Fred Phelps Senior, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, the controversial group known for picketing soldiers funerals and their slogan ‘God Hates Fags’, is reportedly dying.
His son Nathan Phelps, who left the group on 1976 and now promotes LGBT rights in Canada, wrote a Facebook post revealing that his father is ‘on the edge of death’.
“I’ve learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church, was ex-communicated from the “church” back in August of 2013. He is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas.
“I’m not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made.
“I feel sad for all the hurt he’s caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I’m bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.”
A spokesman for the Westboro Baptist Church said that Phelps Sr., who is 84 years of age, was being cared for in a health facility in Shawnee County, Kansas. Spokesman Steve Drain declined to specify Phelps’ condition.
“I can tell you that Fred Phelps is having some health problems,” Drain said. “He’s an old man, and old people get health problems.”
