October marked ten years since I left the fundamentalist church I grew up in. In a strange coincidence of timing, the November 23 issue of the New Yorker (one month to the day since the tenth anniversary of my leaving) ran an interview with Megan Phelps-Roper, the granddaughter of Westboro Baptist founding pastor Fred Phelps.
Phelps-Roper is the daughter of Shirley Phelps-Roper, who for a time was the church’s public face which also meant that Megan was often given a prominent role to play in the cult’s life and work, particularly on social media. In a video interview accompanying the series, Phelps-Roper spoke beautifully about what may be the most difficult part about leaving a difficult church situation or cult, both before you actually leave and after.
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Jake Meador
Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Commonweal, First Things, Books & Culture, National Review, Comment, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today. He is a contributing editor with Plough and a contributing writer at the Dispatch. He lives in his hometown of Lincoln, NE with his wife and four children.
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