Showing “Critical” Empathy

Although they are known for their controversial messages, the Westboro Baptist Church has been able to show compassion and understanding for individuals who are not within their community during interviews with The Topeka Twisters. Despite outsider’s opinions on what they might believe the WBC to be a community of heartless protesters, we have been able to see another side from members of the church when discussing the types of individuals they defend in court. While talking with the two sisters, Kathy and Rebekah, they first described the hardship they underwent when applying to law schools. Subsequently, their persistence eventually led them to being excepted into their desired programs.

The sisters also opened up about the difficulties they have faced when dealing with the criminal court system. During the late 1970’s to early 1980’s they worked on defending minorities and their civil rights during the Wichita aircraft cases. Without disclosing case details, the sisters continued on to elaborate on certain challenges when handling cases involving domestic and child abuse. They informed us that Kansas has a No Fault Divorce law, which just adds another obstacle for WBC attorney’s grueling case loads. The sisters started getting choked up when remembering some of the most emotionally tolling cases they defended for, which only showed their sympathetic and humanistic characters.

Kathy and Rebekah continued to compare their law skills to their father’s, where they noted his litigating skills over his negotiating ones. They reminisced on their childhood, where Rebekah communicated her desire for always wanting to go into law. Her father was in school to become an attorney when she was born, so the law has always had a special place in her heart. Kathy acknowledged her reasons for leaving the church, but also the spiritual aspects of what drew her back to the Westboro Baptist community. Overall, it was an enthralling and refreshing interview.

 

Reflections on Empathy

As our interview with Kathy and Rebekah pressed on, it became increasingly clear that there was no lack of empathy between these sisters, although they expressed this aspect of themselves in very distinct ways. Becky could have talked through the night about how emotionally invested she is in the family law cases she handles, going into great detail about the impact this type of work has had on her. This same zealous advocacy for clients is very apparent in the other WBC lawyers my group has interviewed, such as Jonathan Phelps. Both Kathy and Becky expressed a strong sense of empathy for those who belong to marginalized groups.

We then spoke to Kathy about her estranged brother, Nate Phelps. She related to us that, despite their fragmented relationship, Kathy has a “soft spot” for her brother. These feelings for Nate may be unique to Kathy because she is able to relate to his situation. Having been formerly estranged from the church, she may be understanding of Nate’s perspective more so than other current members. Kathy also spoke to us about her eldest son, who is autistic, and her hope to one day open a center to help others with disabilities through sensory integration therapy. This left me with the impression that she feels a certain empathy for individuals with disabilities and possibly mothers with disabled children.

Our First Day in Topeka

Yesterday, everyone arrived in Topeka to begin our task of investigating Westboro Baptist Church. Tired eyes and fuzzy minds, in need of caffenation, filled the room as we immediately jumped into the work at hand. While the Topeka Twisters  group immediately began interviewing, the El Gato Rojo group (My group), began looking over past interviews and pulling them apart looking specifically at body language, verbal indicators and the actual content of what Westboro spoke to us about in our interviews. By having time to pull apart some past interviews we were well prepared for our only interview of the day with Abigail Phelps.

Abigail was welcoming and began joking with us all from the beginning. Before we could ask questions she was ready to tell us about her life and her experiences being apart of the Church. She informed us of how being the youngest of thirteen children presented its own challenges and explained the way she felt unjustly treated when she was a child in school. It was hard for me to not feel emotionally overwhelmed as she told touching stories.

Many of her stories stemmed from her experiences as a juvenile corrections officer and how this career, which she began in her 20’s, has shown her many aspects of those outside the church that has lended a unique perspective. She seemed to be empathetic to those that she has assisted and also seemed excited for these individuals. She informed us that her day has been very busy prior to our interview and on her list of accomplishments for the day was her finding job placement for 7 members of the juvenile corrections facility. She also described the work of the University and how there are opportunities for students to earn a good wage while learning skills that will make them high-demand employees right out of college. Abi looked to students and provided them with helpful career tips and she seemed delighted by helping young individuals.

