Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist Church, dies at 84

[ASTalumna06]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/wes...-founder-dead/

Fred Phelps -- the founding pastor of a Kansas church known for its virulently anti-gay protests at public events, including military funerals -- has died, the church said Thursday.

The 84-year-old died of natural causes at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to church spokesman Steve Drain.

Phelps founded Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, in 1955 and molded it in his fire-and-brimstone image. Many members of the small congregation are related to Phelps through blood or marriage.
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Phelps was often called "the most hated man in America," a label he seemed to relish.

"If I had nobody mad at me," he told the Wichita Eagle in 2006, "what right would I have to claim that I was preaching the Gospel?"

Under Phelps' leadership, Westboro members have preached that every calamity, from natural disasters to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, is God's punishment for the country's acceptance of homosexuality. Phelps had advocated for gays and lesbians to be put to death.