Mark David Bradshaw's article "Sound & Fury: Fred Phelps and Life inside Westboro" discusses certain events in which Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, abused his family. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church are known for protesting practically anything and being very hateful and prejudiced. For me it is surprising that a man so outwardly bigoted can gain a following and then use that to spread the hate. It is interesting to see how his home life reflects his public life and he was always very abusive
First of all there were 4 of the 13 phelps children that left the church and cut all ties with Fred Phelps. This illustrated that he was abusive and that they also did not agree with his beliefs. After reading the rest of the article I was surprised that more didn't leave. He was abusive to all of his children and treated them extremely unfairly. They couldn't celebrate Christmas, chose their own jobs, see whoever they wanted, or do anything without his say. He was so extreme that his children should have been taken away from him, but he was so controlling of them that they ended up lying to cover up his abuse. Two of his sons were heavily bruised and had their heads forcibly shaved but Child Services couldn't do anything because his sons covered for him. It is no way for children to be raised and now those children are his followers because that is all they knew as they were raised. It was especially upsetting to see how his hurtful comments towards his oldest son's ex-girlfriend led to her suicide. This extreme hate is illogical and affects many different people.
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