Virtuous

 My good friend Roberta wrote this post about an issue that needs to be raised.

A recent article about Elizabeth Edwards' life and death mentioned the fact that the Westboro Baptist Church was planning to picket her funeral.  It took me a bit to wrap my head around that - how can someone picket a funeral?  Exactly what could they be objecting to?  And who would they be trying to reach with such behavior?

It's beyond my comprehension, that anyone could spend so much time and effort on being cruel to people who are already suffering.
 
Well, it turns out that the Westboro Baptist Church is a group of folks completely without bias when it comes to Hate.  They abuse everyone equally, which is awfully egalitarian of them.  But they are particularly fond of picketing funerals.

Evidently there is more satisfaction in kicking people who are already down.

Of course, there is one area in which the Westboro Baptist Church members are less than evenhanded - and this is why Elizabeth Edwards and the members of the military who have given up their lives for their country have been lucky enough to draw the WBC's short straw.  The Westboro Baptist Church particularly loves to lavish their attention on funerals of people who are likely to draw media attendance.  Evidently any attention is good attention, and the Westboro Baptist Church is willing to brave God's wrath on the whoring issue when it comes to parading their naked souls in front of the media.

Well, it's all a matter of taste and very basic good manners.  And of course it's a moral issue.  But it's also a matter of rudimentary logic and theology.

Frankly, even if we are to assume that folks with cancer are suffering a prolonged, agonizing death and then suffering eternal hellfire in payment for some sin or other - committed either by the individual or by society in general - what business is it of these members of the Westboro Baptist Church to stand in judgment?  Whatever happened to that whole 'cast the first stone' passage of the New Testament that these so-called Christians are so fond of?  It seems to me that Jesus was pretty specific about letting God be the judge on these issues.

Of course, they might not be so sure about how that judgment might fall on their own heads when that time comes.  It's one thing to have the courage of one's convictions.  But these paragons of virtue don't even have the guts to cast that stone while the person in question is alive and able to respond.

How is anyone to judge that?