Megan Phelps-Roper (@meganphelps) grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church, an organization widely monitored as a hate group for its anti-gay, anti-Jewish, anti-American protests. She left WBC in 2012 and has since written about her experiences in Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church. This is part one of a two-part episode. Stay tuned for the second episode coming later this week!

What We Discuss with Megan Phelps-Roper:

What it was like to grow up in what documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux called "The Most Hated Family in America."
Why the Westboro Baptist Church feels it's uniquely qualified to spread what it sees as the "true" word of God in a way that shocks and offends the rest of the world.
How the Westboro Baptist Church interprets feelgood lessons from the Bible like "Love thy neighbor" and the tale of the good Samaritan.
Why children who grow up in Westboro Baptist Church aren't educated at home, but encouraged to go to public schools.
The complicated history of the church's founder (and Megan's grandfather), Fred Phelps, who championed civil rights for African-Americans as a lawyer while campaigning against homosexuals, Jewish people, dead soldiers, tsunami victims, Mr. Rogers, and others deemed "deviant" by his very specific interpretation of the Bible (e.g., everybody not belonging to Westboro Baptist Church).
And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://jordanharbinger.com/302

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Honkus Bonkus - 23 December 2024