Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church

by Megan Phelps-Roper

My heart sank when I received a group text from Steve instructing everyone with a Twitter profile to republish a post from an account he had just created: @UGNewsWire. The account purported to be an “Int’l News Service,” complete with a fake logo to make it appear as if it were a legitimate media outlet. Its posts read: WBC members (of ‘God Hates Fags’ infamy) picket outside Westminster Abbey day before #RoyalWedding Westboro Baptist protesters outside Westminster Abbey - singing songs & chanting ‘God Hates the UK’ The infamous Westboro Baptist Church is on the ground in the UK - protesting the Royal Wedding: Each of the posts included an image of Westminster Abbey that had been digitally altered to include picketers with signs. I saw that Steve had sent them to the BBC, the Associated Press, USA Today, and other news organizations. I was mortified. These lies were idiotic, not only violating the Scriptures but offering the hordes of people who hated us a legitimate reason to impugn the integrity of the church. It undermined our claim to being messengers of God, and it was the picture of a verse my mother quoted often: Give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. I had several thousand followers on Twitter, and though I angered them on a regular basis, I had a growing sense of community with the people I encountered there. I felt like I owed them the truth, and I didn’t want to be attacked for being dishonest. And on top of everything else, I didn’t want the...