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Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. (November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014) was an American pastor who headed the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps attained notoriety primarily from his vehemently anti-gay activism and his picketing of funerals of homosexuals and soldiers. Phelps was a disbarred lawyer, founder of the Phelps Chartered law firm, and a former civil rights activist. He sought public office four times as a member of the Democratic Party. In the election for United States Senator for Kansas in 1992, he received 49,416 votes (30.8%), coming in second after Gloria O'Dell (who subsequently lost to later presidential candidate Bob Dole). Phelps and his followers frequently picketed various events, such as military funerals, gay pride gatherings, high-profile political gatherings, university commencement ceremonies, performances of ''The Laramie Project'', and mainstream Christian gatherings and concerts with which he had no affiliation, arguing it was their sacred duty to warn others of God's anger. This led a group of motorcycle riders to form the Patriot Guard Riders to provide a non-violent, volunteer buffer between the protesters and mourners.〔 In response to Phelps' protests at military funerals, President George W. Bush signed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act into law in May 2006, and, in April 2007, Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius signed into law a bill establishing a no-picketing buffer zone around funerals. , 8 other states had enacted similar laws and 10 more were considering it. On August 6, 2012, President Obama signed , the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012〔(Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 ), ''U.S. House of Representatives'' (accessed February 21, 2013)〕 which, among other things, requires a and 2-hour buffer zone around military funerals. He was known for the slogans that he and his ministry used against people he deemed sinful; his church is built around a core of anti-homosexual theology, with many of their activities stemming from the slogan "God hates fags", which remains the name of the group's main website. Gay rights supporters denounced him as a producer of anti-gay propaganda and violence-inspiring hate speech. Today, Westboro Baptist Church is widely considered to be a hate group, and is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center. Phelps died in 2014, after being in very poor health. ==Early life== Phelps was born in Meridian, Mississippi, the elder of two children to Catherine Idalette Johnston and Fred Wade Phelps. His father was a railroad policeman for the Columbus and Greenville Railway and his mother was a homemaker. On September 3, 1935, when Phelps was five years old, his mother died of esophageal cancer at the age of 28.〔 After the death of their mother, Phelps and his younger sister were raised by their great-aunt Irene Jordan in Meridian. Jordan died in a car accident in 1950. On December 25, 1944, Phelps' father married Olive Briggs, and Phelps and his sister were raised by their father and stepmother in Meridian.〔 By the mid-1950s, Phelps was estranged from his parents, never spoke to them, and returned all their letters unopened. Phelps was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, receiving the Eagle Scout Award. In May 1946, at the age of 16, Phelps graduated from high school and was admitted to United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.〔 Phelps however claims that after attending a Methodist revival meeting decided to become a minister and chose not to attend West Point.〔 Phelps attended Bob Jones University, for two years (1946-1948) before dropping out. He cited racial issues as the reason for his departure; in 1994 former college employees told the Topeka Capital Journal that Phelps left after being given an ultimatum that he either seek psychiatric counselling or be expelled. He then attended the Prairie Bible Institute for the remaining two semesters of his freshman year.〔 In 1951, he earned a two-year degree from John Muir College. While at John Muir, Phelps was profiled in ''Time'' magazine for preaching against "sins committed on campus by students and teachers ... promiscuous petting ... evil language ... profanity ... cheating ... teachers' filthy jokes in classrooms ... () pandering to the lusts of the flesh". In October 1951, while attending the Arizona Bible Institute, Phelps met Margie M. Simms and married her in May 1952. In 1954, the East Side Baptist Church in Topeka hired Phelps as an associate pastor, and then promoted him to be the pastor of their new church, Westboro Baptist, which opened in 1955. Soon after Westboro was established, Phelps broke all ties with East Side Baptist. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fred Phelps」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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