"This is a hard film to watch," K. Ryan Jones said about Fall from Grace, his documentary centering on Reverend Fred Phelps and his followers.

Phelps is the self-ordained minister of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, whose members have gained infamy by picketing military funerals and the funerals of people who died of AIDS. The church cites the deaths of American soldiers as evidence of God exacting wrath on gay-sympathetic America.

Jones began the documentary as part of an assignment for a film class at the University of Kansas, but he ultimately spent nearly two years putting the film together.

Fall from Grace premiered at the Screenland Granada on January 24, with a repeat showing on January 26. Both showings were followed by panel discussions of the film.

Among the panelists was Dr. Tom Poe, Chair of the UMKC Department of Communications Studies. Poe said, "The goal of a documentary isn't to answer questions, but to raise them."

One such question, raised by Poe, involves the nature of religious expression in America. Poe pointed to the zeal fueling both hateful and embracing evangelists. He said, "The one thing, I think, that love and hate have in common is that neither one can stand still."

Panelist Brett Shirk, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, provided legal insight regarding the Phelps pickets. Shirk pointed to Topeka's long history of trying to limit or exterminate the influence of Phelps and his followers.

Shirk informed the audience that the government can stop a protest only by charging protestors with "incitement to riot," which means recruiting other people to commit hate crimes. As Shirk pointed out, there is a difference between saying one hates Jews, which is legal, and telling someone to burn down a synagogue, which is illegal.

Furthermore, a government can limit protestors only insofar as they are still able to convey their message. He said, "The right to protest is the right to convey a message."

For Shirk, the question lies in interpretation: can picketers still convey a message 500 feet away? Can they convey a message on the other side of a tarp? Is there any constitutional way to protect other citizens from hateful and emotionally damaging messages?

Kevin Wilmott, director of CSA: The Confederate States of America, commented on one scene in the film that compares Phelps' platform to the words of many prominent Christian fundamentalists. He said, "The other mainstream churches are really no different from Fred, in the end." The question is whether the hate-imbued messages of other churches are any better simply because people listen to them by choice rather than force.

One audience member raised an emotionally riveting question: what is child abuse? The question stemmed from a scene in the film in which one of Phelps' grandsons is interviewed.

The boy, who looked to be around six years old, said of gays, "I feel mad enough to kill them, but I can't kill them. God has to cast them down to hell." He mimicked the tone and speech patterns of a fire-and-brimstone preacher.

The anger expressed by the boy led to questions of emotional abuse. While parents have the right to raise children in the religious doctrine of their choosing, can parents cross a line by teaching their children to hate? Is such hate abusive?

Jones did not attempt to answer these questions. He instead reminded the audience of the human pain behind the messages of hate. He said, "Behind the curtain, it's really just a sad old man."

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College