Ding, dong. Fred Phelps, leader of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, is dead.
The demonically devout hyper-Calvinist who, with the help of his sadistic minions, gleefully taunted many an AIDS victim’s family with placards reading “God hates fags,” will not be missed by many. Indeed, Phelps—whose tiny denomination took such ghastly relish in assailing grieving Army widows with the news that their deceased husbands now dwell in Hell—occupies a unique position on the contemporary landscape; for the last decade, he has enthusiastically played the role of uber-troll, one whose very raison d’etre was apparently to alienate, enrage, and upset as many people as possible.
The demonically devout hyper-Calvinist who, with the help of his sadistic minions, gleefully taunted many an AIDS victim’s family with placards reading “God hates fags,” will not be missed by many. Indeed, Phelps—whose tiny denomination took such ghastly relish in assailing grieving Army widows with the news that their deceased husbands now dwell in Hell—occupies a unique position on the contemporary landscape; for the last decade, he has enthusiastically played the role of uber-troll, one whose very raison d’etre was apparently to alienate, enrage, and upset as many people as possible.
