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cbayer

(146,218 posts)
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 01:04 PM Sep 2012

Son of a bigot

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/25/son_of_a_bigot/

MONDAY, SEP 24, 2012 05:00 PM PDT
Son of a bigot
His dad founded the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. Nate Phelps is dedicated to reversing that legacy of hate
BY DICK GORDON


Nate Phelps, son of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps

The interview appears as part of Salon's partnership with "The Story." An audio version of this conversation can be heard at the link.

As the pastor of the much-reviled Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps has become synonymous with hatred. The pastor and his family make it a point to carry signs at the funerals saying, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” They show up to media-friendly events with signs that read, “God Hates Fags.”

Nate Phelps is the sixth of Fred’s 13 children, and he has the scars to show for it. He describes his father as verbally and physically abusive. When he was 18, Nate ran away from home and from the fundamentalist Calvinist religion in which he was raised.

Now in his 50s, Nate finds himself publicly squaring off with his father and siblings to reverse their legacy of intolerance. He lives in Calgary, where he has become a public speaker who champions LGBT rights and raises awareness about the connection between extreme religion and child abuse. He is currently writing a book about his life and is the subject of an upcoming documentary.

What was your childhood like?

It was a very strict environment. We were isolated from the community, not so much physically, as ideologically. We heard from the time we were very young that we were to be separated from the world, and we were unique. We were God’s chosen ones. On one hand we had this sense that we were better than everybody else, and on the other hand we had this clear awareness that we were different from everyone else. That cut both ways. And then all of that ideology was supported and promoted with violence and psychological — I don’t know if you want to call it abuse, but you know those lessons we learned in that religious environment were such that we were constantly anxious and frightened for whether or not we were going to upset God.


more at link
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Son of a bigot (Original Post) cbayer Sep 2012 OP
"I don’t know if you want to call it abuse,..." OriginalGeek Sep 2012 #1
Wish you well, also. pinto Sep 2012 #3
Thank you Pinto! OriginalGeek Sep 2012 #4
Agree. This is clearly abuse, imo. cbayer Sep 2012 #5
Thank you too! OriginalGeek Sep 2012 #6
Heckuva thing, Geek Oregonian Sep 2012 #7
"Literally the night of my 18th birthday, at midnight, I had made my arrangements and I walked out" pinto Sep 2012 #2

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
1. "I don’t know if you want to call it abuse,..."
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 03:39 PM
Sep 2012

Umm, yes. I know I do want to call it abuse. Good for Nate for escaping the abuse but there is no question in my mind that it was abuse. I grew up in a similar house with a man who currently thinks Fred Phelps is swell. I've been gone from there for 31 years and it still affects my daily life although the effect is smaller with every passing day.

I wish Nate well.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
5. Agree. This is clearly abuse, imo.
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 04:25 PM
Sep 2012

Sorry for your upbringing and glad for your escape. It only takes one generation to change this and those that do are heroes.

I wish you well.

 

Oregonian

(209 posts)
7. Heckuva thing, Geek
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 06:14 PM
Sep 2012

Living in a household where gravity is denied, and you're in constant anxiety over your every thought and deed. I don't think my family life was nearly as bad as yours, but I was told to pray for forgiveness at the end of every day for every bad thing I did, or bad thought I had. When I asked my dad "what if I can't remember it all?", he said "pray to God to help you remember." I went nuts for years trying to avoid nasty thoughts, or stop and beg for a reprieve from hell if I couldn't remember a sin.

Religion is child abuse. Leave your kids alone.

pinto

(106,886 posts)
2. "Literally the night of my 18th birthday, at midnight, I had made my arrangements and I walked out"
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 03:52 PM
Sep 2012

The whole interview is worth a read.

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