I’m a big documentary fan who has grown to love Netflix’s collection of documentaries over the past few months. With the availability of the streaming service, I often “pull up a chair” to my PC and watch films/documentaries. In fact, I’m a sucker for documentaries, and after watching Overnight (great film) and another documentary recently, Netflix recommended Fall From Grace. After quickly reading the description, I became curious, added it to my instant queue, and began to watch something that totally blew my mind.

Fall from Grace discusses Fred Phelps (and his family clan) who is a fiery “old school” Baptist minister that preaches against gays/lesbians in Topeka, Kansas. And believe me, the word “preaches” is putting it way too nicely. Phelps, cocks, locks, and continuously reloads a giant bazooka gun filled with anti-gay messages – one that he fires off at every opportunity he gets from the pulpit of his church, Westboro Baptist Church. As the film unfolds, I’m surprised and often appalled at his ranting and raving, dropping the word “fag” in his hate-laced sermons as often as other ministers use “Jesus” or “God” in their sermons. But it gets worse…a lot worse.

Fred’s family – his children and grandchildren – take their anti-gay message to the street…literally. With colorful signs that read hateful messages I don’t want to share, Fred and his family put on anti-gay demonstrations around the world. They march, they yell at the top of their lungs about how “God hates the fags,” and they even drag the American flag on the ground because they believe “the gays are in control of the country and thus, ruining it.” It’s bad enough that Fred and his family target gays/lesbians with their hate-filled messages and signs, but they also target soldiers who fight and/or die in Iraq and Afghanistan by demonstrating at the funerals of dead soldiers. Why? Well, you watch the film and try to figure that one out because I’m still scratching my head over that one. While the Phelps’ have the right to protest, there is a way to get your message out without using disgusting signs that will completely polarize you. Yes, the signs definitely get your attention, which is what Fred wants, but the anti-gay hate and “death to the soldiers” messages are so dehumanizing and disrespectful. There is a better way to state your message without making people want to jump you.

What’s most sad to watch in the film are Fred’s grandchildren. Simply put, he has indoctrinated his grandchildren (and children) with anti-gay hate. While watching interviews of the younger children, it’s clear they don’t really know why they hate gays and lesbians based on their responses. Children just repeat what they hear, and it really made me personally upset to hear the things these kids said. They don’t really know why they think they feel that way. They don’t really know why they’re carrying hateful signs that hurt people. They can’t know what they’re doing is wrong because they’re in a dysfunctional environment that won’t teach them anything but hate. And it’s sad to see that well after Fred Phelps is long gone, his message will continue through the generations of his children (sans several who snapped out of it) and grandchildren.

Fall from Grace also has a handful of interviews from other individuals – a scholar, a minister, figures in Topeka who dealt directly with the Phelps’, and a soldier’s wife, for example. Largely, you get these individual’s perspective (an opposite one) on the Phelps clan. It’s clear some of these individuals are disgusted with what the Phelps’ do by watching their expressions and hearing the weariness in their voices. For me, it was a relief to see these people when they were onscreen because the Phelps’ fiery anti-gay hate messages are emotionally draining and upsetting. Seriously, I was unsure if I would be able to finish the documentary at times; however, watching this film was like watching a train wreck. You want to look away because you see what’s coming, but you can’t take your eyes away from the carnage.

Of course, anti-gay messages are nothing new as many churches, especially in the South, preach against homosexuality. Growing up as a Christian and raised in a Christian home in the South, I was taught that homosexuality was wrong and that gays and lesbians will burn in hell for eternity. Despite what I’d heard in the church as a child, I was fortunate enough to be open minded and didn’t blindly accept everything I heard. I never had gay/lesbian friends that were out growing up, but I had one friend later in high school that I knew was gay but never came out to me. I understand his decision to keep his sexuality hidden in school as kids can definitely be mean. Even when I realized he was closeted in high school, I didn’t end my friendship with him or look at him as a “sinner who will burn in hell.” I did not judge him. He was still my friend that I liked and respected, and his sexual preference was of no consequence to me. You see, I was also taught something else in the church: that it wasn’t my place to judge anyone and that it was God’s place. I’m not going to condemn someone else because they sleep with another man (or woman) and they’re the same sex. I personally don’t care who you’re with as long as you’re happy.

As a Christian who has “fallen from grace” by not attending institutionalized churches anymore, I was deeply offended by the things I heard/saw in this documentary. In fact, it made me downright ashamed and saddened. I was ashamed because I hate the fact that the Phelps’ call themselves Christians; they’re a vicious cult. I was saddened because I really don’t want some gays and lesbians thinking that all Christians feel that way. While some may feel similarly to Phelp’s (minus the straight-talking hate message) about gays/lesbians and how they’re an abomination against God, I’m not one of them. I follow one simple rule: what would Jesus do? And I’d like to think that Jesus would not want Christians or non-Christians to go around hating or condemning people because they have same sex partners. Maybe it’s because I associate with and formed friendships with many gay/lesbian individuals over the years. Maybe it’s because my gay and lesbian friends/associates are just good people who have been there for me just as much as my straight friends have. Maybe it’s because I don’t concern myself with who they’re sleeping with at night because it just doesn’t matter. I just know that the Phelp’s vices for getting their message out should offend any Christian who follows the “what would Jesus do?” principle.

I just want to say one final thing to the gay/lesbian community out there. Jesus also said we should love one another and I do, no matter who you are. As a Christian who is probably a lot more open minded than others, I support you in your civil rights quest. I understand your needs for equality, and I fully support that in every way. If I burn in hell for supporting you, then so be it. I guess we’ll just be in hell together, but I really don’t want to believe gays/lesbians will burn for simply being who there are. Being gay or a lesbian never hurt anybody – unlike killers, rapists, and morally bankrupt people who do evil and spread collateral damage (like Bernard Madoff). 

You can check out Fall from Grace via Netflix. Good luck on not throwing things when Fred Phelps and his children spew hateful venom.