Now that the news of Fred Phelps‘ passing has sunk in, there are a few last tidbits worth sharing:

1) Earlier this week, Westboro Baptist Church was calling any speculation about Fred Phelps‘ health “foolish.”

2) Fred Phelps died on Fred Rogers‘ birthday. They sort of crossed paths once… when Phelps’ church protested outside Mr. Rogers’ funeral.

3) Based on their Twitter feed, Westboro Baptist Church didn’t really seem all that bothered by Phelps’ death. They were posting their usual bile…

4) WBC released a barely-comprehensible press release announcing his death. It took potshots, for some reason, against the Catholic Church:

Listen carefully; there are no power struggles in the Westboro Baptist Church, and there is no human intercessor — we serve no man, and no hierarchy, only the Lord Jesus Christ. No red shoes, no goofy hat, and no white smoke for us; thank you very much.

Surprisingly, the release included no gay-bashing.

5) WBC “thanked God” for Phelps’ passing:

Westboro Baptist Church thanks God for Fred Phelps Sr.’s passing: http://t.co/5GJU1lXuZj pic.twitter.com/lDx0CyEink — Westboro Baptist (@WBCSays) March 20, 2014

6) Phelps dedicated his life to a movement that ultimately failed… in part because of his actions. Indeed, he may have helped the cause by showing the country just how baseless homophobia really is. Christian pastors, even now, make sure their bigotry is never as overt and outrageous as he was.

7) Phelps’ death comes nearly a year to the day of when Equality House moved across the street from Westboro:

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If you’ve seen/heard anything of interest in the wake of Phelps’ death, feel free to tell us in the comments.



