Nate Phelps Speaks About His Family April 22, 2009

Nate Phelps Speaks About His Family

By Guest Contributor
April 22, 2009

Nate Phelps, a son of infamous homophobe Fred Phelps, spoke at the recent American Atheists convention.

A transcript of his talk is now online.

At the age of 7, I could recite all 66 books of the Bible in 19 seconds. My father insisted on this because he was frustrated at waiting as his children flipped back and forth trying to find the verses he was preaching from. Afterwards, if one of us took to long my father would stop in the middle of his preaching, cast a gimlet eye on the offender and demand that, “Somebody smack that kid!”

It’s a horrifying story that deserves a larger audience.

Nate also wrote about his thoughts before and after giving the speech on Life Without Faith.

He and Brother Richard of Atheist Nexus have also begun a support group for those who have abandoned the super-conservative faiths of their families — it’s called “Life After Christian Fundamentalism.”

(via Atheist Nexus)

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  • A very moving talk.

  • AnonyMouse

    You know, you ought to add a “Westboro” category to sort your posts with. It would make it much handier to find all the Phelps kerfuffles.

    That aside, my heart truly goes out to Nate Phelps. No one should have to go through the horror that he suffered at the hands of his father. I am truly grateful that, despite having a good number of complaints about them, I was raised by fairly complacent and loving parents. But Fred Phelps is truly whacked.

  • Mark

    >”At the age of 7, I could recite all 66
    > books of the Bible in 19 seconds”

    I hope he meant to say that he could recite only the titles of all 66 books in 19 seconds.

  • Janz

    This is pure cult, not religion, It is also child abuse, and domestic violenve, and many other things. Dar from freedom for religion, this man oversteps th emark in every way. It has to be a mental illness. (Fred I’m talking about, not Nate. Surely he can be arrested and sectioned at some point? Its just baffling.

  • I read this the other day. It had me nearly in tears reading about the abuse Nate suffered at the hands of his father. Fred Phelps is a man who as far as I can tell is extremely mentally disturbed.