Generally, we just ignore Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church since "Do Not Feed the Trolls" is as good a strategy in real life as it is on the Internets, but this musical video holiday greeting from the church is so entertaining, we had to share. It's called "Santa Claus Will Take You to Hell" and boy, if you've ever wondered what a five year-old sounds like while singing lines like "Don't leave your kid with this red fright/ Just like a priest, he'll rape them at night", mystery solved.

View it after the jump.

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Well isn't this just a darling song, which opens this clip from the BBC's documentary The Most Hated Family in America about the Westboro Baptist Church, the lunatic (we needed a stronger word than "conservative") Kansas church founded by Fred Phelps that operates the website, and our homepage, GodHatesFags.com. It aired back in December 2007, and yet seems all the more relevant and worth revisiting, as the Phelps clan continues its mission against our community. The church's latest target, you'll recall, is Silverton, Oregon, home to transgender mayor Stu Rasmussen. All this is an exercise in free speech — something we wholeheartedly encourage. We're entirely fine with Westboro's right to call gay men and women sinners and the work of the devil, because it shines a light on just how ridiculous their arguments are. It's just too bad they had to bring their kids into it.

Those Brits are full of good ideas! The United Kingdom's Home Office today announced that "hate preachers" could be banned from entering their land.

Foreign-born "preachers of hate" and other violent extremists will have to prove they have publicly renounced their views or be refused entry to Britain under tough new rules unveiled today.

The measures, set out in a written ministerial statement by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, will make it easier to exclude those who want to come to the UK to stir up religious or racial hatred.

Obviously "hate" can include homophobia, so Andy over at UK Gay News did a little digging and found that anti-gay preachers, like Fred Phelps, also face British banishment.

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From The Editor: Did you know there's a website where you can generate your own signs for controversial establishments?

You're probably really cool and answered "yes," but for those of you who didn't, you may like to know you can make a sign for the Westboro Baptist Church - the people who protest soldier's funerals and think "God hates fags."

Anyway, I just made this one and now I can't get the image of WBC founder Fred Phelps eating shit out of my head. It burns!

The fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church plans on picketing Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones funeral. Said WBC leader Fred Phelps: "We will be there at the funeral of this evil woman… This country stood by as she voted to criminalize the word of God!!… She is in a HELLA TROUBLE as her sentence is just beginning, you know.” Tubbs Jones, Ohio's first black Congresswoman, was a fierce gay rights advocate. [On Top]

A fire broke out at Westboro Baptist Church this weekend. Shirley Phelps, whose father runs the anti-gay gang, claims it was a satanic arsonist, but neighbor Leona McQueen claims the crazies set the fire themselves to scare her into selling her property. Meanwhile, the Phelps clan picketed the fire fighters as they tried to extinguish the flames. [KSNT and AP]

Fred Phelps and his hate-mongering church may soon be homeless.

A Maryland judge put a lien on Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church this weekend to help pay the $5 million Phelps owes for the mental anguish inflicted on Albert Snyder after they picketed his fallen soldier son's funeral last year..

Phelps claims he doesn't have the dough, so now Judge Richard D. Bennett has his sights set on the church and Phelps' law office, which, if sold, may yield just over $600,000.

Apparently being an agent of the anti-Christ doesn't pay very well.

Four hundred activists of all ilks converged in Topeka, Kansas, this weekend to protest Fred Phelps and his vilely anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. Said one "Million Fag March" participant, Angi Boetta: "We don't agree with him talking about hatred and how God hates this god hates that… We're just here to show him who we are and we're not going away no matter what you say or do." [Towleroad]

William F. Buckley's death this week signals the end of a conservative era. So, who's next on death's right wing hit list? Jesse Helms, Anita Bryant and Fred Phelps, to name a few. [The Sword]

Fred Phelps and his despicable clan penned an open letter to Heath Ledger's family. In said letter, the Westboro Baptists insist that Ledger himself would want them picketing the funeral. These people are fucking insane. And babies: "Oh, you didn't send me an invitation - boo!" Twats.

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Fred Phelps and his spawn have a bit of a problem.

They've been ordered to cough up nearly $11 million for picketing at a soldier's funeral, but their Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church can't muster the moolah. Aw, ain't that a shame?

The fallen soldier's father, Arnold Snyder and his legal team claim the Phelps clan hasn't been forthright with their finances. Not only did they not present all of their financial documents, but daughter Rebekah Phelps-Davis lied about having sole ownership of a $146,600 home. Records unsealed yesterday, however, show that she shares responsibility with her husband. We guess their demented God shines brightly on shady liars, huh.

We've included an allegedly complete list of the group's finances after the jump.

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The "emotional distress" case against the Westboro Baptist Church began in Baltimore today. Grieving father Arnold Snyder filed the suit against Fred Phelps' crew after they picketed his soldier son's funeral. The original lawsuit accused WBC of "intentionally causing emotional distress," invasion of privacy and defamation. The latter's since been tossed.

Opening the case today, Shirley Phelps-Roper said that God himself instructed her and her unsavory ilk to protest funerals with signs reading "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God For Dead Soldiers". It's been a while since we saw God last, but we remember "him" being pretty stylish and we can't imagine such a divine creature would hire Phelps-Roper to be his earthly representative. We could be wrong.

Phelps-Roper also says her brood stayed out of sight and in a cop-approved area. Snyder's lawyer, however, claims his client knew about the protest, which traumatized him. He's been struck by diabetic complications ever since. Phelps-Roper blamed that on God, too.

Psych! She didn't, but we bet she thought it, just like she thought about ruining Snyder's saddest day

Harnessing her lawyerly powers, Shirley Phelps Roper wants to set the record straight about what happened with her evil father, Fred and presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

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Fred Thompson's departed from the other Republican presidential candidates by tacitly endorsing federalist gay marriage. While it may seem like he's the preferable conservative hopeful, Fred Phelps and his frightful Westboro Baptist Church remember a more homophobic - and thus favorable - Fred Thompson. Here's an excerpt of the group's open letter to Freddie:
The letter goes on to say that Thompson even spent some time at the Phelps home. They had tea made of Jewish baby brains and chatted about Donna Reed. And how gays will burn in the pits of hell, of course.

Monsters and ghouls roam this American land, friends. Some of the most frightening ghouls in history currently stalk our streets, looking for gay souls to squash and civil rights to crash. Since sequels always have more gore, we're featuring some of the foulest, gnarliest anti-gay activists. And, as you can see, we're starting with the most hellish homo-hater: Fred Phelps.

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