baptist and following the five points of Calvinism."
"court. The WBC is considered a nonprofit organization by the federal government, and is therefore exempt from paying taxes. According to the Louis Theroux documentary ""The Most Hated Family in America"", members of the Phelps family are expected to have regular jobs and give ten percent of their earnings to the church, and many of them are lawyers. Fred Phelps founded the Phelps Chartered Law Firm in 1964, which has since been used to sue communities that are targets of Westboro's protests. All five of the law firm's attorneys are Phelps' children, and eleven of his thirteen children are lawyers."
"the house, but no one was injured. In 1996, two men were arrested for the bombing, and both admitted to causing the blast. They had believed that Phelps-Roper's house was that of the pastor, and wanted to retaliate against Westboro's anti-gay protests at Washburn University. One of the bombers was fined $1,751 and was sentenced to 16 days in prison plus 100 hours of community service. Fred Phelps died of natural causes on March 19, 2014. His daughter Shirley said that a funeral would not be held because Westboro does not ""worship the dead"". WBC pickets approximately six locations every"
"Henrietta Phelps Jeffries Henrietta Phelps Jeffries (January 5, 1857 in Halifax County, Virginia – August 22, 1926 in Caswell County, North Carolina) was an African American midwife and a founding member of the Macedonia A.M.E. Church located in Milton, North Carolina. Henrietta Phelps was born the daughter of a slave, Elija ""Phelps"", and Charlotte Ann Bennett, a midwife. Henrietta was the oldest daughter in a family of 7 children. She grew up in her family home with her parents until her first marriage to George Lawson of Milton, North Carolina, on January 21, 1872, at the age of 15. The"
"Christ, which differs substantially with its parent organization on several points of doctrine. The Cutlerites do not conduct missionary work or actively solicit converts, because they believe that God rejected the ""Gentiles"" following the death of Joseph Smith, and thus there can be no more active missionary work among them (as is done in the LDS Church and other Latter Day Saint churches). Membership was listed at 22 in 1957, and has declined further since then. The current church president (as of 2013) is Vernon Whiting. As in most Latter Day Saint sects, Cutlerite church organization entails a presidency consisting"
"U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the city's largest synagogue. Margie Phelps, daughter of Pastor Fred Phelps, led the protest, holding signs stating that ""God Hates Israel"", ""Jews Killed Jesus"", ""America Is Doomed"", ""Israel Is Doomed"", and ""ADL Jew Bullies"". The protest was apparently part of a series of upcoming protests which the church has planned at Jewish institutions in Omaha, St. Louis, South Florida and Providence. The group reportedly posted a list of the upcoming protests' locations and dates, along with the statement ""Jews Killed the Lord Jesus."" In an interview, Margie Phelps said that her church was targeting the"
"Phelps, Jr., whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), had posted on Twitter that the WBC was planning to ""street-preach"" about the Ohio shooting ""regarding God's hand, judgments and vengeance in this affair."" Another Twitter post from a member of the church said the group would protest Daniel Parmertor's funeral. In response, Chardon resident Alex Pavlick sent out a request on Facebook for people to join him in forming a barricade around St. Mary's Church, where the funeral was to be held on March 3, if the WBC showed up to protest. He wrote that he wanted to ensure"
"to participate in the next Pink Mass that The Satanic Temple performed. In July 2013, The Satanic Temple held a ""Pink Mass"" over the grave of Catherine Johnston, the mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. The mass was held after the Westboro Baptist Church announced their intention to picket the funerals of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Queerty.com suggested they had based the idea of the mass on similar activities held by factions of the Latter Day Saint movement, where they would perform proxy baptisms. The Pink Mass was officiated by Greaves and consisted of two"
"gay men kissing over Johnston's grave while Greaves placed his genitals on the tombstone and chanted an incantation intended to change the deceased's sexual orientation. A misdemeanor charge was issued against Greaves and he was told that if he returned to Lauderdale County, Mississippi (where Johnston's grave is located), he would be arrested. Shortly before Phelps's death on March 19, 2014, The Satanic Temple expressed interest in holding a similar ceremony for the church founder. In May 2014, a black mass was scheduled to be held by The Satanic Temple at the Harvard University campus, sponsored by the Harvard Extension"
