The founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps died last week at the age of 84. Considering the amount of anti-gay and anti-military protest Phelps and the church were known for, it was almost a shock to see to see an online article with the headline: “Westboro Asks Public Not to Picket Phelps Funeral”.

The article (which can you read in it's entirety here) included things like:

"Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church spokeswoman and Phelps’ daughter, said she was concerned people outside the church would try to picket the funeral service. My father was a great man who did no harm to anyone," she said. "So what if he beat his own wife and children? Doesn’t any good, loving father do that?”

 

AND...

"This is a very difficult time for us,” the statement reads, “so we ask that the public have a little decency and respect by allowing us to mourn a great man who served God and tried to protect America from the threat of fags and perverts (i.e. gays and U.S. soldiers).”

 

The post went viral!!! All kinds of people have been sounding off, taking both sides. Some say the Westboro Baptist Church were exercising their constitutionally protected freedom of speech, while others think Phelps' funeral should be protested (i.e. do unto others).

Too bad the article is 100% fake. It was posted on The Daily Currant. For those that don't believe the article is just satire, click on the about link on their page. It reads:

The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide - now including South Sudan.

Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence - which presses forward.

Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world.

 

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