1 April 2007, BBC2The wonderful Louis Theroux returned with another instalment of his occasional documentary series last Sunday night. This time the subject was the Phelps clan, the titular "most hated family", who head up the Westboro Baptist Church of Topkeka, Kansas.
The 71-strong membership regularly picket the funerals of US soldiers and homosexuals, gay pride marches, and wave placards with "FAGS EAT POOP" and "GOD HATES YOU" at road corners. Needless to say, they're not popular in their community.
The Church was formed by preacher Fred Phelps (known as "Gramps"), who passed on his unconventional beliefs to his thirteen children and their grandchildren.
In an unusual twist of expectation, the Church's members are a fairly nice bunch of people, particularly the teenage girls. Their religious activities may be controversial, but they form a close-knit family unit away from their picket lines. As Louis later mused, they preach hatred and face hated in return, so the only refuge they find is in each other.
But the negatives far, far outweighed any positives. You could sense compassion struggling to come out of the kids involved, particularly when Theroux pushed the issue of friends and dating. It seemed everyone had been brainwashed into considering themselves far too busy campaigning to ever date or marry. It was particularly odd because surely marriage (and certainly procreation) is integral to the Church's future, which only thrives because of family offspring.
Fatalism is a big part of the Chuch's belief system; meaning they celebrate whenever people die of illness or in accidents, because this is just God killing sinners. Louis discovered he's guilty of a sin himself (having had a child out of wedlock) and will therefore go to Hell.
As you'd expect, the adults were more obstinate in their views than the kids, continually brushing off Louis' attempts to appeal to their better natures. Shirley, a fortysomething mother of eleven, was particularly dismissive of these tactics, hitting back with graphic descriptions of burning in Hell. Louis did manage to expose one man's ignorance of The Bible, by shooting down a number of his beliefs and revealing hypocrisy -- like their blanket hatred of all Jews when Jesus himself was Jewish.
Of course, the serpent's head was "Gramps", a hateful grouch who started the Church and has cultivated his beliefs amongst his family for decades. Mr Phelps clearly has anger issues and refused to answer many of Louis' questions that would reveal his own ignorance.
It was a very interesting documentary, with more to say on its subject than I thought possible. I actually felt like reaching into the television and giving some of these people a slap at times, which is always a good sign that the topic has you in its grasp. It staggers me just how patient Louis Theroux is in these situations. Almost saintly, you could say...
Overall, it was a clear case of a bitter man twisting scripture to suit his own moral code, preaching it to a captive family audience, then sitting back and watching it grow into a profitable business (everyone gives him 10% of their earnings) whilst stroking his ego as numero uno.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the Westboro Baptist Church when Gramps shuffles off this mortal coil, although I suspect it will only strengthen their resolve. As history has shown us, believers always grow more devout once their leader become a "spiritual" figure.
There were subtle signs the third generation are beginning to question the poison that's been poured into their ears since birth, but it remains to be seen if any of them will make a stand against Gramps' teachings. It would mean cutting themselves off from their family and everything they've ever known. Forever.
Four of Gramps' thirteen children did leave the group, forever cast into the wilderness, and probably all the better for it. It was a shame Louis didn't track any of these "escapees" down for a chat, but the documentary made its point regardless.
