How a prized daughter of the Westboro Baptist Church came to question its beliefs

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CreepingFear said:
I have family members that are/were Jehovah Witnesses. It's hard to leave. My uncle didn't not leave until he was in late 40's/early 50's. My grandmother and my aunt took me to their kingdom halls when I was baby sat by them as a child. I was a believer until 10 or 11 and I realized that religion is just all made up.
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One way to leave the JoHos is to sin your ass off. My uncle keeps getting kicked out because of his.. sinful behaviour.
 
Good to hear. It's only a matter of time until the Church disappears.

There's another woman from the Church that left a couple of years ago and became a fitness/Instagram model. Looking at her now you'd never think she was part of that cult.
 
Kwixotik said:
I liked the article a lot. Not exactly the same thing, but my fiancee left the Jehovah's Witnesses (a lot more cultish than people realize) after starting to talk to me online. Reminds me of Megan and CG.
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I was raised there. 0-18. When i was younger i hated it because church is boring, no holidays. But never questioned it till i became a teen. Stopped going as soon as i was an adult and never looked back. Argued with my perents constantly about it. Became an athiest later in life.
But even someone like me that was not devout, its hard to shake those beliefs. meagan is extremely strong for not only having the courage to see the truth, hard in itself, but to leave the only life and family she has ever known.

Bravo Ms Phelps
 
kris. said:
I actually went to college with one of the grandsons a few years ago. I didn't realize it at first until someone told me and the last name clicked. I of course had reservations about him, but we talked once or twice about his family and he loved them because they were his family, but didn't agree with any of their beliefs anymore and if I remember correctly he was ostracized by them and didn't have much contact anymore. I felt bad for him. Nice kid.
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You went to Washburn?
 
Great read. I've always been fascinated (and saddened) by the poor brainwashed suckers in Westboro, so hearing about any of them getting out and changing their ways is wonderful news.
 
Man, that last paragraph
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It's nice to know that her grandad had a tiny little bit of a heart before he went.
 
Amazing read. That last paragraph is beautiful.
 
GavinGT said:
She was the one that always seemed conflicted when Louis Theroux was talking to her, right?
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OH wow I think it is. I was so upset watching that documentary because I felt Throux was so very close to getting her to question everything, and then in the follow up documentary she seemed completely ingrained into the church.

edit: Here is the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pxE6_VY8aM

first interview with Megan at 9:50

But I think the one you and I are thinking about is Jael Phelps
 
That was a pretty damn good article. A wonderful insight into religious indoctrination and the struggle to escape such a life when you're entire family is literally involved in its creation.
 
That was a really great article. Thanks for posting, OP.

Initially, I had no plans on reading anything but the quote in the OP, but I'm glad I changed my mind. Some parts of the article even had me tearing up a bit. It's good to see that her and a number of other people were able to get out of that mess.

I'm also really happy that she was able to find C.G. That's some beautiful stuff there; the type of thing you'd expect to only see in a movie.
 
You're all more than welcome for the link. This story just really touched me.

Shamrock7r said:
OH wow I think it is. I was so upset watching that documentary because I felt Throux was so very close to getting her to question everything, and then in the follow up documentary she seemed completely ingrained into the church.

edit: Here is the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pxE6_VY8aM

first interview with Megan at 9:50

But I think the one you and I are thinking about is Jael Phelps
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Thanks for this. Going to watch!

Baroquemantic said:
That was a really great article. Thanks for posting, OP.

Initially, I had no plans on reading anything but the quote in the OP, but I'm glad I changed my mind. Some parts of the article even had me tearing up a bit. It's good to see that her and a number of other people were able to get out of that mess.

I'm also really happy that she was able to find C.G. That's some beautiful stuff there; the type of thing you'd expect to only see in a movie.
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I really think you could probably get a pretty great, thought-provoking drama out of this. The Internet has made it so we can connect with people and see their perspective of things so much faster and more easily than ever before. It's really something. I think we tend to take it for granted.
 
