If you knew her before 2013, Megan Phelps-Roper was a member of Westboro Baptist Church who would proudly picket at the funerals of soldiers, calling their deaths revenge for America’s acceptance of homosexuality. She was carrying on the hateful ideology of WBC founder Fred Phelps.
Cut to two years later, and Megan wasn’t just out of the church, she was trying to make amends for her disturbing past.
That journey became the subject of a fascinating New Yorker profile by Adrian Chen.
Yesterday, it was announced that the story — along with Megan’s autobiography due out soon — will be the basis for a movie called This Above All. Reese Witherspoon is one of several producers who will be working on the project.
These movies take a long time to go from announcement to a theater, but there’s no doubt a compelling story to tell of a religious fanatic who had a change of heart. It’s like the opposite of God’s Not Dead. And this one will have a happy ending.
(Screenshot via the New Yorker. Portions of this article were published earlier)