Nathan Phelps

Nathan Phelps (born November 22, 1958) is an American-born Canadian author, LGBT rights activist, and public speaker on the topics of religion and child abuse. He is the sixth-born of the 13 children of Fred Phelps, from whom he was estranged from the time of his 18th birthday in 1976 until his father's death in 2014.

Early life Phelps was born in Topeka, Kansas on November 22, 1958, to Fred and Margie Phelps. Although he attended a local public school, accompanied by participation in a fad diet.

Phelps describes his father as "deeply prejudiced", and later with a mattock handle. Nathan's brother Mark and sister Dortha have corroborated his claims of physical abuse by their father. Phelps made a clandestine nighttime getaway in an old car he had bought specifically for this purpose, with little plan or preparation beyond this. from the legal profession. which distance WBC's views from their own, and in other cases WBC is accused of "misreading" and "misrepresenting" the Bible. Phelps has responded to this position arguing that WBC's position was derived by his father from bona fide Biblical text

Kansas and California: From faith to atheism

After leaving WBC, Phelps undertook various jobs before reuniting with his older brother Mark, and in 1978 they established a printing company together in Prairie Village, near Kansas City. but which Phelps declined. Fred never accepted him back, eventually denouncing him. Phelps then left again, this time for good, permanently breaking contact with his father.

During an interview while at QEDcon in April 2014, Phelps explained how the lingering effects of his indoctrination as a youth were so entrenched. He understood how one could feel persecuted and sincerely surprised when other people react quite strongly against ideas of what "the truth" was as he saw it:

In the 20 years following his departure, Phelps tried to find a milder form of Christianity, and raised his own children in an Evangelical church, but his doubts only grew as he continued studying religion. At the Reason Rally in Washington on March 24, 2012, he told that the events of 9/11 finally brought him to disbelief:

In addition to this, Phelps identifies both his experience reading Michael Shermer's book The Science of Good and Evil a secular organization that educates and advocates reason and science. He also serves on the board of directors of Recovering from Religion, which offers education and practical support for people leaving religious communities.

Phelps is an active public speaker and appears at events designed to promote the ideas of atheism, skepticism, and secularism. He has spoken at numerous Gay Pride events and describes himself as an "LGBT activist". He emphasises his work raising awareness of child abuse related to religion and its legal status

Phelps is known for his criticism of the Westboro Baptist Church through literature, interviews, public speaking at atheist conventions, and his website. He states that his father physically abused him and the other Phelps children, and he believes that the church was an organization for his father to "vent his rage and anger." Nathan has been speaking out against the Westboro Baptist Church as early as 2006.

As of 2014, Phelps was working on a book called Leaving Westboro: Escaping America's Most Hated Church & Family. and also that Phelps had been "excommunicated" from his own church during 2013. Phelps' father died of natural causes shortly before midnight on March 19, 2014. The Recovering from Religion organization released a statement on behalf of Phelps, who is on their board of directors, about his father's death. He is currently an Emeritus Board Member of Recovering From Religion and executive director for the Center For Inquiry in Calgary.