Founder of hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church Fred Phelps dies aged 84

Fred Phelps died of natural causes on Wednesday night

Phelps, a former attorney and married father-of-five, set up the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas in 1955

But one of his sons revealed Phelps had been excommunicated last year



The organization is known for its anti-gay sentiments and claims that 9/11 and soldiers' deaths were punishment for American immorality



Fred Phelps, who founded the Westboro Baptist Church known for its anti-gay sentiments and protests at soldiers' funerals, has died, his son said on Thursday.

The 84-year-old, who founded the church is 1955, died of natural causes in Kansas at 11.15pm on Wednesday, according to church spokesman Steve Drain.



Previously he said that that Phelps was being cared for in a Shawnee County facility.



His passing comes just days after another son, Nate Phelps, took to his own Facebook page to announce that his father was 'on the edge of death' at Midland Hospice house in Topeka.

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Passed: Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, died on Wednesday

Nate Phelps, who left the extreme Christian sect 37 years ago, said his father was excommunicated in August 2013 from the church for advocating more kindness toward its members.

Three of his own children ex-communicated their father, according to WIBW.



'I'm not sure how I feel about this,' Nate Phelps wrote on Facebook. '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.'

On Thursday, friends flocked to Nathan's Facebook page to pass on their condolences.

Phelps leaves behind his wife Margie and five children, Nathan, Fred Jr., Margie, Shirley and Rebekah.



It is unknown if the family will hold a funeral for Phelps; in February, Margie tweeted that the church does not hold funerals.

Posting: Nathan Phelps - who left the Westboro Baptist Church 37 years ago - wrote on his Facebook page that his estranged father was 'on the edge of death' on Sunday

Anger: Phelps is pictured wielding placards protesting homosexuality in Laramie, Wyoming, in April 1999

'We don't worship the dead in this church, so there'd be no public memorial or funeral to picket if any member died,' she wrote.

On Thursday, his granddaughter Libby, who has left the church, wrote on her Facebook page: 'RIP, Gramps. I love you forever.'

She continued: 'I'm so sorry for the harm he caused. That we all caused. But he could be so kind and wonderful. I wish you all could have seen that, too.

'I understand those who don't mourn his loss, but I'm thankful for those who see that "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."'



His death does not mean the end of Westboro. Earlier this week, a current church elder told WIBW that they need no leader because their head is Jesus Christ.

Support: Phelps stands with his wife Margie, left, and daughter, also called Margie, in Baltimore in 2007 Passed down: His children Fred Phelps Jr., left, and Rebekah, right, continue to spread his word



Bucking the trend: But his son Nathan, pictured last year, has broken away from the church

Phelps Sr. started the Westboro Baptist Church in 1955 and went on to earn a law degree at Washburn University in 1964.



He also worked as an award-winning civil rights attorney - but he was disbarred in 1979 after badgering a witness in what the Kansas Supreme Court called 'a personal vendetta'. He lost his license to practice law in federal courts in 1989.



Despite being disbarred, he fought to stay in the public eye and made bids for Senator and Governor - scoring 30 per cent of the vote in his 1992 senate bid.



He became known for his crusading against gay people and his followers gained world-wide notoriety for picketing the funerals of US servicemen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His organization teaches that homosexuality is the root of all evil and that anyone who refuses to denounce it is the cause of all tragedies, including war deaths.

Reflection: Phelps Sr. is pictured in prayer at his Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas in 2006. One of his sons has revealed that Phelps was excommunicated from his own church last year

At protests they brandish placards with phrases such as 'Thank God for IEDs, 'Fag soldier in hell' and 'Soldiers die 4 fag marriage'. In an interview in 2010, Phelps explained that 'the Lord Almighty called on me to preach'. 'I don't think this country can be saved, but I have a duty to preach it anyway,' he said. 'That's the mission: to preach it even if that soldier's widow doesn't want you to. It's irrelevant what she wants. My job is to preach it without timidity.'

In 2012, half-a-million people signed petitions asking the White House to crack down on Westboro Baptist Church after the group threatened to picket in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six staff members were killed in December 2012 by a gunman. Five petitions posted on the White House website since the shootings have asked the government to name the church as a hate group or end its tax-exempt status.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, has called the church 'arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America' because of the anti-gay signs its members carry.

But the church has gone to court to defend its right to protest.



Messages of hate: Phelps, pictured in 2007, prepares to protest outside the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka

Following: Members of the Westboro Baptist Church - known for their anti-gay sentiments and picketing soldiers' funerals - hold signs at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Veterans Day in 2010

In March 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the group's funeral protests were protected speech under the First Amendment in a suit brought by Albert Snyder, the father of a Marine who had died in Iraq.

The protesters had carried signs that stated, 'God Hates You,' 'You Are Going To Hell' and 'Thank God for Dead Soldiers' at his son's funeral.

But not all the protests were without consequence.



In 1998, he led protesters outside the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was killed because he was gay.

In 2009, President Obama signed a law making crimes against perceived sexual orientation a hate crime.

In 2006, President George W. Bush signed a law establishing that picketing was banned with a 150-foot zone of a military funeral within an hour of the service.