One of the most bizarre examples of recent times of that old-time religion run amok is the ministry of Baptist preacher Fred Phelps, whose message is that God hates gays.
Phelps hailed from Mississippi, the son of a railroad cop, or "bull." As a youth he kept to himself but became a good boxer. When he "got religion" at a 1946 revival, he got it bad. His leanings were decidedly Old Testament, and he deeply believed that wives should be totally subservient to their husbands--or else.
Phelps was admitted to West Point but chose not to go. Later he dropped out of Bob Jones University and a Canadian Bible institute, but finally graduated from Washburn University in 1962. Later he added a law degree.
A man of extremes at whatever he chose to do, Phelps zeroed in on gays as the target of his holy wrath. Whatever went wrong, Phelps would blame on America's harboring of gays. His often tasteless and hurtful picketing got him arrested numerous times and also got him disbarred.
One of Phelps' lowest blows was picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was beaten to death by homophobic good old boys. Phelps' pickets marched with signs claiming that Shepard had gone to hell. He predicted the same fate for Fred Rogers (TV's Mr. Rogers), which was not unlike the Rev. Jerry Falwell warning his flock not to let their children watch The Teletubbies because one of those amorphous cartoon creatures, Tinky Winky, was gay.
Phelps also preached that 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina were the result of God punishing us for harboring gays. Oh, brother.
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