Fred Phelps, Sr., longtime pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, was excommunicated from the church last summer and is currently near death, according to his sons, Nate and Mark.
Nate, who left the church years ago, wrote on Facebook Sunday that his father is on his deathbed. He also emailed the information of his father’s condition and excommunication to The Topeka Capital-Journal.
He wrote on Facebook:
I’ve learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church, was ex-communicated from the “church” back in August of 2013. He is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made.
I feel sad for all the hurt he’s caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I’m bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.
Mark Phelps confirmed that his father had been excommunicated last summer. In an email to The Capital-Journal, he wrote, “Just a quick note to assure you the information you wrote and published this morning is accurate. I do not know anything more than you know, at this time, but what you wrote I know to be true, personally, just as Nathan (Nate Phelps) knows to be true also.”
During his long career, Phelps, Sr. targeted many groups and individuals with his vitriol, including Ronald Reagan, Mr. (Fred) Rogers, Catholics, Jews, gays, the Irish, Jerry Falwell, and U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. He approved of Saddam Hussein because, as he wrote to the former Iraqi leader, “We understand that Iraq is the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets without fear of arrest and prosecution.”
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