No Westboro church

samcster94

Banned
What if Fred Phelps dies from a random bus accident while in South Carolina and never starts that church. How does history proceed differently??? Obviously, other fringe churches exist, but given his early death, Westboro never exists.
 
Westboro is so off-the-wall, and persona non grata to EVERYONE across the political and theological spectrums, I don't think their non-existence makes much of a difference to anything, except to the relatively few unfortunates who got sued in the Phelps' system-gaming lawsuits, or had the personal displeasure of getting their loved ones' funerals picketed by the clan.

I guess that law against picketing military funerals wouldn't have been overturned by the SCOTUS, so maybe that's something. But then, that law was only passed in the first place because of the Phelps' antics, so that's basically a break-even.
 
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samcster94

Banned
Westboro is so off-the-wall, and persona non grata to EVERYONE across the political and theological spectrums, I don't think their non-existence makes much of a difference to anything, except to the relatively few unfortunates who got sued in the Phelps' system-gaming lawsuits, or had the personal displeasure of getting their loved ones' funerals picketed by the clan.

I guess that law against picketing military funerals wouldn't have been overturned by the SCOTUS, so maybe that's something. But then, that law was only passed in the first place because of the Phelps' antics, so that's basically a break-even.
The only person who comes close to Phelps is some Islamophobe who wanted to burn the Quran on 9/11.
 
I hate to rain on the parade, but some other wing nutted group of asshats will fill the void. Who? Haven't a clue. But sure as bears pooping in the woods somebody will fill it.
 
I hate to rain on the parade, but some other wing nutted group of asshats will fill the void. Who? Haven't a clue. But sure as bears pooping in the woods somebody will fill it.

Sure, but if they're anything like the Phelps, they will be equally ineffective at winning support for their cause. When Westboro was in its heyday, I knew right-wing homophobes who were speculating it was all a liberal plot to make them look bad, such was the odour of bad publicity they brought.

It might be an oversimplification to say that the whole point of the church was to generate lawsuits that the family law firm then handled(and hopefully won, from the family's pov), but it's no exaggeration to say that alienating the public was a big part of the agenda: eg. burning the flag at military funerals pretty much cancels out whatever support they might have gotten from right-wing homophobes.
 
Possibly slower acceptance of gay rights. Westboro was so over the top with their God Hates Fags schtick (what serious organisation would use the term "fag" so much anyway?) and protesting military funerals and praising 9/11 (even Jerry Falwell didn't go that far) that they guaranteed hurt the cause of Christian opposition to LGBT rights. There were fundies who would agree with Westboro's message, if not for their picketing funerals and general hatred for the United States.

There's plenty of fundamentalist Christian churches in this country, but I can't think of any which deliberately sought out publicity to the degree Westboro Baptist did.

The only person who comes close to Phelps is some Islamophobe who wanted to burn the Quran on 9/11.

That guy didn't come nearly as close, he had bog-standard Christian fundamentalist beliefs held by thousands of small churches and their members and just happened to get media attention in a slow news cycle. Of all that pastor's stupid beliefs, it's amazing that burning a Koran was what made him get noteworthy. But I suppose that does fit in the "attention-seeking" category, since most fundamentalist Christians would burn the Koran in private and not care what the news or anyone else thought.
 

samcster94

Banned
Possibly slower acceptance of gay rights. Westboro was so over the top with their God Hates Fags schtick (what serious organisation would use the term "fag" so much anyway?) and protesting military funerals and praising 9/11 (even Jerry Falwell didn't go that far) that they guaranteed hurt the cause of Christian opposition to LGBT rights. There were fundies who would agree with Westboro's message, if not for their picketing funerals and general hatred for the United States.

There's plenty of fundamentalist Christian churches in this country, but I can't think of any which deliberately sought out publicity to the degree Westboro Baptist did.


That guy didn't come nearly as close, he had bog-standard Christian fundamentalist beliefs held by thousands of small churches and their members and just happened to get media attention in a slow news cycle. Of all that pastor's stupid beliefs, it's amazing that burning a Koran was what made him get noteworthy. But I suppose that does fit in the "attention-seeking" category, since most fundamentalist Christians would burn the Koran in private and not care what the news or anyone else thought.
Exactly. He once got in a fight with Lea Delaria who threw him out of a parade in 1992 and Matthew Shephard's death cemented this church's evil reputation.
Indeed, but he did go farther as his parent denomination, a Pentecostal church had kicked out his congregation. He was a bit nuttier than most and attention seeking but he was nowhere near Westboro. I do think if Fred Phelps died in the early 50's, someone else might have developed that way, but even they might not have gone that far.
 
What if Fred Phelps dies from a random bus accident while in South Carolina and never starts that church. How does history proceed differently??? Obviously, other fringe churches exist, but given his early death, Westboro never exists.
Less several million dollars in court costs. Fred Phelps was the first major troll.
 
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