Fred Phelps "on the edge of death"

[TaraJo]

Personally I'm more interested in why he got excommunicated. Sounds like a fascinating tale of overreaction and petty weirdness to me. But then, the internal politics of backwards, insulated cults are often so interesting.

I have a little suspicion and it may have been a shrewd political move by his daughter to keep the church alive a little longer.

Specifically, I heard an interview with one of the former members of the church and one of the things they believe is that truly righteous people don't die a physical death; they simply asscend straight to heaven. If that's the case and Fred is getting up there in years, the church would either have to throw him under the bus or accept that their dogma is wrong because he isn't going to last much longer. It seems they chose to throw him under the bus.

Fortunately, the membership is limited to one little family and they're so unpopular that nobody really wants to join them. The younger generation seems to be leaving, one at a time. I'd be surprised if the group even exists in another ten or fifteen years.