The Most Hated Family In America

I have just finished watching a disturbing series of videos I discovered on Towleroad about a BBC2 documentary entitled The Most Hated Family In America. There are 7 videos in all in which British broadcaster Louis Theroux chronicles his 3 week stay with the family of Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. They are disturbing because the 71 members of this church actually believe the bigotry and hate that they proselytize is the Gospel truth. Watching the videos and listening to the words being said, I had to extend sympathy to the young people involved as they are hopelessly brainwashed into believing their hate equates to the love of Jesus as supported by the Bible. I was horrified and transfixed at the same time. It only takes about an hour or so to watch so I would encourage you to follow the link to see for yourself. After you watch the videos then follow this link to discover how Louis Theroux felt after making the video and his reactions to the family. I applaud BBC2 for making the documentary which aired over the weekend in the UK. While not supporting the views of Fred Phelps et al, I feel it is important to know how far off base they are as a process of educating ourselves to the amount of work we have to do before we are truly equal in the eyes of all America and the world at large. Listening to the sermon included was eye opening in the fact that the man actually spews this stuff from the pulpit. He is so far to the "right" he makes Genghis Khan look like St. Agnes the Divine. It is worth your time to watch, realizing as you do that this man has done a lot of harm but he has also made a lot of people realize how stupid and pointless bigotry and hatred really are.