The Most Hated Family in America is a 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The organization was led by Fred Phelps and located in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality; in addition, they protest at funerals of U.S. military killed in action with signs that display text such as "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" (which is shown in the film). With a BBC film crew, Theroux travelled to Kansas to spend time with members of the church and interview its leadership. Theroux interviews church leadership including Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper.
The documentary first aired on BBC Two in the United Kingdom in April 2007. The documentary was a ratings success in its initial airing, beating simultaneous programming for BBC One for the 9pm hour. It was broadcast again on BBC Two later that month, and Seven Network purchased the programme for airing in Australia in August 2007 and again in April 2008. It aired in May 2008 on TV3 and Seven Network, and multiple times in June 2008 on the television channel Dave. It aired again on BBC Two in December 2008 and in February 2010 in Ireland on 3e. A DVD-box-set including the documentary and other Theroux programmes was released in January 2009; The Independent placed the DVD release as number eight among its list of "The 50 Best DVD boxsets".
The Most Hated Family in America received a positive reception, with four-star ratings from the Daily Record. It was recommended in reviews as a critic's choice by The Independent, The Times, Financial Times, The Age, and the Herald Sun. A review in the Leicester Mercury noted of Theroux's interview techniques, "His subtle interviewing style was perfect for showing off the crazy views of the members." The documentary was highlighted in The Sydney Morning Herald among "The week's best", and characterised as, "Disturbing, perplexing and very entertaining."
A follow-up documentary by Theroux, America's Most Hated Family in Crisis, was first broadcast on BBC Two on 3 April 2011. In 2019, Theroux made another follow-up, Surviving America's Most Hated Family, essentially creating a trilogy of documentaries based on the church.
Background
The documentary focuses on the Westboro Baptist Church, then headed by Fred Phelps and based in Topeka, Kansas. Born in 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi, Phelps conducts himself under the belief that he is a prophet chosen by God "to preach his message of hate". Phelps was ordained a Southern Baptist in 1947. The Westboro Baptist Church was started by Phelps in 1955. Members of the church meet in Phelps' residence; the majority of the group's adherents are his family. Phelps received an associate's degree from John Muir Junior College in 1951, a bachelor's degree in 1962 and a degree in law in 1964 from Washburn University. He formed a "crusade for righteousness", attempting to abolish Jim Crow laws in Topeka.
In 1991 when a local park started to serve as a meeting place for homosexual men, Phelps began to protest against homosexuality. Phelps subsequently enlarged the scope of his activities and formed protests in areas where civil rights were being debated for LGBT people. Phelps received criticism in 1998 when he repeatedly exclaimed "Matt is in hell" during the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a man murdered for being homosexual.
Westboro Baptist Church bases its work around the belief that "God Hates Fags", and expresses the opinion, based on its Biblical interpretation, that nearly every tragedy in the world is God's punishment for homosexuality – specifically society's increasing tolerance and acceptance of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. It maintains that God hates homosexuals above all other kinds of "sinners" and that homosexuality should be a capital crime. The church runs the website GodHatesFags.com, and GodHatesAmerica.com, and websites expressing condemnation of LGBT people, Roman Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States. The organisation is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group has achieved notoriety because of its picketing of funeral processions of U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.