BALTIMORE - K. Ryan Jones knew he'd picked an incendiary subject when he decided to make a documentary about Westboro Baptist Church for an undergraduate film class at the University of Kansas. He didn't know he had good timing, too.

The making of "Fall from Grace" coincided with a surge in attention for the small, fundamentalist church, whose members picket the funerals of soldiers killed overseas. They believe American military casualties are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

Pastor Fred Phelps and his Topeka, Kan., congregation - most of them members of his immediate family - think any publicity is good publicity. They cooperated fully with Jones, who allows them plenty of time to explain their ideology.

Some viewers might think they get just enough rope to hang themselves.

"You can't hardly imagine a more fitting way to severely punish a people than to begin to blow the cream of their young manhood and womanhood to smithereens in Iraq," Phelps says, "and the forum, or the venue, to preach that, is the funeral of some soldier, some young American soldier who's been blown to smithereens by an IED."

Phelps' choice of venue has gotten him in trouble. In October, a federal jury in Baltimore levied an $11 million judgment against the church after the father of a fallen soldier sued Phelps and his congregation for invasion of privacy and causing emotional distress. The church plans to appeal and has not paid any damages; meanwhile, its members continue to picket military funerals around the country.

Jones told The Associated Press that he worried it might be irresponsible to give Phelps yet another forum. But he believes the documentary will do more good than harm.

"This is not a problem that's going to go away simply by ignoring it," Jones said. "The goal of the film is to educate people about this group - the way they think, the way that they act and why they do these things, so we can be better equipped to handle it."

Jones gathered footage for "Fall from Grace" between October 2005 and October 2006, spending time with church members and interviewing those affected by their protests, including Topeka's mayor and police chief and the widow of a young soldier.

It's not a polished documentary. (Jones had scant financial resources - he estimates his budget at $10,000 - and he relies too heavily on footage of Westboro members protesting and montages of their picket signs.) But the film accomplishes Jones' goal of explaining the origins of Phelps' vitriol toward fallen soldiers.

Phelps, a disbarred lawyer, founded the Westboro Baptist Church more than 50 years ago, but he only began protesting against gays in 1991 - shortly after he was banned from practicing law in both state and federal courts.

The church began picketing outside a Topeka park known for homosexual activity. "It just kind of escalated from there," says Sara Phelps, the pastor's granddaughter.

Military funerals is where the group got noticed

But the decision to protest military funerals brought far more attention to the church than its pickets that targeted gays directly.

Timothy Phelps, the pastor's son, explains why: "We found their idol, and we're (urinating) all over it."

The choice of soldiers - particularly those killed by improvised explosive devices, or IEDs - was not arbitrary. The church believes IEDs are proof of God's retribution because a pipe bomb exploded outside the home of Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, in 1995. No one was injured, and the perpetrators received scant punishment.

"It's this narcissistic idea that, 'Of course, an IED was set off at our church, and now IEDs are being used to kill soldiers. It's got to be God's retribution,"' Jones said. "It's narcissism in the extreme."

"Fall from Grace" also suggests that Phelps has a long-standing anger problem. Phelps has 13 children, and nine of them remain his loyal followers. Jones interviews two of the four who have left the church, and they describe beatings and psychological abuse by their father.

Dortha Phelps characterizes her father as "basically addicted to anger - a rage-aholic." Says Nate Phelps, who left home at 18 after repeated beatings: "It was just scary to be near him."

Despite the defections, Phelps' ministry appears likely to continue even beyond his death. Jones interviews several children who repeat the church's gay-bashing mantras as they frolic around a swimming pool.

Phelps-Roper said in an interview that she was particularly pleased with the children's contribution to the film.

"It's wonderful that these children can know the word of God," she said. "If we didn't believe this is the word of God and it's absolutely essential, we wouldn't be out there doing it. And we're sure not going to be ashamed of it."