Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope by Megan Phelps-Roper

‘What if we’re wrong? What if this isn’t The Place led by God Himself? What if we’re just people?’

I am not unbiased. I am suspicious of organised religion, and deeply mistrustful of the beliefs of evangelicals and fundamentalists. I am not entirely sure how (or even why) this book made its way onto my reading list, but it did, and it made me think.

Based on its rhetoric the Westboro Baptist Church is high on my list of despicable organisations. Ms Phelps- Roper writes of her upbringing in this fire-and-brimstone sect which is both aggressively homophobic and antisemitic. An organisation which rejoiced in the suffering inflicted on others by AIDS and natural disasters and picketed the funerals of American soldiers. Hateful, horrible conduct.  But imagine being brought up in this sect, of not knowing any other way of life, of not experiencing respectful debate?  I kept reading, interested in learning how Ms Phelps-Roper reached her decision to leave. And I acknowledge that it would be a difficult decision: leaving all that is familiar to venture into a world seen as damned.

When she was twenty-six, in November 2012, Ms Phelps-Roper left this despicable organisation. She had changed her mind. This book documents her experience within the church (which was largely comprised of family members), her happy experiences of family and acceptance of their hurtful, exclusionary actions, and then her gradual realisation of and movement into a wider world.

I acknowledge how difficult it must have been for Ms Phelps-Roper to take those first steps into uncharted territory and wish her every success in the future.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Book 20 in my 2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. I’ve entered as a ‘Nonfiction Grazer’ and this book should be included under the heading of ‘Memoir/Biography’.