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Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps died on Wednesday of natural causes. He was 84.

Fred Phelps Dies

Phelps was reported to be in poor health by his son, Nathan Phelps, earlier in the week. At the time, Nathan Phelps revealed that his father was in a hospice facility and “on the edge of death” in a Facebook post. Westboro spokesman Steve Drain, who admitted Fred Phelps was having “health problems” on Monday, confirmed the death.

Throughout his tenure as the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, Phelps was regarded as the “most hated man in America.” Under the guise of religion, Phelps and his followers – who are mostly made up of his family members – protested funerals of slain soldiers and other events. At their protests, the group would hold up signs, which read, “Thank God For Dead Soldiers” and “God Hates Fags.”

Phelps took a particular interest in the last...

The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., who founded a Kansas church widely known for its protests at military funerals and anti-gay sentiments, has died, according to his son Tim Phelps, reports Kansas First News. He was 84. Phelps was being cared for in an unidentified Kansas facility, Westboro Baptist Church spokesman Steve Drain said on Sunday, adding as the only detail, "He's an old man, and old people get health problems." Members of the Westboro church, based in Topeka, frequently protest at funerals of soldiers with signs containing messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "Thank God for 9/11," claiming the...

Westboro Baptist Church founder Rev. Fred Phelps is reportedly in ill health and nearing his death.

Fred Phelps 'On Edge Of Death'

Phelps, 84, has been admitted to a hospice facility, according to his estranged son, Nathan Phelps. “I’ve learned that my father, Fred Phelps Sr., pastor of the ‘God Hates F--s’ Westboro Baptist Church ... is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice in Topeka, Kansas,” Nathan Phelps wrote on Facebook.

“I'm not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made,” Nathan Phelps added. “I feel sad for all the hurt he's caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I'm bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.”

Westboro spokesman Steve Drain...

If it seems like everyone loves Jennifer Lawrence, it's because it's true. Even the Westboro Baptist Church, which hates everyone, likes her.

When Vice set out to see if Lawrence was so popular that she could even charm hate groups including the National Socialist Freedom Movement and the League of the South, they discovered that most groups didn't care about the actress one way or another. The Wbc, however, shockingly doesn't hate Lawrence.

Wbc member Steve Drain was surprised by Vice's inquiry into the group's thoughts on the Oscar-winning actress.

"You talking about the Hunger Games woman? You want a statement on Jennifer Lawrence? From the Westboro Baptist Church?" he asked to make sure he'd understood the magazine's question correctly.

"I don't know enough about her," Drain said, adding that he did see her in person when he was taking a tour of NBC, and Lawrence was practicing a skit for "Saturday Night Live.

A group of Westboro Baptist Church protesters brought their signature brand of in-your-face activism to Hollywood today, chanting and waving signs with messages like "God H8S Fags" at tourists and insiders making their way to this year's Oscar ceremony.

The protest was situated on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and N. Highland Ave., at the edge of the daunting security perimeter surrounding the awards show.

"We're here right now at the Oscars because the power brokers of Hollywood … and the news media, in the main, is in kind of a slave mentality to the militant fag agenda," said Steve Drain, a protester representing Westboro, who was holding a sign that pictured two Academy Awards statuettes engaged in highly suggestive foreplay.

Westboro's virulent brand of anti-homosexual activism has attracted condemnation from gay-rights and Christian groups alike. In December, a petition to designate Westboro a hate group following the church's threats...

Described as a "homophobic and anti-Semitic hate group" by the Anti-Defamation League, the Westboro Baptist Church is no joke.

The group -- infamous for using pickets with vitriolic phrases like "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers" -- regularly stages anti-gay protests across the country. Members often picket funerals for American servicemen and, sometimes, those for children.

So, when British comedian Russell Brand invited two members from the Kansas-based church onto his FX show, "Brand X," more than a few eyebrows were raised.

Lgbt website Queerty describes the recent meeting:

Steve Drain (the one wearing the charming PriestsRapeBoys.com T-shirt) and Timothy Phelps (most likely of the notorious Phelps klan) gifted Brand with a large placard bearing [the words "Fag Pimp"] and then the three got to talking about the Church's favorite topic: gay sex.

After claiming that Madonna, Mahatma Gandhi and “definitely” Tom Hanks are going to hell, Drain and Phelps...