From the Guardian:
Pastor Fred Phelps, of Topeka, Kansas, with placards protesting against homosexuality outside court in Laramie, Wyoming, at the 1999 trial of a man accused of killing a gay student.
A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.
Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that promotes tolerance for gay people. The play, The Laramie Project, depicts the murder of a homosexual teenager, Matthew Shepard, in the Wyoming town in 1998. It will be staged tomorrow evening at Queen Mary's College.
Phelps, who runs the Primitive Baptist Westboro church in Topeka, Kansas – most of whose congregation are members of his family, including his 13 children – has bought a plot of land in Laramie where he plans to build a memorial celebrating the murder, despite local opposition.
....
A posting on Phelps's companion website God Hates the World this week stated: "God hates England. Your Queen is a whore. You're going to hell."
Good for the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. I wish we could expel Fred and Shirley to another country.
H/T to Lapin.
chere Mimi
ReplyDeletejust don't send them our way please.
today, Canada was blessed with a visit from your wonderful new President, and I don't think there were too many dry eyes in the house when the first person to greet his plane was the head of our government, our Haitian-born Govenor General, Mme. Jean.
as short as the visit might have been, it was an extraordinary day rich with promise.
but as to Fred & Shirley, thanks but no thanks, Mimi
David@Montreal
Throw water on him and he might melt.
ReplyDeleteCan't say I blame the Brits for this one. Too bad we can't send him to St. Helena.
I, too, wish we could expell the Phelps!!
ReplyDeleteDavid, I saw our president on TV with your prime minister, but I didn't see the meeting at the airport. I'm sure that it will be shown on the news programs. It's wonderful to have a president that we're not ashamed of.
ReplyDeleteI had another thought about Fred and Shirley. The Home Secretary could have let them come and turned them away at immigration after they had spent their money on the trip.
David, I wonder if your officials would let them in to Canada.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Fred Phelps really believes in hell, because if he did he would behave differently, because, with his actions, there's a good chance he would end up in such a place.
ReplyDeletePadre, when they picketed our little church, they looked like miserable people. I think they live in a hell on earth. They had children with them. Imagine growing up in that atmosphere of hate.
ReplyDeleteThanks, David@M: I was wondering who that was (knew it wasn't Michelle, and didn't think it was Mrs. Harper, either!)
ReplyDelete*****
Well, the Mad One predicted Phelps would be arrested, if he demonstrated (his f'ed-upness) in his usual fashion in the UK. But preempted---touche'!
David, I saw the video of Obama's arrival at the airport. That Obama is not Bush is enough to make us puff up with pride.
ReplyDeleteJCF, Phelps and his family are careful to stay on the right side of the law, and if the authorities of the place they're visiting don't follow the law to the letter and allow them their rights, then they sue.
Kudos to the UK! Would that we could send the Phelpses on a mission to nowhere and decline to re-admit them upon their attempted return!
ReplyDeleteThe good citizens of Topeka must cringe everytime Westboro or Phelpses are mentioned.
We can exercise Jesus' admonition to pray for our enemies. Like Padre Mickey, I fear these are truly doomed souls. May God have mercy.
I would prefer if they had entered the country, then been arrested. It's unchristian of me, I know. But, not by much.
ReplyDeleteLindy, not by much.
ReplyDelete"They had children with them. Imagine growing up in that atmosphere of hate."
ReplyDeleteIt appears that their congregation is mostly made up of their abused and beaten offspring. 1/4 of which has defected - at least one of them to California...
The congregation is mostly family. Fred had 13 children, and they had children....
ReplyDeleteWe got fierce laws 'bout that sort of thing!
ReplyDeleteI believe that child welfare services should look into the treatment of the children by the Phelps family. To subject them to such a hate-filled environment in their formative years seems abusive to me.
ReplyDeletePadre Mickey, you may be erring in ascribing sane thought to Mr. Phelps.
ReplyDeleteDo remember that he was disbarred from a successful legal practice because of perjury in the course of a retributive lawsuit against a court stenographer for not having a transcript delivered to him when he wanted it.