Anti-Westboro

Politics, Religion and Opinion In One Place!!

Addicted To Hate

Jon Michael Bell wrote a book about the Phelps family and the Westboro Baptist Church called "Addicted To Hate". The book covers what was going on in the group before they began protesting at funerals and discusses Fred Phelps Sr.'s drug abuse and violent nature through interviews with the children who left the "church". The book discusses the wrath they faced from their father, including seemingly unending beatings with a mattock handle. Here is a sample of the book:

"Apparently not everyone in Leaford Cavin's church was enthusiastic about Phelps. One from that time recalls Fred, Marge, 2 year-old Fred, Jr., and 10 month-old Mark were in the pews one Sunday with the rest of the congregation, listening to Cavin preach. Mark began squirming suddenly. To the appalled amazement of his fellow worshippers nearby, the junior pastor repeatedly slapped the infant across the face with an open palm and backhand, snapping Mark's tiny head to and fro. Afterwards, several of the men in the congregation confronted Fred and told him never to do that again. Mark Phelps laughs to hear that story relayed: 'My mom once told me-proudly, as if she'd effected a big change in his behavior-that my father had beaten my older brother when he was only five months old. She said she'd argued with him about it and he'd agreed to hold off beating the kids till they were a year old.' 'Phelps was wrapped pretty tight, even back then,' recalls an old member of Eastside. 'He was very severe with his children and a lot of people didn't care for him. But we all thought he was a man of God.'"

Addicted to Hate is the full contents of Exhibit A of the lawsuit filed in Shawnee County District Court in Topeka, Kansas by Jon Michael Bell against Stauffer Communications in June of 1994, Case number 94CV766. It was transcribed into digital form during the course of the lawsuit by persons unknown, and distributed first as pamphlets and then over the internet.

The current legal status of Addicted to Hate is somewhat murky. Court documents are public documents by law, but after the initial dissemination of the document, the trial records were sealed by the Clerk of the Court.

 

Click HERE to read "Addicted To Hate" 

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