Booktv. Org. Joining us now on book tv is megan roper, shes the author of this book, unfollow, a memoir of loving and leaving, the west borough Baptist Church, where did you grow up and how . I grew up in kansas at west borough Baptist Church, started by my grandfather and, you know, at west borrow we had the normal life in some place, i went to public schools, made cookies with my parents, all wonderful memories but then there was this, our lives were organized around the picketing ministry, from the age of 5i went out to protest gay people originally and then from there it morphed to everyone outside ofin our church was headed for hell and we had a duty to go and warn them of the consequences of their sins and our whole lives were organized around that ministry. How did the picketing ministry begin, you talk about the loving family that you have and a normal childhood, when did the god hate fags come . In 1991 when i was 5 years old an incident occurred, shortly before that, incident
Public school, video games, made cookies with my parents with all wonderful memories but then our lives were organized around a picketing ministry from the age of five i would protest gay people originally and then from there to everyone outside of the church was headed for hell and we had a duty to go with them of the consequences of their sins and our whole lives were organized around the ministry. Host how does that begin if you talk about this loving family that you have and a normal childhood when did the god hates fags signs calm. When i was five years old and incident occurred at a local park where my grandfather thought he saw my older brother who was that about four or five being approached by two men trying to lure him into the bushes. He found out that parkland is a place for gay men. So he went to start to get the city to clean up the park it was called the park decency drive but even from the first protest it said gays are worthy of death romans one 32 and almost immediate
Were organized around a picketing ministry from the age of five i would protest gay people originally and then from there to everyone outside of the church was headed for hell and we had a duty to go with them of the consequences of their sins and our whole lives were organized around the ministry. Host how does that begin if you talk about this loving family that you have and a normal childhood when did the god in 91, when i was 5 years old, an incident occurred it happened shortly before that. An incident happened at a local park where my grand father was biking through the park and he thought he saw my older brother who was then about 4 or 5 years old being approached by two men trying to lure him into the bushes. He discovered that this local park was a place thats well known for as a Meeting Place for gay men. So he went and started trying to get the city to clean up the park. My grand father called it great park. The bible passage cited was in romans. The response to that first p
Were organized around a picketing ministry from the age of five i would protest gay people originally and then from there to everyone outside of the church was headed for hell and we had a duty to go with them of the consequences of their sins and our whole lives were organized around the ministry. Host how does that begin if you talk about this loving family that you have and a normal childhood when did the god hates fags signs calm. When i was five years old and incident occurred at a local park where my grandfather thought he saw my older brother who was that about four or five being approached by two men trying to lure him into the bushes. He found out that parkland is a place for gay men. So he went to start to get the city to clean up the park it was called the park decency drive but even from the first protest it said gays are worthy of death romans one 32 and almost immediately the response was outrage from the community. Local churches would counter protest so the response to
With stephen sackur. Holding up placards outside the funerals of dead american soldiers, celebrating schoolroom massacres, Westboro Baptist church has been described as the most obnoxious, hate filled group in america. Megan phelps roper was part of that group. She was born into the church. She carried those hate filled placards from the age of five years old. But as an adult, firing off tweets against online critics, megan began to doubt. Eventually, she left the church altogether, but she paid a high price. The church was founded by her grandfather. She was shunned by those she loved the most. Can she still really regard the people who taught her to hate, to desire more death, that the world was going to hell, as her beloved, wonderful mum and dad . Megan phelps roper, welcome to hardtalk. From the age of five, in 1991, you were involved in your familys demonstrations, later taking part in pickets of the funerals of dead soldiers in the united states. Can you just give us a sense of