Exiled From Westboro: Leaving America’s Most Hated Church
Author: Mike Spies
This summer, Zach Phelps-Roper could be seen on the streets of Topeka, Kansas, holding a sign above his head bearing the words, “You are beautiful.” He was picketing the Westboro Baptist Church, arguably the most reviled religious organization in the country. “Please forgive them,” he could be heard shouting, “for they know not what they do!”
Not long ago, Zach, 23, was holding an entirely different kind of picket sign. He is the grandson of the late Fred Phelps, Westboro’s founder and spiritual leader. It was Phelps who shaped the church’s extreme zealotry and brazenly offensive anti-gay pickets, especially those staged at military funerals, where congregants of the church hold signs that read “God Hates Fags” and “Pray for More Dead Soldiers.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has branded the church “the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America.” The media often refers to it as a cult.
Zach Phelps-Roper outside the Westboro Baptist compound, his former home in Topeka, Kansas. He's one of at least 20 members to leave the church in the last decade, including his brother Josh and his sisters Megan and Grace.
This February, Zach, who was born and raised in the church, left Westboro, having suffered for weeks with a back injury his parents believed could be cured with prayer. After begging them to no avail to take him to the emergency room, he decided he was done being a martyr. “I don’t love this religion anymore,” he said.
In the eyes of the church, that declaration was an unforgivable offense worse than blasphemy. And it meant that Zach would be excommunicated. He knew he would never be able to talk to his parents again, and all traces of him would be scrubbed from his family’s home and their place of worship. The congregation would classify him as an apostate who would spend eternity in hell.
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