Suffer the Little Children...
The most tragic part of this film for me was listening to the Phelps children speak. To these kids, picketing is a fun thing to do and they are proud of it. BTW, I didn't hear one child say that they knew what a "fag" was.
(Profanity edited to suit TOS.)
From the youngsters in the "church" (most of these were ages 9-11, though one looked to be a tween):
“It’s the F@gs Stupid” – picket sign held by a child
Talking to one of the little girls. “I show my sign to a lot of people.” “Do you have a favorite sign?” “God hates f@gs.” “What does that mean?” ~long pause~ “That f@gs aren’t God’s people.”
Another child: “My favorite sign is ‘F@g priests.” “What does that sign mean?” “Uhm, I don’t know much, but I know it means that, uhm, that the f@gs are going to hell.”
Another child: “We preach the Lord’s word.” “What is the Lord’s word?” ~kid shrugs~
Phelps’ adult son – “They understand far better than most of these nimrod kids that go out Christmas, Halloween, and Easter know what the hell THAT’s about! These kids understand this for sure: we’re serving the Lord.”
Another child: “We tell these evil beasts, the f@gs, that they are going to go to hell if they don’t repent of their sins.” “They always call us names when they drive by, and we … like us saying hi to them and mocking them.” {I don’t even understand this sentence, but it sounds like the kid things telling people God hates them is just “Saying hi.”}
Another child: “God hates America because those evil beasts are being disgusting freaks!” A 2nd child chimes in: “And evil, they’re evil. More evil than anyone in this whole world.”
Another child, this one looks like a tween: “America is doomed because they’ve given over the country to f@gs and coming home in body bags.” When asked what he thought of people who didn't like WBC's protests: “It just tells me I’m doing the right thing… because it says in the bible that if you do the right thing, they will be mean to you.”
(Similar question to another child) “How do you feel about people who say those things to you?” “I feel mad, mad enough to kill them. But I can’t kill them; God to take them down to hell. He said that picketing like we were was not good for America and we needed to move somewhere else, and I thought, 'You evil bastard! You’re going to hell FOREVER!'" ~kid leans into the camera with exaggerated menace, then ends with~ “'You suck.'”
Fred Phelps’ adult son regarding how they "train" their children – “They’re my kids – shut the hell up you freaking hypocrites! You’ll take your ratty-assed kids out to do Halloween. You’ll take your ratty-assed kids out to do Christmas. You take your ratty-assed kids out to do Easter. But you’re going to tell me I can’t practice my religion with my children? Go to hell.”
Nice people, n'c'est pas?