This was a very interesting and insightful memoir. I would recommend to anyone curious about Westboro Baptist Church, ( )

An unbelievable journey through the life of Megan Phelps-Roper, former member of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. This is a riveting, incredibly honest, heartfelt and truly sad. It is also full of hope. Megan is a brave soul whose desire to be held accountable for her past cruelties as well as her strong will to change and find a new path through kindness, education and truth, are something very strong to read about. This is a great read, told with a real unbridled commitment to bring true. Kudos. ( )

Such a powerful story of love, hate, family and finding your way. I love that she read her own words and brought a calm, loving voice to such a strong recounting of her past. I cried through so many parts for her and her family. I couldn't put it down. ( )

In a brave baring of her soul, Megan Phelps-Roper tells of growing up in the Westboro Baptist Church, and how the people she loved and depended on held her to abusive standards in the name of obedience. Through twitter, over the course of many years, conversations with polite, curious strangers on the internet slowly reshaped Megan's worldview. She still struggles to leave, afraid the world will condemn her for the hurt that her actions have caused over the years, but she tries her best to take accountability and move forward honestly and with grace, and is received with open arms by many of the people she once protested, now lifelong friends. I think this is such an important read if you want to understand how we can support and encourage people to leave abusive situations; not with judgement and hate, but with love and patience. ( )

Reading this book and learning how the people in this cult--Westboro Baptist Church-- believed and acted toward anybody not in their cult makes you feel sick to your stomach. They celebrated when gays died of aids. They celebrated when soldiers died in the war after 9/11. The only thing that makes this book redeemable, is the mindset of the author after her eyes were opened to the utter hypocrisy of her family and her church.

P.4:
"My grandfather soon discovered that sex in the park was a well-documented issue in the local media; sting operations conducted by the Topeka Police department had resulted in a string of high-profile arrests over the years. a nationally circulated gay and lesbian travel guide listed the park as a 'cruisy area' -- a place where men could cruise for anonymous sex. Even now Gage Park is listed in that guide, though a warning was added shortly after westboro's picketing began: AYOR. At your own risk.
armed with this information, my grandfather took action. He began by detailing his findings in a letter to the mayor, opening with a colorful description of the problem ('A malodorous sore with the scab off is open and running at the southwest corner of Gage Park') your consideration is appreciated.' "

Every family in the cult created a huge amount of children.
P.11:
"...it was for God alone to give or withhold children, and even the 'natural family planning' endorsed by Catholics was unacceptable. The single time I heard about an aunt of mine attempting to defy God and 'counting the days' to avoid pregnancy, it was in the context of her miscounting. She and her husband had been struggling to provide for the six children they had already but when she tried to take matters into her own hands, she ended up pregnant with twins. God was teaching her a lesson, my mother said, because my aunt had failed to trust him. It wasn't for her to decide when or how many children to have, it wasn't for her to have any feelings or opinion on the matter at all, except to be grateful to the Lord for each one." ( )