Abigail provided us with a unique perspective of the church and made us feel very welcome on our first day. While she stilled utilized scriptural proof-texting and was firm in her beliefs, I did not feel like she was advancing an agenda. Rather, I felt she was simply trying to convey her story. Meeting with Abigail first gave our team perspective on how many various personalities exist within the church, we are excited to observe several pickets today and interview more individuals tomorrow. While the ethics of the church are hard to not focus on when interviewing individuals, it is important to keep our attention on the way individuals in the church feel for the those they place accusations on.  We are excited to continue to compile a better view of the individual perspectives and the church’s ideas and goals as a whole. -Reid

Interview plans for WBC, Aug 9-13

Our interview schedule is getting set up!

In Topeka, the Westboro Baptist interviewees will include, among others:

  • 8 children of Fred Phelps, Sr. (Abigail, Elizabeth, Katherine, Margie, Rachel, Rebekah, Shirley, Tim)
  • 8 or more Phelps grandchildren
  • 4 married couples
  • 1 dinner & family Bible reading with The Drains
  • and a trip with a WBC picketing team to Kansas City, accompanied by Jon and Paulette Phelps. (Students will probably visit a picket in Topeka, too.)

Our team members may also meet with some non-WBC residents of the area, informally. We’re in the process of arranging these.

The Westboro Baptist Church and Popular Culture- How the WBC integrates pop culture inside and outside the church

By: Margaret Hamm   

A tweet from Paul McCartney the day after WBC members picketed his concert

      Throughout its history, the Westboro Baptist Church has worked to connect its message with popular culture in multiple different ways. For example, most people who are generally familiar with the Westboro Baptist Church are aware that the church is notorious for its public use of, and frequent attacks on, popular culture through their social media and picketing efforts. However, church members also incorporate popular culture into the internal life of the church community, such as through mention of pop culture figures and events in their sermons. Therefore, although it is clear at first glance that WBC members actively integrate pop culture references into their public messaging, what may not be clear to the casual observer is that pop culture plays a role, although more subtly, in the internal teachings of the Westboro Baptist Church.

      Two of the most common ways that the church publicly connects its teachings to pop culture are through their social media outreach and, perhaps most well-known by observers, their parodies of popular songs. A recent example of this tactic is a video on July 22nd, in which church members took part in the “Keke Challenge”, a viral video challenge in which participants dance to Drake’s “In My Feelings”.  While the content of the challenge is similar to most other “Keke Challenge” videos (i.e. the dancer in the video gets out of a moving car and performs the dance while keeping up with the car), the lyrics featured in the video have been changed to fit the WBC’s message of their praise and love for Jesus, and members featured in the video are holding picket signs as they dance. In a similar vein, the WBC makes a concerted effort to picket many pop culture events, including concerts and funerals of pop culture figures. For example, when the Miami research team visited the church last year, a group of church members picketed a Paul McCartney concert. Notably, these pickets also serve as ways in which the church’s integration of popular culture into their messaging draws more attention to their work. In the case of the picket at the Paul McCartney concert, McCartney posted a photo on his Twitter after the concert of some of the WBC protestors, which, whether he realized it or not, gave the WBC a significant platform.

      The second, much less recognized way in which the Westboro Baptist Church incorporates popular culture into their teachings is through using certain pop culture events or phenomena as main topics and as introduction points for their sermons. Over the past few months, I have been analyzing 630 WBC sermons for our research team. Generally, the sermons focus on analyzing Biblical texts through the lens of the present day, specifically in light of what WBC sees as a corrupt society. However, their familiarity with popular culture also comes through clearly in these sermons.  While this evidence of pop culture fluency has often been true of WBC sermons and American politics (the 2016 election, as well as former President Barack Obama, have been mentioned multiple times in recent years), the trope applies to more lighthearted aspects of pop culture as well. For example, in a recent sermon preached on Sunday, July 22nd, the preacher opened the sermon with a mention of a new show on Netflix, entitled “How It Ends”. He offered a brief summary of the show and consequently used it to connect to the theme of the day’s sermon, “The Drawing of the Jews in the Last Days”.

