Fred Phelps’ Granddaughter Leaves Westboro Baptist Church With Emotional Blog Post

Megan Phelps-Roper announced Wednesday on her blog that she and her sister will be leaving the church.

I know, right? Now tell your friends!
Fred Phelps' Granddaughter Leaves West...
Ryan Broderick

2. Here’s her whole blog post: “Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise”


“There’s no fresh start in today’s world. Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what you did. Everything we do is collated and quantified. Everything sticks.”

Don’t act surprised that I’m quoting Batman. At WBC, reciting lines from pop culture is par for the course. And why not? The sentiments they express are readily identifiable by the masses – and shifting their meaning is as easy as giving them new context. So put Selina Kyle’s words in a different framework:

In a city in a state in the center of a country lives a group of people who believe they are the center of the universe; they know Right and Wrong, and they are Right. They work hard and go to school and get married and have kids who they take to church and teach that continually protesting the lives, deaths, and daily activities of The World is the only genuine statement of compassion that a God-loving human can sincerely make. As parents, they are attentive and engaged, and the children learn their lessons well.

This is my framework.

Until very recently, this is what I lived, breathed, studied, believed, preached – loudly, daily, and for nearly 27 years.

I never thought it would change. I never wanted it to.

Then suddenly: it did.

And I left.

Where do you go from there?

I don’t know, exactly. My sister Grace is with me, though. We’re trying to figure it out together.

There are some things we do know.

We know that we’ve done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren’t so, and regret that hurt.

We know that we dearly love our family. They now consider us betrayers, and we are cut off from their lives, but we know they are well-intentioned. We will never not love them.

We know that we can’t undo our whole lives. We can’t even say we’d want to if we could; we are who we are because of all the experiences that brought us to this point. What we can do is try to find a better way to live from here on. That’s our focus.

Up until now, our names have been synonymous with “God Hates Fags.” Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what we did. We hope Ms. Kyle was right about the other part, too, though – that everything sticks – and that the changes we make in our lives will speak for themselves.

Megan and Grace

Photo originally taken on June 17, 2011

Image by Jennifer Hack/Kansas City Star/MCT

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    • Elissuh   Fred Phelps' Granddaughter Leaves... and thinks it’s w00t! & Win  about 2 months ago
    • TheNorseWitch 2 months ago

      I think they realized that part of the price of belonging to that ‘family’ is that they had to give up on their OWN futures. They would HAVE no chance at happiness themselves! No man would want them, no SOCIETY (outside of the cult) wants to be ASSOCIATED with them, and hatred begets hatred. They would HAVE nothing beautiful in their lives if they stayed where they are! Now, all WE can do is LOVE and SUPPORT them, and SHOW them that they are RIGHT!! They need US now, the REST of the Real world… And, due to their courage, I truly believe they deserve us. They rock. Plain and simple. GO THEM!!

    • TheNorseWitch thinks Fred Phelps' Granddaughter Leaves... is Win  about 2 months ago
    • abigaill2   Fred Phelps' Granddaughter Leaves...  about 2 months ago
    • SarahTees 2 months ago

      It takes a lot of courage to step away from your family and acknowledge that how you used to behave was wrong. I wish them lots of luck and support in their new lives, hopefully they’ll be joined by more of their family and friends soon.

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    • adamg24 4 months ago

      Interesting post. I’ve never really imagined what it must be like on the inside of the WBC, because their point of view is so completely alien to me. The way they describe it here it really sounds like they thought they were doing the right thing. It must be quite jarring to not only suddenly drop everything you know and thought was right, but to lose your entire family and let them down like that. I certainly cannot imagine what they must be going through. We should do exactly what the WBC wouldn’t do: accept and forgive them.

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    • stacy meros 4 months ago

      What a brave move to make. Your thoughtful blog post shows the first step toward health and wholeness. As Ghandi said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies of the world would change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change toward him…we need not wait to see what others do.” It gives us hope to see you being able to throw off the encumbrances of indoctrination and move toward freedom! Be blessed!!

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    • camm2 4 months ago

      What I want to know is do they still believe all the hate they spouted? Just curious….

      • christy scarvelli 4 months ago

        Based on that blog, I’m thinking they’ve changed their view on it… the girls must have made it past the two or three verses in the bible that metion homosexuality and onto the THOUSANDS that tell us to LOVE each other. Amazing that the leader of WBC has based his entire life and affilation with God on a pretty insignificant snippet of a fairly detailed and specific book. While his grandaughters have expanded their research past a couple sentences. The Bible also tells us not to look down on the younger generation because often they have wisdom beyond us …

    • PGrayPullmanWA 4 months ago

      Congratulations to you two. I can’t say I’ve ever been through what you have, but I’m sure it takes great courage to get out and to start making up for the harm WBC has done, very little of which I would hold you responsible for. Please don’t take the hateful comments personally, and realize that most of us outside religion try to live up to the ideals of compassion and forgiveness that we so often criticize the fanatics for ignoring. Most of the secular community will welcome and support you. With reason, patience, and generosity on your side, things will get better.

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    • bmm5169 4 months ago

      I u derstand she was basically brainwashed, but i came from a very strict catholic family. After i got into high school (a catholic one with nuns and everything) i realized they where bigots and now consider myself agnostic. These people need to realize, its 20 fuckin 13 grow up and think for yourself!!!

    • ElwoodBluez 4 months ago

      Good for them. Just let me be there when they come out of the closet. I want to see the look on Margie’s face.

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    • LionessFeathers 4 months ago

      That does not excuse her. “Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal”? Then what was the goal sweetie? Showing up with hateful signs at the funerals of mass murder victims, fallen soldiers, those who had suffered in natural disasters, you know people who are already in unbearable pain? That seems as intentional as it comes. If her excuse is that her family was spreading the word of god, then how about donating food, blankets, consoling family and friends of victims? I’m pretty that was the stuff the christian god said was ministry, not hate speech. But what do I know, I’m not a christian, just a horrified on-looker who sees what his adherents are doing.

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