Editing Fred Phelps (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Fred Phelps as young man.jpg|thumb|Phelps in 1962]]
Fred Waldron Phelps was born on November 13, 1929, in [[Meridian, Mississippi]], the elder of two children of Catherine Idalette (née Johnston) and Fred Wade Phelps. His father was a [[railroad bull|railroad policeman]] for the [[Columbus and Greenville Railway]] and a devout [[Methodist]]; his mother was a homemaker.<ref name="phelps_dies_2014_03_20_wichita_eagle" /><ref name="cjonline1994">{{citation|url=http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps01.shtml|title=The Transformation of Fred Phelps|last=Taschler|first=Joe|date=August 3, 1994|work=[[The Topeka Capital-Journal]]|access-date=December 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301061252/http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps01.shtml|archive-date=March 1, 2013}}</ref> Catherine Phelps died of [[esophageal cancer]] in 1935 at the age of 28.<ref name="cjonline1994"/> Her aunt, Irene Jordan, helped care for Fred and his younger sister Martha Jean until December 1944, when his father married Olive Briggs, a 39-year-old woman who was divorced.<ref name="cjonline1994"/>

Fred distinguished himself scholastically and was an [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Mann|first=Fred|url=http://www.kansas.com/2012/12/18/2608194/2006-what-led-fred-phelps-to-his.html|title=2006: What led Westboro's Fred Phelps to his beliefs and actions?|newspaper=Wichita Eagle|date=December 18, 2012|access-date=March 16, 2014|archive-date=March 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316213732/http://www.kansas.com/2012/12/18/2608194/2006-what-led-fred-phelps-to-his.html}}</ref> He also was a member of Phi Kappa, a high school social fraternity, president of the Young Peoples Department of Central United Methodist Church and was honored as the best drilled member of the Mississippi Junior State Guard, a unit similar to the [[Reserve Officer Training Corps]]. He graduated from high school at 16 years old, ranking sixth in his graduating class of 213 students, and was the class orator at his commencement.<ref name="phelps_dies_2014_03_20_wichita_eagle" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cjonline.com/article/20140320/NEWS/303209780|title=Phelps' life turned from brilliance to hatred|last=Biles|first=Jan|website=The Topeka Capital-Journal|language=en|access-date=May 18, 2019}}</ref> After graduating from high school he received an appointment to the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York|West Point]]; but after attending a tent revival meeting, decided to pursue a religious calling instead.<ref name="cjonline1994"/>

In September 1947, at the age of 17, he was ordained a [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist]] minister and moved to [[Cleveland, Tennessee]], to attend Bob Jones College (now [[Bob Jones University]] in [[Greenville, South Carolina]]).<ref name="phelps_dies_2014_03_20_wichita_eagle" /><ref name="CSM"/> A combination of Phelps's refusal of the West Point appointment (which his father had worked hard to obtain), his abandonment of his father's beloved Methodist faith, and his father's remarriage to a divorced woman (Phelps would later become an outspoken critic of divorce) precipitated a lifelong estrangement from his father and stepmother—and by some accounts, from his sister as well. Phelps apparently never spoke to his family members again, and returned all of their letters and birthday cards, as well as Christmas gifts for his children, unopened.<ref>{{cite news|last=Taschler|first=Joe|author2=Steve Fry|url=http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps14.shtml|title=Phelps at odds with father, sister|publisher=CJOnline|date=August 3, 1994|access-date=March 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031122060832/http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps14.shtml|archive-date=November 22, 2003}}</ref>

Phelps dropped out of Bob Jones College in 1948.<ref name="TCJ">[http://cjonline.com/news/local/2014-03-20/phelps-life-turned-brilliance-hatred# Phelps' life turned from brilliance to hatred], ''Topeka Capital Journal'', March 20, 2014 (archives search); retrieved September 28, 2016.</ref> He moved to [[California]] and became a [[street preacher]] while attending [[Pasadena City College#School history|John Muir College]] in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]]. The June 11, 1951 issue of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine included a story on Phelps, who lectured fellow students about "sins committed on campus by students and teachers", including "promiscuous petting, evil language, profanity, cheating, teachers' filthy jokes in classrooms, and pandering to the lusts of the flesh." When the college ordered him to stop, citing a California law that forbade the teaching of religion on any public school campus, he moved his sermons across the street.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814897,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224172403/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814897,00.html|archive-date=December 24, 2007|title=Religion: Repentance In Pasadena|date=June 11, 1951|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=December 10, 2012}} (behind subscription wall)</ref> In October 1951, Phelps met Margie Marie Simms in [[Arizona]] and married her in May 1952.<ref name="phelps_dies_2014_03_20_wichita_eagle" /><ref name="splcenter2001"/>

In 1954, Phelps, his pregnant wife, and their newborn son moved to [[Topeka, Kansas]], where he was hired by the East Side Baptist Church as an associate pastor. The following year, the church's leadership opened Westboro Baptist Church on the other side of town, and Phelps became its pastor.<ref name="fate">{{cite news|title=Fate, timing kept Phelps in Topeka|first1=Joe|last1=Taschler|last2=Fry|first2=Steve|url=http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps13.shtml|newspaper=Topeka Capital-Journal|date=August 3, 1994|access-date=September 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927070336/http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps13.shtml|archive-date=September 27, 2012}}</ref>

Although the new church was ostensibly [[Independent Baptist]], Phelps preached a doctrine very similar to that of the [[Primitive Baptists]], who believe in scriptural literalism — that Christian biblical scripture is literally true — and that only a predetermined number of people selected for redemption before the world was created will be saved on [[Judgment Day]].<ref name="TCJ"/> His vitriolic preaching alienated church leaders and most of the original congregation, who either returned to East Side Baptist or joined other congregations, leaving him with a small following consisting almost entirely of his own relatives and close friends.<ref>[https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-fred-phelps-and-westboro-baptist-church 9 Things You Should Know About Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church]. thegospelcoalition.org (March 14, 2009), retrieved October 3, 2016.</ref>

Phelps was forced to support himself selling vacuum cleaners, baby strollers, and insurance; later, some of his 13 children were reportedly compelled to sell candy door-to-door for several hours each day. In 1972, two companies sued Westboro Baptist for failing to pay for the candy being peddled by the children.<ref name="splcenter2001"/>