      Though there may be a misconception that church members do not engage in discourse on present-day politics, technology, and culture, in reality, they do much more than just read the Bible. Most members of the Westboro Baptist Church are highly educated, with many having law and other professional degrees. As a result, many members are well-read and skilled at discussing current events related to American political and social life. In addition, although members do spend a lot of time reading and studying the Bible, they are not limited in their consumption of media to Biblical texts; they watch movies, play video games, and take part in social media. Members of the Westboro Church are well aware of the popular culture trends that are going on in the world around them; in turn, they respond to these phenomena by not only taking part in them but also by altering or interpreting them to further the church’s message.

      Whether this strategy of incorporating pop culture references into their messaging makes the WBC’s argument more or less appealing to others is up for debate. However, at the most elementary level, it is indicative of the fact that the Westboro Baptist Church makes an effort to intertwine its message with popular culture, whether through informal mentions in their sermons or formally through certain topics in their social media messaging.

 

WBC reacts to our analysis of the church’s gradual rebranding

Yesterday, Religion News Service published our analysis of Westboro Baptist Church’s recent shifts in its messaging, especially its controversial picketing signs.

Basic premise: Since founder Fred Phelps, Sr., died, the church has softened its image and moved in several new directions with its signs. WBC seems to be responsive to public concerns, which may point to a day when the public itself notices that the church might be open to meaningful conversations.

On Twitter, WBC’s reaction to our article was swift!

Jael as a bride

From Jael Holroyd on Twitter:

This article by is not terrible: [link to article]

From Jael again, simply quotes and gives a thumbs up to a crucial caveat in the article:

“Make no mistake, Westboro Baptists’ anti-gay message is as blunt and offensive as ever, and the new signs seem designed not to move toward the mainstream, but to more fully reflect the church’s Calvinist theology, which appears unchanged.” [and two emojis:]

Tim (@WBCApocalypse) retweeted Jael with the comment:

“… as it ever should, and by God’s mercy will, ever be.”

From the official WBC twitter account, WBCSaysRepent:

“We are always only interested in preaching the truth of the Scripture.” —Westboro Baptist Church.

I think he gets it! Excellent article via and @hgray: [link to article]

From Matthias Holroyd on Twitter:

“For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:15)

From Steve Drain on another Twitter account:

Funny speculation by : “We can wonder if the gradual reworking of Westboro’s messaging might point to a day when outsiders think of the church not as irredeemable sociopaths. […]” We wonder when the media will stop painting this little church as such! 

[Steve included a two minute video clip that ended in a curiously careful way, referring to authentic news with proper sources, in contrast to media bias. I’m tempted to take that as an ambiguous compliment.]

[“Funny speculation” is also a careful phrase. It doesn’t question my framing or facts, just teases perhaps about the likelihood of outsiders ever viewing in a better light. See the continuation of the quote, at the end of the original article.

From @WBCRejoice on Twitter:

This [article] is good, especially for a Christ rejecter; but nix the psychobabble already, friend . [Link to article]

In addition, a number of other Westboro Baptists retweeted, liked, or (more rarely) commented on the items above.

In short, we hope the article meets journalistic, critical-distance standards, advances public understanding, and does not unnecessarily annoy WBC, perhaps even improving our rapport with them.

  • For civil and respectful discussion of our critical-empathetic approach to WBC, and of our upcoming WBC interviews in Topeka Aug 9-13, join our Facebook group! Or comment on our posts here.

P.S. I also forwarded the RNS daily digest, with our article as a the lead item, to Steve Drain. His reply was typically concise: “We saw it. Thanks man.”

Initial Reflection on WBC – Bobbie Hall

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a group that I really didn’t know anything about until I took Dr. Gray’s Religion 101 class this past Spring 2018. Since then, it has become a very interesting topic to me. As a psychology major, I am more often interested in the whys and hows of life than the whats. Due to this, for my final paper in the class, I decided to evaluate possible reasons for why I believe the group continues to be so marginalized aside from the obvious, polar views. This will be a part of my focus during interviews.

I find it interesting that the group holds such strong values, even while enduring all the backlash it causes. Honestly, I tend to scoff at strong values and beliefs. I do not understand the reason for a screaming battle of opinions when most people will not change their minds. I’ve grown up in an area where many of the political views are the opposite of mine. Due to this, I tend to keep quiet when politics, religion, or other “touchy” subjects are discussed. I’m certain this quality that I have consequently adapted will be beneficial for this trip, as it will be crucial to keep a critical distance from the situation and keep myself within a scholarly viewpoint.

