"God Hates Your Feelings": Neutralizing Emotional Deviance within the Westboro Baptist Church

Drawing on individual and peer-group interviews, participant observations, and analysis of media content, we examine the habitual emotional deviance and neutralization techniques employed by the Westboro Baptist Church. We argue that their notoriety is attributed to their persistent, intentional, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDeviant behavior Vol. 38; no. 12; pp. 1439 - 1455
Main Authors Powell-Williams, Todd, Powell-Williams, Melissa
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.12.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Baptist churches
Deviance
Emotions
Neutralization theory
Sacredness
Victimization
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Summary:Drawing on individual and peer-group interviews, participant observations, and analysis of media content, we examine the habitual emotional deviance and neutralization techniques employed by the Westboro Baptist Church. We argue that their notoriety is attributed to their persistent, intentional, and unapologetic disregard for cultural feeling rules including incongruous emotional responses to events, fusion of culturally oppositional sentiments, and denigration of "sacred" groups and symbols. Interviews reveal that while claiming to embrace their deviant status, members engage in common neutralization techniques including denial of responsibility for the pain and discomfort they cause, appealing to higher loyalties, and denial of victimization.
ISSN:0163-9625
1521-0456
DOI:10.1080/01639625.2016.1257887