Respecting the Dead

There are no words for how despicable those are who condemn others in the name of God--who are they to say they know what is in the heart of God?  Thomas Paine has a lot of wisdom that can come to bear on the Westboro Baptist Church.  Arguing with them is pointless.  Calling them a religious institution is not accurate either.  I think the move towards considering their actions potential hate crimes is a much better and more accurate route to go.  It is sometimes hard to figure out that hate is at the root of something when it is cloaked in religious rhetoric, but that is the truth in this case.

This is the group that has been picketing of funerals of those who have been killed in mass murders with signs that state that they (the murdered) and we (the country) deserve it because of our tolerance of gay people and gay culture.  Only they use much more offensive language, language that does not reflect the language of the Bible and I would be embarrassed to attribute to God.  Surely God would be more articulate than "Fags Doom Nations" or "No Tears for Queers".  Some protesters can't even spell, and judging from some of their equations on signs, they aren't very good at math either.

My brother last week instructed me and all his Facebook friends to try to find inspiration rather than cynicism in the world, even when faced with tragedy, and I think there is merit in that.  In that search, I think that it is really great to see other people pushing back against that which is unforgivable with passion and in great numbers.  First it was just relatively unorganized people who wanted to counter rally at funerals.  Then it became quite organized--unions got involved with organizing their members to have a voluminous response to the protesters.  They were not so much counter protesting as they were forming a human wall to protect the mourners at each funeral.  The first time I really noticed it getting media coverage  was Newtown, but it happened in Aurora after those shootings as well (and probably more often than I know).  That is very nice to see.


I quote the wise Mr. Paine once more in closing.  He was a product of the Age of Enlightenment, so much of what he said was a product of his time, but he was a master at articulating the principles of the era during which our independent nation was born.  He said, "Belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man."  May the members of the Westboro Baptist Church reap what they sow.