This is the story of one Phelps granddaughter who fled ~ I'll post the story of a second Phelps granddaughter who fled next ~ I very much agree with the "While it’s one thing for adults to be ensnared, willingly or otherwise, it’s another for the children of cult members to be held captive simply for being unfortunate enough to be raised by a cult member." below ~ and I'm thinking that WBC is so small to begin with [only something like maybe a dozen members, mostly family] that losing anyone makes a difference ~ several "live links" to more/corroborating info in original ~ Sooz

Granddaughter Of Westboro Baptist Church Founder Defects From Hate-Cult To Speak Out (VIDEO)
Posted by Lorraine Devon Wilke

A cult has a way of ensnaring its members with promises of spiritual freedom, the seductions of power and charisma, and in some cases, just the sheer influence gained by tapping into the fears, biases and bigotry of potential recruits. Scientology has used those many tools in attracting followers, as has every cult from Jim Jones with his People’s Temple mass suicide tragedy in Jonestown, Guyana; David Koresh and the Branch Davidians of Waco notoriety, Warren Jeffs of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints and its polygamous sexual abuses; right up to the Westboro Baptist Church and their pervasive and media-savvy mission statement of hate and bigotry.

While it’s one thing for adults to be ensnared, willingly or otherwise, it’s another for the children of cult members to be held captive simply for being unfortunate enough to be raised by a cult member. Such was the case with Libby Phelps Alvarez, the granddaughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, whose particularly toxic view of gays and Jews–and anyone who supports either–is well-known and much vilified (you have to see Brit comedian, Russell Brand, take on a few of his henchmen!).

Libby had no choice but to tag along with her family of religious zealots when their “life’s work” demanded that they express hate in the “name of God” by protesting funerals and screaming vile insults at grieving families. Now, after having ultimately escaped the clutches of her nefarious family, she is publicly speaking out about their malignant world view and its impact on her while growing up.

In an interview with Andrea Canning from the Today Show:


Religious narcissism is not new and certainly not specific to this controversial branch of the “Christian” faith. Most of the more fundamentalist religions believe their way is the only way to get to Heaven, making that promise–and threat–a significant part of their pitch. It’s the depths to which the Westboro group takes this philosophy that separates them from the more benign interpreters of that zeal, however. There is a sociopathic thread that weaves through their hate-based doctrine that goes far beyond the standard “we’re the only way you can get to Heaven” message, as demonstrated by their “God hates fags” signs and comments, and their suggestion that everyone should “sing praise” in response to the Sandy Hook massacre.

Given the sheer saturation and public demonstration of that level of hate, it’s not hard to extrapolate that some of those raised in the church–ones who may have had the good fortune of holding on to their individual thought processes and seeing the malevolence being sold–would find themselves repulsed by the group’s principles. Alvarez was one of the lucky ones in that regard.


Still, the pain of leaving her family, who, despite the toxicity of their faith, remain her family, was sharp. She remains close by: only 30 miles from the church. While she has sorrow for any hurt she may have caused them on a personal level, she’s firm in her own decision to leave, and even hopeful that her courageous move will encourage and inspire others to do the same.


Like many “apostates” who managed to find their way out of other cults to reach back to help others do the same, here’s hoping Libby is successful in her goal. Thinning the ranks of the Westboro Baptist Church can only be a good thing for everyone.

See video of Today Show interview: [Sooz comment: video accessible via end link]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/06/granddaughter-of-westboro-baptist-church-founder-defects-from-hate-cult-to-speak-out-video/

Here's the 2d granddaughter's story ~ I canNOT imagine living in perpetual, unrelenting hatred ~ I wish both young women well ~ BTW this post claims the "church" has about 80 members, which corrects my comment about the "church" having only about a dozen members in my first post ~ this post also claims that this granddaughter left with her sister, but makes no mention of if the sister returned to the family or remains "out" ~ "live links" to more/corroborating info in the original ~ Sooz

Second Westboro Granddaughter Loses Faith In Bigotry
2013/02/07
By Lorraine Devon Wilke

In an interesting twist of either amazing synchronicity, or an indication of just how estranged the Phelps family is from its own members, a second story came out yesterday detailing the defection of yet another of founder Fred Phelps’ granddaughters from the notorious Westboro Baptist Church.

February 6th must have been the designated day for alerting the world that the Phelps’ fiefdom is collapsing… from the inside out!

My particular February 6th story, Granddaughter Of Westboro Baptist Church Founder Defects From Hate-Cult To Speak Out, focused on Libby Phelps Alavarez, a granddaughter of original WBC founder, Fred Phelps, who fled the cult months ago and is in the emotional and sometimes confusing process of rebuilding life with her husband, living a mere 30 miles away from a family who has completely shunned her. She gave an interesting interview to the Today Show explaining her journey, what compelled it, and what the ramifications have been; you can read about it here.