Wow, this is a fantastic article. I always love reading stories about people who leave cults, this one is probably one of the most interesting. I hope some of the older people in the WBC start questioning their beliefs, too.
 
The BBC doc by Theroux was great. I honestly got the same sense from most of the family as I do from Megan in her youth as she describes it.

When they're amongst themselves, they seem like they could be a very pleasant, likable people. The kids either don't know anything at all (the toddlers) or look like they don't really believe and could fall apart any minute (the teens). Shirley is abrasive as the NY story notes. Fred is the only person Theroux speaks to that seems to actively try to hurt him.

It's all so very tragic.

Edit: Jesus Christ, he went back? Wow. Watching now.
 
Great read, thanks for posting OP.

My gut reaction to WBC is to punch these people in the face. The article demonstrates that treating them with kindness is much more effective.
 
Kingdom Hall... Something so boring that my mother threatened to take me again as a form of punishment. "Normal" church and the awful hymny (hymmy?) singing was bad enough. I went to the one in my area in in Michigan once or twice because I had a friend that was a Jehovah Witness. That friend and his mother coincidentally moved without warning, IIRC not long after my mother and his mother started bible talk. I say coincidentally because my mother had a friend back in the 80s who was a JH member and IIRC something similar happened and she basically disappeared without a word. She apparently came back in the few years between when we had moved out of Michigan only to be seen again after we came back and my mother ran into her at a store. From what I remember it was rather awkward and the woman hurriedly left.

At an early age I found religion kind of silly thanks to my mother's nonsense from talking in tongues to believing faith healing was real (especially a Benny Hinn fan) to the "end days" and bible prophecy shit and it gets more ridiculous when she has friends who buy into much of the same crap and their "bible studies" and the evangelist idiots they listen to.
 
It's hard to believe I've been reading about the Phelps clan and various members of their church leaving for over twenty years now.

For a longer, more depressing read, filled with far more descriptions of grotesque child abuse try Addicted to Hate: The Fred Phelps Story. It was written in 1994.

There are parallels between the two articles; the kids that leave ultimately do it because they develop empathy and feelings for people outside the church, and because those people that reach out to them are ultimately good people with strong moral convictions.

It will also make that last paragraph of the New Yorker article seem like tremendous bullshit. Re-reading the '94 story only reminds me that I would have been glad if Fred Phelps had passed decades sooner.
 
Khaz said:
I never gave much thought about the Westboro church, I only knew them from the news, when they picketed some people funerals.

So the Westboro church revels in the suffering and death of everybody else? Because they see it as an act of god on sinners? That's some twisted scary belief. What are they thinking of all the people who keep on living even though they are obviously sinning? God works in mysterious ways? What about their own death, is still an act of god on a sinner?
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There's a huge debate as to whether they honestly belief all this, or if it's all a scam to get opportunities to sue people. I personally think it's a bit of both. They seem to believe all that garbage they spew, but the main point is to piss people off so that they touch them and open themselves up to a lawsuit. If you notice, they'll never directly insult an individual, just groups. They'll also pack up and leave if they're not getting a response from the crowd.

BreezyLimbo said:
Whoa. Fred Phelps had a change of heart? Holy crap. If he said 'You're good people' to the rainbow house....that's actually pretty interesting to hear.
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I thought this was common knowledge. He softened his stance, but I don't know by how much.

ponpo said:
Isn't this how most very religious people think? My disease was cured, thank you Lord! My daughter was killed by a disease, God works in mysterious ways.
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Not... really? At least they shouldn't as a Christian. Scripture says that physical Death is not simply evil, and is the natural order of this world. In fact, there are times when God has allowed a righteous person to pass away before bringing judgement on the rest of the household.

There's a reason why, in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology (heavily influenced by his Roman Catholicism), death was a gift to mankind that Melkor made humanity fear.
 
There are a lot of people on the internet (and on this forum) that would benefit from listening to the second half of this talk.
 
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