Enough is enough

We really have to do something about Westboro Baptist Church--they're the folks who bring hate and nonsense to the funerals of brave men and women who die in defense of our country because...hell, it's hard to say why exactly...but it has to do with GLBT stuff and the Defense Department's acceptance of the fact that there are military folks who are gay. Go figure.

Now they have announced via Twitter that they plan to protest against the hellish behavior of GLBT folks at Robin Williams' funeral. Apparently he was an 'enabler of gays' (whatever the hell that means) and he make jokes about God.

(What did Jesus say to the bartender? "Bring me water in a wine glass."--Maybe the Westboro folks will show up at my funeral now.....)

Seriously, this kind of hate and nonsense has no place in the world of death and funerals.

I often ponder the hate that people have for 'the other'. The gospel this Sunday is about Jesus' conversation with a Gentile woman in Matthew( also told in Mark). She comes to ask him to heal her daughter. The disciples want to send her away because she is 'the other'. And even Jesus tells her he has come to the children of Israel and the bread of the children should not be fed to 'dogs'.

Jesus Christ, what were you thinking?

That passage, only in Mark and Matthew is the only place in the gospels where 1) Jesus is unkind to someone asking him for help and 2) learns something from 'the other'.

The woman says to him, bowing before him, "but shouldn't the dogs be allowed to eat the crumbs from the children's table?"

Jesus is suddenly stunned by the Gentile woman's faith and heals her daughter.

I don't want to suggest we should wonder "What Would Jesus Do?"--those wrist bands with WWJD drove me crazy.

But isn't it time that the supposed sane--you and me, for example--stood up in some productive way to the obviously crazy--like Westboro Baptist Church and say, "For God's sake, enough is enough! Go under whatever rock you crawled out from under and hate as much as you want--but you have no right to be in 'our space' and especially in the space where we are mourning the death of a patriot or a beloved comedian...."

Wouldn't that make sense? I'm just asking.....