Within hours of that story’s publication, I was alerted to another piece that ran the very same day, this one focused on Phelps’ granddaughter Megan Phelps-Roper, who left the church back in November and shared her story with blogger Jeff Chu in a story also published on February 6th. Chu had interviewed Phelps-Roper earlier in 2011 as research for his upcoming book, Does Jesus Really Love Me? and, at the time, Phelps-Roper was firmly and enthusiastically ensconced in the WBC. His piece this week, Damsel, Arise: A Westboro Scion Leaves Her Church, was a rather astonished follow-up on Phelps-Roper’s unexpected defection of this past November, one which echoed many of the elements and issues I wrote about in Phelps Alavarez’s story of breaking away.

Strange, I thought in reading his piece, that these two granddaughters of the mighty church scion had made no mention of each other to either me or Chu, particularly odd given that the church is basically made up of the “family,” which numbers only about eighty members. And certainly, since defections are few and always controversial, one would assume the two women would have at least heard about each other, even if living in other parts of the country (Megan is currently in New York; Libby in Lawrence, KS). But whatever disparities exist, what is comparable between the two women are the reactions of the families involved, their particular form of shunning, or “gentle death”:


Tragic, one thinks, to “gently” reject family in service to doctrine.

And, as it was for Libby Phelps Alvarez, it was that doctrine that both held and rebuffed Phelps-Roper as she grew from gullible youngster to questioning young adult. Now twenty-seven, she examines her past views with a sort of deconstructionist curiosity, speaking of the early indoctrination, the sense that what they were doing was God- and Bible-based, supported by a belief that they were fiercely “right.” As a child she spoke of “wanting to do good”:


Yet, as the person who did outreach for the church, she also had the opportunity to step outside the enclave, both in its tangible and virtual forms, and in that wandering, made contact with the world beyond Westboro. She read and researched other religious texts only to realize, somewhat naively, that every religion is convinced of their own superiority and dominion. This was a cold-water dip of clarity that shifted something in her.

Even more illuminating was her budding online friendship with Israeli blogger, David Abitbol, who ran a blog named Jewlicious. This was unusual because, beyond their hate of “fags,” the Westboro philosophy bears a deep antipathy for Jews, anti-Semitism as loud and aggressive as their other aversions. Given this, Phelps-Roper’s meeting an Israeli Jew who happened to be bright, articulate and thought-provoking could only have a plate-shifting effect on the questioning young woman…and it did. They talked often and deeply online, debating the many issues that divided them. He asked her about the infamous “Death Penalty For Fags” signs and in that particular question, a light went off for Phelps-Roper:


Within that revelation was epiphany, and from there Phelps-Roper began to question everything. The next time the family was protesting on the street she refused to hold the offensive sign, going, instead, for what she deemed “less offensive” – “Mourn For Your Sins” or “God Hates Your Idols.” But all the expressions of hate, and the rationalizations for that hate, began to ring hollow for her. She tried to shake off her doubts but having been brought up in a church that says “you cannot trust your own thoughts or feelings” – those being only in the purview of God – she lacked the confidence to find a firm footing in the midst of her swirling – and growing – spiritual suspicions.

There was no specific inciting incident but rather a critical mass of dissention that finally hit a tipping point. One night she just decided…and it was shortly after she left, with her sister, Grace, in tow. She describes their flight as a confused and almost furtive escape, returning home at one point to pick up things they’d left behind, then absconding into the night to stay in rooms found along the way. And as they made their physical journey, there was also the journey of heart and soul, the examining of all they’d been taught and no longer resonated. Phelps-Roper sees her own spiritual defection as a slow, erosive questioning of principles she’d once openly accepted, that crumbled in the light of her expanding world.

Much like Libby Phelps Alvarez’s story, there is sorrow and longing there too; families missed and concern for the hurts caused by leaving. She does not have contact with her family still in the church and despite the conflict of spirit, there cannot help but be a sadness at the loss.

But these emotions are mixed with regret and shame felt over the hate propagated at their hands, even her very young hands that held those ubiquitous and vile signs with their ugly words. Phelps-Roper speaks to that regret with authentic pain:


What matters now to Phelps-Roper is figuring out a productive path that will allow her, finally, to truly meet her goal of “doing good.” She visits other churches, perhaps in an effort to see if one fits her newly aligned spiritual worldview. She thinks about redemption and resurrection and themes of second chances and righting wrongs. She says she no longer believes God “hates fags” or “almost all of mankind” (that isn’t in the WBC), but lacks confidence in what she does believe about God – not hard to understand, given the hate-filled deity of her childhood. But as she continues to explore what resonates in this new chapter of her life, she’s insistent upon one prevailing principle:


Perhaps she should track down her cousin, Libby Phelps Alvarez, and together they could find a path that allows them both to achieve their goals to spread love and do good. Maybe the women of the Westboro Baptist Church, the church that believes women are not capable of leading, will ultimately lead the way for others to find honor and purpose and, perhaps, lead even more away from the hate and intolerance of their childhood church.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/07/second-westboro-granddaughter-loses-faith-in-bigotry/

Fred Phelps will die a lonely old man.