Following on from my previous post, you can now watch the Louis Theroux documentary called ‘The Most Hated Family in America’ about the Phelps family and the hateful Westboro Baptist Church.

As interesting as the documentary was, I felt like Louis could have done a better job. He didn’t really get behind a lot of the issues that surround the ‘God hates fags’ church. He offered no background on Fred Phelps or any of the church members, and all he seemed to do was say over and over “but you don’t believe that do you.” Clearly they do believe their hateful message, and I’m somewhat disappointed that Louis didn’t just accept that and ask a few more probing questions.

Right at the start of the program he points at a photograph of the women of the church, and it’s quickly established that a few of the people in the picture have left the church, or been thrown out. I thought Louis might seek and interview with those people to get a little background on their stories and why they came to leave the church which is made up of their family members. However nothing further was mentioned, not even in a narrative.

After watching the documentary I didn’t feel any the wiser about the church. I already knew they were hate preachers who believe they are the only people who will enter the ‘Kingdom of God’ when they die. No theological angle was offered, and while I appreciate that this might have given the documentary a weight it was trying to avoid, I feel that glossing over it entirely was odd given that the subject was a church with very warped religious understandings.

What I felt the documentary did illustrate very well was the fact that the Westboro Baptist Church’s hateful message is constantly reflected back at its members putting them all in a situation of being hated by others for their message of “God’s hate.”

I felt particularly sorry for the children of the church. Seeing innocently singing “God hates the USA” to the tune of Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA’ as well as holding signs they clearly didn’t understand at the pickets of dead soldiers left me feeling sad to what seemed to me to be a case of religious abuse.

The churches pastor, Fred Phelps, came across as every bit the angry venomous lunatic you would imagine him to be. But what made Fred Phelps this way, Louis gave us no clue to his past. Indeed Phelps himself told Louis he had wasted his time with him, something I’m inclined to agree with, though for different reasons I suspect.

Nonetheless, if you have time try to check out the documentary. YouTube may well delete these clips soon so get them while they’re hot.

[Video] The Most Hated Family in America – Part 1
[Video] The Most Hated Family in America – Part 2
[Video] The Most Hated Family in America – Part 3
[Video] The Most Hated Family in America – Part 4
[Video] The Most Hated Family in America – Part 5
[Video] The Most Hated Family in America – Part 6
The Westboro Baptist Church