Talk:Fred Phelps

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"Phelps targeted several individuals and groups in the public eye for criticism" - this sentence is followed by everybody and their dog. Are there any reliable sources which call that "criticism"? I suspect: no.

The reason I am asking is that I am currently cleaning Category:Critics of Judaism from people who never actually criticized any actual idea held by Judaism - they simply hate Jews, tell lies about them, and/or tried to kill them all. When I find other unjustified "critics of.." categories, I remove those too. I don't do that if there are examples in the articles of actual criticism. It is pretty obvious to me that Phelps does not belong in Category:Critics of Judaism, Category:Critics of Islam, Category:Critics of atheism and Category:Critics of the Catholic Church, but maybe I am wrong. Some of my deletions have been reverted, so I am being more cautious now. What do you people think? Is the word "criticism" in the sentence I quoted justified? Are the categories justified? --Hob Gadling (talk) 20:48, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

After letting it fester for a few minutes, I deleted the four categories. If someone disagrees, revert it. He sticks out like a sore thumb between all those real critics starting with A to P. (Don't look at Q to Z yet, they are full of antisemites.) --Hob Gadling (talk) 20:57, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

As I recall, TV Talk show host Ricki Lake did not have Fred Phelps removed from the telecast taped in 1993. At first, Phelps and his young follower (whose name was given as "Charles," I think, and who wasn't identified as Phelps's son) got up and started to leave the studio of their own accord after Lake and her producers wouldn't allow them to rebut every guest and audience member's comment or question, as he demanded. (He insisted on insulting most of them, including Lake, threatening them with an eternity in hell.) Her producers followed the pair backstage and asked them to return, which they did. Shortly thereafter, Phelps quoted Philippians 3:19-20 to Lake, indeed adding that her god was her rectum. This New Testament passage is usually understood to be a condemnation of overindulgence in food, making it a reference to Lake's former weight, not to any alleged sexual practices on her part. (I have no idea whether he knew Lake is Jewish. The subject never came up.) The Westboro Baptist Church often used that verse to describe anal intercourse as well, and the audience seemed to infer that meaning in light of Phelps's previous (and frequent) use of the term "rectum." Most versions of the Christian Bible render that word as "belly" or "stomach." Lake responded, "That's totally out of line!" Afterwards she cooled considerably toward Phelps, often cutting him off in mid-sentence to allow someone else to speak and then not letting him challenge the comment and berate the questioner, but she didn't force him to leave the soundstage -- at least not during the part of the show that was actually broadcast.Varazslo (talk) 16:37, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

I have added a hidden note in the article above the party affiliation part of the infobox. Before changing the party affiliation please provide a WP:RELIABLESOURCE to support your claim. Thanks! Z1720 (talk) 20:36, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

It says in the excommunication and death section in the article that he preached his final sermon in September 2013 but that he was excommunicated from the church in August 2013. How does that make any sense? 84.13.202.224 (talk) 15:04, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

This was once a featured article and perhaps it could be brought back. In any case, it has several problems.

1. Much of the content is about Westboro Baptist Church (such as most of the protest activities section, Snyder v Phelps, info about an adult child, etc.), not Pastor Phelps alone, so those parts are a Wikipedia:REDUNDANTFORK. I can help identify those parts. It'd be great to help from an editor experienced with WP:Copywithin.
2. Neutral POV concerns are often at the sentence level, which I can edit or tag. The Lede and opening paragraphs are POV. focused on negative characterizations and omitting, for instance, his civil rights work and campaigns for state-wide office.
3. There's use of Primary sources so there appear to be problems with Original research. I can mark those. Not sure they should be deleted until we look for reliable secondary sources.

I am a Subject-matter expert on Westboro Baptists, so I am disclosing my academic COI External relationship with the deceased and the church. I will avoid relying unduly on my own publications. ProfGray (talk) 02:24, 24 July 2022 (UTC)