Louis Theroux Meets The Most Hated Family In America

“God is your enemy." “You will eat your babies." "God hates fags." These are not typical Christian messages, but the fire and brimstone preachings of the Phelps family who make up almost all of the 71 members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. Probably the most controversial church in America, it is where Louis Theroux spent three weeks trying to fathom why they have created such a strange ministry.

Since the Iraq war, this Church has become increasingly infamous for picketing the funerals of dead soldiers as their protest against an America that "tolerates homosexuality". The Phelps family believes that these soldiers were struck down by God's wrath for fighting for a depraved and doomed nation.

Shirley, daughter of the leader – Pastor Fred Phelps – takes Louis into the bosom of her family. Her 11 children go to school, watch movies and play sport, but they have no friends and no spare time is allowed. Their life must be given over to preaching against homosexuality and spent in preparation for, they believe, the fast-approaching judgement day.

As Louis becomes a fixture around their home compound, he begins to witness the buried emotional toll this life has taken on the younger members. Jael (21) says she will never marry, never have a boyfriend and never have sex. Instead, she'll attend five pickets a week across the country, shouting out the Phelps's message of hate.

A group of toddlers hangs in her wake, holding picket signs they clearly don't understand: six-year-old Noah has a banner emblazoned with the message "Thank God for 9/11".

Louis also meets Steve Drain, the last documentary maker to film the members. So touched was Drain by their message that, halfway through filming, he moved his whole family down from Florida and is now Pastor Fred Phelps's right-hand man.

Louis locks horns with the leaders of the ministry and lays bear their inner workings as they doggedly pursue their mission. But he also tries to find out if there's any chance of the younger members escaping the influence of the elders.

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