Megan Phelps-Roper has narrated 2 audiobooks on Listento.it by 2 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 130 ratings. The most-rated is Unfollow.
Unfollow
Summary
The activist and TED speaker Megan Phelps-Roper reveals her life growing up in the most hated family in America At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy. As Phelps-Roper grew up, she saw that church members were close companions and accomplished debaters, applying the logic of predestination and the language of the King James Bible to everyday life with aplomb - which, as the church’s Twitter spokeswoman, she learned to do with great skill. Soon, however, dialogue on Twitter caused her to begin doubting the church’s leaders and message: If humans were sinful and fallible, how could the church itself be so confident about its beliefs? As she digitally jousted with critics, she started to wonder if sometimes they had a point - and then she began exchanging messages with a man who would help change her life. A gripping memoir of escaping extremism and falling in love, Unfollow relates Phelps-Roper’s moral awakening, her departure from the church, and how she exchanged the absolutes she grew up with for new forms of warmth and community. Rich with suspense and thoughtful reflection, Phelps-Roper’s life story exposes the dangers of black-and-white thinking and the need for true humility in a time of angry polarization.
©2019 Megan Phelps-Roper (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Megan Phelps-Roper
Summary
Joining us at Audible Studios is former member of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church Megan Phelps-Roper, who has written a book titled Unfollow. Phelps-Roper, born in 1986 in Topeka, Kansas, was raised within in the Westboro Baptist Church. Her grandfather was the church's founder, Fred Phelps. Phelps-Roper left the church, along with her sister Grace, in November 2012. Leaving the church meant that she had to cut all ties with her family, as the members of the church refuse to communicate with those who have left. Phelps-Roper married Chad Fjelland in 2016, and together they have a daughter. Phelps-Roper is no longer a practicing Christian. Since leaving the Westboro Baptist Church, Phelps-Roper has lobbied to overcome divisions and hatred between religious and political divides. In 2017 she presented a TED talk discussing her experiences of being raised within the church and about her journey towards leaving. This year, Megan Phelps-Roper has written a book, Unfollow, sharing her inside look at the church and the families within it. We'll chat about it in this interview as well as her views on faith since leaving the Westboro Baptist Church and what it was like to leave her family behind.
©2019 Audible Ltd (P)2019 Audible Ltd