"church also rejects the doctrines of baptism for the dead and celestial marriage promulgated by the Utah-based LDS Church, as well as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. While once avidly engaged in dialogue with other Latter Day Saint factions, the church no longer has any official contact with any other organization. Its most notable claim to fame today rests in its sole ownership of the Temple Lot, which it has held for nearly 150 years. As of 2013, membership is 7,310 members in 11 countries. Most of the members live in the United States, but there"
"The Most Hated Family in America The Most Hated Family in America is a 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The organization was led by Fred Phelps (who has since died) and located in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality; in addition, they protest at funerals of U.S. military killed in action with signs that display text such as ""God Hates Fags"" and ""Thank God for Dead Soldiers"". With a BBC"
"and anger."" As of 2014, Phelps was working on a book called ""Leaving Westboro: Escaping America's Most Hated Church & Family"". In the same year, he made a widely reported announcement that his father was terminally ill, and also that Pastor Phelps had been ""excommunicated"" from his own church during 2013. Phelps' father died of natural causes shortly before midnight on March 19, 2014. The Recovering From Religion organization released a statement on behalf of Phelps, who is on their board of directors, about his father's death. Phelps has been criticized by members of his family still active in the"
"founder, Frank Williams, who died on March 22, 1993. Three albums were released since Williams' passing, ""I'll See You in Rapture"", ""Praise the Lord"", and ""Emmanuel (God With Us)"". Jerry Mannery, Executive Director of the choir, states, “We are all about our Father’s business. We are not entertainers, we are ministers for Christ. Our mission remains constant; to serve the Lord and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” The choir has ministered in song in over 40 states within the USA, including Alaska. They have traveled to Japan, Italy, Spain, Bahamas, and Greece; becoming the first gospel group to perform"
"church head Fred Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, who were ""greeting students and faculty as they arrived with words such as ""God hates fag enablers"" and ""Thank God for 9/11"""" at ten locations. In 2008, Chicago's Youth Pride Center, primarily serving ""LGBT youth of color"", opened a temporary location and will move into their newly constructed building on Chicago's South Side in 2010. In 2009, Utah Pride Center held an event to coincide with Youth Pride Walk 2009, a ""cross-country walk by two Utah women trying to draw attention to the problems faced by homeless LGBT youth"". In August 2010, the"
"""God Hates Fags"", remains the name of the group's principal website. In addition to funerals, Phelps and his followers—mostly his own immediate family members—picketed gay pride gatherings, high-profile political events, university commencement ceremonies, live performances of ""The Laramie Project"", and functions sponsored by mainstream Christian groups with which he had no affiliation, arguing it was their sacred duty to warn others of God's anger. He continued doing so in the face of numerous legal challenges—some of which reached the U.S. Supreme Court—and near-universal opposition and contempt from other religious groups and the general public. Laws enacted at both the federal"
"never fully recovered. His wife died on December 21, and Phelps himself died nine days later of ""internal hemorrhage"" at his residence at 101 West 47th Street. Phelps was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York). Benjamin K. Phelps Dudley Fairley Phelps (1845 in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts – December 30, 1880 in New York City) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Phelps was the only child of the Rev. Dudley Phelps (1797–1849), a Congregational clergyman, and Ann (Kinsman) Phelps (1808–1834). He attended Andover Theologigal Seminary, and graduated from Yale College in 1853. Then he studied law"
"to find the location. On June 18, 2016, members of the church picketed after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting that resulted in 50 deaths at a nightclub frequented by members of the Orlando LGBT community, but around 200 people blocked view of the picketing. In 1996, Phelps led a protest at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., proclaiming: WBC was present at a 2002 Holocaust memorial dedication in Topeka, proclaiming ""God Hates Reform Judaism"". On May 8, 2009, members of the church protested at three Jewish sites in Washington, D.C., including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) offices, the"
"in the community. Rulon Jeffs Rulon Timpson Jeffs (December 6, 1909 – September 8, 2002), known to followers as Uncle Rulon, was the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), a Mormon fundamentalist organization based in Colorado City, Arizona, from 1986 until his death in 2002. Jeffs, born in Salt Lake City on December 6, 1909, was the son of first generation fundamentalist David William Ward Jeffs and his plural wife Nettie Lenora Timpson. The elder Jeffs lived his polygamous lifestyle in secret, and Rulon spent the first ten years of his life under"
"Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, United States. The church derives its epithet from its founder, Alpheus Cutler, a member of the Nauvoo High Council and of Joseph Smith's Council of Fifty. Cutler justified his establishment of an independent church organization by asserting that God had ""rejected"" Smith's organization—but not his priesthood—following Smith's death, but that Smith had named Cutler to a singular ""Quorum of Seven"" in anticipation of this event, with a unique prerogative to reorganize the church that no one"
"formed the background to the new film. Theroux was interested in the ambivalent attitude of church members towards his first film, and stated that ""the new documentary feels quite different than the original – though still funny, a little darker and stranger"". The Most Hated Family in America The Most Hated Family in America is a 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The organization was led by Fred Phelps (who has since died) and located in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the"
"by Gerald Peterson, Sr., who claimed that he was ordained a High Priest Apostle by AUB leader Rulon C. Allred. Later, after he was murdered, Rulon C. Allred appeared to him as an angel to instruct him to preside over the keys of the priesthood. This church has built a pyramid-shaped temple and Gerald Peterson, Jr. is their current leader. Like the AUB they are modern in their dress and do not allow girls under 18 to be married. The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (TLC) is headquartered in Manti, Utah. Membership"
"Phelps and based in Topeka, Kansas. Born in 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi, Phelps conducts himself under the belief that he is a prophet chosen by God ""to preach his message of hate"". Phelps was ordained a Southern Baptist in 1947. The Westboro Baptist Church was started by Phelps in 1955. Members of the church meet in Phelps's residence; the majority of the group's adherents are his family. Phelps received an associate's degree from John Muir Junior College in 1951, a bachelor's degree in 1962 and a degree in law in 1964 from Washburn University. He formed a ""crusade for righteousness"","
"The church takes literally the words in Ephesians 4:5, ""One Lord, one faith, one baptism"", believing the ""one baptism"" for believers to be the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of physical resurrection of the dead was also rejected in favor of a spiritual resurrection taking place at sanctification. This places the church within the Preterist fold eschatologically. The church maintains a cemetery and campground in Perry, Georgia, and hosts an annual camp meeting during the month of July. The church also operates a home for the elderly. Membership today is largely confined to seventeen congregations located in Virginia,"
"Rulon Jeffs Rulon Timpson Jeffs (December 6, 1909 – September 8, 2002), known to followers as Uncle Rulon, was the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), a Mormon fundamentalist organization based in Colorado City, Arizona, from 1986 until his death in 2002. Jeffs, born in Salt Lake City on December 6, 1909, was the son of first generation fundamentalist David William Ward Jeffs and his plural wife Nettie Lenora Timpson. The elder Jeffs lived his polygamous lifestyle in secret, and Rulon spent the first ten years of his life under the pseudonym Rulon"
"Lisa McPherson Lisa McPherson (February 10, 1959 – December 5, 1995) was an American member of the Church of Scientology who died of a pulmonary embolism while under the care of the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc. Following the report of the state of Florida's medical examiner that indicated that Lisa was a victim of negligent homicide, the Church of Scientology was indicted on two felony charges, ""abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult"" and ""practicing medicine without a license."" The charges against the Church of Scientology were dropped after the state's medical examiner changed the cause of"
"over 20 members of the church, mostly family members, have left the church and his family. Phelps described himself as an Old School Baptist, and stated that he held to all Five Points of Calvinism. Phelps particularly highlighted John Calvin's doctrine of unconditional election, the belief that God has elected certain people for salvation before birth, and limited atonement, the belief that Christ only died for the elect, and condemns those who believe otherwise. Despite claiming to be an Old School Baptist, he was ordained by a Southern Baptist church, and was rejected and generally condemned by Old School (or"
"of his homosexuality. Since then, the church has attracted attention for many more actual and planned funeral pickets. In July 2005, the Westboro Baptist Church declared its intention to picket the memorial service of Carrie French in Boise, Idaho. French, 19, was killed on June 5 in Kirkuk, Iraq, where she served as an ammunition specialist with the 116th Brigade Combat Team's 145th Support Battalion. Phelps Sr. said, ""Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime."" In 2006, Westboro picketed with banners"