Interview with Shirley Phelps Roper Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes 1755 words 18 April 2006 Fox News: Hannity & Colmes English © 2006 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. (NEWSBREAK) HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity & Colmes". Today, more than 1,000 family and friends attended the funeral of Iowa Army National Guard Sergeant Daniel Sesker (ph). He was killed in Iraq earlier this month. But as they filed into the funeral, they were confronted with protestors carrying signs with anti-gay slogans and words like, "Thank God for dead soldiers." Members of the Westborough Baptist Church have been protesting military funerals since last June, but today's display came just one day after Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack signed legislation that specifically bans disorderly conduct within 500 feet of a funeral or a memorial service. Joining us now from Westborough Baptist Church, Shirley Phelps Roper is with us. Do you feel good about this? You feel good about going to the funerals of men that put their lives on the line for their country to give you the right to do this... SHIRLEY PHELPS ROPER, WESTBOROUGH BAPTIST CHURCH: Of course. HANNITY: ... and to put pain, inject pain into their families' lives? This is something you feel good about? ROPER: I feel Good about warning this nation that the wrath of God is pouring out on their heads. HANNITY: So you want to warn the nation. ROPER: Because they will not obey, and the lord -- the Lord your God is punishing this nation and he's doing it, one of his weapons of choice is sending your children home dead from the battle. HANNITY: Yes. ROPER: So we're there to help you connect the dots, and what I feel best about is in spite of the fact that those legislative Taliban in Iowa passed an unconstitutional measure to try to stop us from putting the cup of the fury and wrath of God to your lips and making you drink it, that we're doing it anyway. HANNITY: You're obviously a nut. All right. Now, look, you want to make your political and religious point. ROPER: Exactly. HANNITY: And you want to -- you want to inject pain and heartache. I can't think of -- I've got to be honest. We've had a lot of nutty people on the show over the years. You are as mean and as sick and as cruel as anybody that I've ever had on this program. And the fact that you use religion to justify your hatred this way, it's frankly -- it's mind-numbing. Do you really believe when you hold up your sign, "Thank God for IED's," that innocent people died, "Thank God for September 11," "thank God for AIDS". ROPER: There are no innocent people. Thank God for 9/11, thank God for dead soldiers, thank God for IED's. There are no innocent people. HANNITY: And you believe all of that. You thank God for 9/11? ROPER: Do you think that all these mean things that you're saying can bring a single one of those soldiers? HANNITY: Hang on a second. ROPER: Or bring back a single 9/11 victim? HANNITY: I've got a question for you. You thank God for 9/11. You thank God for AIDS. You thank God for dead soldiers that give you the right to be a fool? ROPER: I thank God for every single one of his righteous judgments that he executes upon a rebellious people, a people who will not obey. COLMES: Hey, Shirley, it's Alan Colmes. What's the matter with you? ROPER: What's the matter with me? COLMES: What is the matter with you? ROPER: Why don't you just obey? The scripture says that you should obey... COLMES: Who should I obey? Who would you like me to obey? ROPER: ... the Lord your God's will. Bless you. COLMES: Hannity's point of view, he wants me to obey him. ROPER: If you do not obey, the commandments of the Lord our God, then he'll curse you. COLMES: Shirley, I want to be very clear here. Your church... ROPER: It's a curse. COLMES: Hold on a second. Your church -- Shirley. ROPER: It's a curse when your child comes home dead from battle. COLMES: Can you hear me OK? ROPER: I can hear you. COLMES: Your church is called the Westborough Baptist Church. You're not associated with any mainstream Baptist organization. It's mostly your own family members in this church. You and your father, Fred Phelps, hate not just gays. You hate Catholics. You hate Jews. Your father referred to the Holocaust as miniscule, led a protest at the Holocaust Museum in D.C., said Jews are the real Nazis. You are an abomination. You ought to be ashamed to yourself. You're an embarrassment to this nation. ROPER: Well, I'm glad you recognize that there is such a concept as an abomination. COLMES: The way you behave toward soldiers who risk their life for this country, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. ROPER: What you need to do is line your notions of what an abomination is in up with the notion that the Lord our God has put into the standard that he put on what an abomination is. I shalt not lie. COLMES: You know, 'm glad to have you on television, because as Louis Brandeis said, Shirley, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and you need to be disinfected. This is sick, the things you're doing. How dare you do this to the families of our soldiers? ROPER: You cannot bring back any one of those dead soldiers by throwing a fit at us. How dare you fail to obey the commandments the Lord your God and bring his wrath down upon not just your head... COLMES: Excuse me, Ms. Phelps. ROPER: ... but the heads of these young and women who are -- who have been cut off by a raging mad God, described... COLMES: I don't respond to you. I don't have to answer to you. I answer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ROPER: ... as so angry as having smoke coming out of his mouth. COLMES: You have said... ROPER: That's your god. How dare you invoke the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and then flip him off, refusing to obey and behave yourself? You know that sodomy is an abomination, and yet this nation rises up with one voice to say it's OK to be gay. And you know that's why the wrath of God is upon you. COLMES: All right. If you can just stop your ranting for just one second, let me ask you a question. If your church -- if you're so popular and what you're saying is truly the word of God, how is it your church only has -- let me ask -- let me get my question out. How is it your church has 100 members, and it's your family? ROPER: It's really not quite 100, and about 80 percent are our family. But nevertheless, that doesn't change the word of God, and by the way, you say we're popular. No, no, no, no. COLMES: You ought to be ashamed of yourself. ROPER: We're hated by this nation. HANNITY: I've got a last question. I've got one last question. ROPER: And that's what the scripture says will happen. You hate God, you hate his judgments, and you hate us for telling you that. HANNITY: I'm a Christian, I don't hate God. Let me ask you a last question. ROPER: No, you're not a Christian, honey. Go ahead. HANNITY: What are your sins? ROPER: Yes, you tried this the other day. Why don't we talk about the issue at hand, Mr. Hannity? HANNITY: What -- what do you do? ROPER: Why is it you don't warn your nation? HANNITY: Do you sin? ROPER: Why don't you use that bully pulpit that you have to warn your neighbor that his sin is taking him to hell and to encourage your fellow man, knowing the terror of the Lord, you should persuade men to obey and behave. HANNITY: Halleluiah. We check with now with Martha MacCallum, who's standing by, sitting in for Greta tonight, for a sneak peak at what's coming up in 23 short minutes from now -- Martha. MARTHA MACCALLUM, GUEST HOST, "ON THE RECORD": Hi. Well, that's a tough one to follow, Sean. But we've got a lot of stuff coming up tonight. We're going to take you back to Aruba, and the very latest in the Natalee Holloway case and what drug trafficking and drugs may do to tumble down the house of cards that has been that case. Also, we'll go back to Durham, North Carolina. We'll take a look at the very latest in the Duke case. And what information, what documents may exonerate those two young men who were arrested today? We'll also take to you where Greta is tonight and show you a little bit about what she's got coming up and what she has in store for everybody. All that coming up "On the Record" tonight. Back to you, Sean. HANNITY: I'll be watching and I'll be repenting during the break. And of course, we will actually be praying for the families that have to suffer during these funerals. They're in our thoughts and prayers. Coming up next, it's the very real scenario no one wants to think about. What would New York City look like after a nuclear attack? And then, a true story of 9/11 is the subject of a controversial new movie. Tonight, we give you a quick first look sneak peek. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) Content and Programming Copyright 2006 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2006 Voxant, Inc. ( www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation. Document HAC0000020060419e24i00003 More Like This