Fred Phelps, Sr., founder of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church which has made a name for itself protesting military funerals and propagating its anti-gay ideology, is dead at 84, according to Steve Drain, a spokesman for the church.
The reverend died at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday night. No cause of death has been specified yet. A post on the church's blog quoted multiple passages from the Bible and reaffirmed its stance that the religious organization has no official leader other than Jesus Christ, claiming that there are no internal struggles for the top spot.
See also: Westboro Baptist Church Founder 'On the Edge of Death'
Phelps, Sr. was described as "on the edge of death" by his estranged son Nathan Phelps, one of 13 children, in a Facebook post Monday. He was said to be suffering from "unspecified health problems" at a hospice in Topeka, Kan. The post also indicated that Phelps had been excommunicated from the church last summer, but that detail is unconfirmed by those within the organization.
Most recently, church members, which are few in number and mostly consist of Phelps' family, made headlines by picketing the University of Missouri after a star football player, Michael Sam, came out as gay. In response, hundreds of students came out in force to support Sam.
There have been many calls online to picket Phelps, Sr.'s funeral in retribution for their decades of action against military members, their families, and the gay community as a whole. WBC member Margie Phelps, however, tweeted in February that the church does not hold memorials or funerals for its members.
@nickpwing
We don't worship the dead in this church, so there'd be no public memorial or funeral to picket if any member died.
— GodHatesYourStars (@WBCMargie) February 4, 2014
The Westboro Baptist Church, founded in 1955, has been designated as a hate group by organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
Heidi Beirich, research director for the SPLC, called the group "vile" in an interview with the Associated Press in 2011. "They find people at their worst, most terrible moments of grief, and they throw this hate in their faces. It's so low."
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