Pictured above Westboro Baptist Church, founded in 1955 by Fred Phelps. This church has no affiliations with other Baptist churches or Calvinist conventions. Phelps founded this church express his radical opinions on controversial topics. He was involved in drugs in the 60's and drastically abused his 13 children. He beat them, shaved their heads, and forced them to sell candy as the families sole income at some points. He would make his children run 5 to 10 miles a day. His wife attempted to flee in 1964 but returns to Westboro because she couldn't support her children. Many of his children attempted to flee, fled and returned, or managed to get away and cut ties from the family in Westboro. Fred rarely approved of his children's significant others, and he proceeded to taunt and threaten them. Some of the children fled for these reasons. Some did as they were told. He caused his son Freddy's girlfriend to commit suicide in 1972, then went around proclaiming, "the whore is dead." He lead an extremely cruel life. As well as founding this church, he was a lawyer, but he was prohibited from practicing law in 1979. More recently, in the 1990's, Phelps and parts of his congregation, which is made up of a majority of his children and grandchildren, actually protested local funerals. In 1994, Nate and Mark Phelps provided an inside look into growing up in the Phelps family.
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