Ex-Westboro Baptist Church Member stuns Glasgow uni audience

Yesterday Nate Phelps, son of the late Fred Phelps, gave an emotional and highly funny speech to students who attended the ‘Leaving Hate Behind’ event.

The seminar was held by Glasgow Sceptics in a lecture theatre at Strathclyde Uni.

Nate, who left the church as soon as he turned 18, told the story of his life and how it turned from the fear and perpetual misery of the Westboro Baptist Church, to his battles with post-traumatic stress and troubles with religion.

The Westboro Baptist Church is famous for it’s hate filled message, and was well documented in Louis Theroux’s documentaries on ‘The Most Hated Family in America’.

Nate then spoke of the birth of his kids, and his current situation working with LGBT groups:

“Well, so ah, one thing I found out is that you guys are pretty good at partying.” He opened with, to a loud laugh from the students:

“I’m still not sure if I’ve recovered from last night.”

The atmosphere wasn’t always so happy though, as he recounted: “When we were old enough, if my father didn’t like something we did, he would grab us by the arms and force his knee into our stomachs.

“He even had this wooden bat, he would take us outside and hit us with.”

Students who attended the event had only positive things to say about the member of ‘The Most Hated Family in America’.

One student said: “It was very moving, I was close to tears”

And another enjoyed the alternative style of Phelps: “Loved the dark humour, I was gripped.”

Phelps recieved a standing ovation from the crowd and the appreciation of his views was clear amongst those who attended:

“I usually drop off during these things but his story was just so interesting.”