Despite my tendency to keep quiet when faced with people whose values are starkly different from mine, I have a lot of empathy for people that I am close to. While I have never approached religious protestors, I can’t say I’ve had many critically distant thoughts towards the ones I’ve encountered at Miami University. This will likely be one of the challenges I will face in interviews. Rather than being empathetic with those in my personal life, I will need to work to ignore or put aside that empathy for my family and friends in order to understand the views of the members of the WBC, all while keeping that crucial critical distance.

I also think it might be a challenge for me not to be in complete awe of the members. As mentioned, I am incredibly curious about the whys and hows of this group. Why do they choose to follow the beliefs they are handed after they are born? Why do they feel so strongly about their message that they are willing to endure all the hatred towards them? How has being so marginalized affected their quality of life? How has it affected their mental state or capacity? While these might not be questions I can answer, this is what will be swirling my mind. I will need to work to focus and stay engaged within the conversation while also thinking about the whys and hows, within reason.

Overall, I’m excited to do this research and most importantly, learn something new about this group of people. While we are both from the same country, that does not mean we have the same culture. It will be interesting for me to learn about this new culture that I have never experienced before. I am eager to begin interviews and hopefully uncover something that hasn’t been thought about yet.

7-15 WBC sermon on moral duty to the elect insiders… and also to outsiders (!?)

Yesterday’s WBC sermon focuses mainly on their duty toward other church members. I posted my explanation on Twitter.

However, the sermon also deals with Westboro Baptists’ duties to “do good unto all men” (Gal 6:10), including outsiders, who are presumably unsaved (and damned) due to their unrepentant sinning. The sermon recognizes that this issue — of charity toward others — is sometimes a set-up to make the WBC look bad. Yet the preacher also see this as a real duty. And pro-active. Read my analysis on Twitter.

 

Ben Phelps on using the term “gay”

In this interview from July 2017, Ben generally comes across as somewhat laid back and unchangeable. At one point, when Ben first mentions that “I personally don’t like to use the word gay,” it seemed as if he was going on to say something more empathetic in reference to the LGBT community. Instead, Ben goes on to say that the term gay has “been hijacked,” then continues to support that claim.

His body language during this video clip also supported the way he conveyed his message. At first, he leans towards Dr.Gray, seeming to show some familiarity or trust, as he jokes. Next, he fixates his gaze downward as he speaks and, later, becomes somewhat stern whilst supporting his beliefs about homosexuality. At this point, he seems to make eye contact with someone out of view.

Overall, I don’t believe that this clip necessarily gives a viewer the opportunity to resonate with him on an emotional level. I do believe that this clip challenges the observer in the practice of listening empathetically. It can be difficult to hear out those whose opinions clash with yours, but it can be done!

— Alex

Initial Reflection on WBC – Sarah Kutler

I am very excited to be given such an incredible opportunity to be amongst and interview members of the Westboro Baptist Church. Although they have been known to have controversial attitudes and values by outsiders from their group, I believe that I will be able to maintain a critical distance when having discussions with people of the WBC congregation. I intend to give members of the WBC my full and undivided attention during the interviews and when they tell their stories. I will aim to control my facial expressions (considering they may be too expressive at times), however my curiosity in what members of the church have to say will be displayed by my body language, eye contact, and through constant engagement. I am going into this trip wanting to have a better understanding of a group that I know little about, and I hope to share my knowledge in the future with others about what I will learn when meeting and having conversations with the WBC.

I am not concerned about how I could possibly react when confronted with disputable topics of discussion. Knowing that I may not agree with majority of the beliefs that members of the WBC have, I will have a constant mindset throughout the trip that different groups will have different beliefs everywhere I go in life. Some values may differ slightly from my own, and others may contradict my beliefs greatly. However, Dr. Gray’s Religion 101 class has prepared me to maintain a critical distance when interviewing the WBC. If, however, there comes to be a discussion where I do not agree with what a member might say, I will restrain my emotions and continue throughout the interview. Additionally, I could politely excuse myself from the interview where I can compose myself privately. Nevertheless, I do not feel that my emotions will overcome me and I will be able to interview members of the church without making normative judgments.