Goodbye Westboro Baptist Church [sic]

I spent a solid ten minutes today looking into the faces of people whose hearts are infected with hate. It was a sorry sight. It was clear that they were performing a well-rehearsed script. The signs they carried argued that God hates the Jews, that God hates homosexuals, that President Obama is the Antichrist. Their chanting was of anti-Jewish lyrics set to Jewish and Israeli melodies. It is clear that their intent was to cause pain to those they hate.

Interestingly, the people who chanted the hateful words were all women. I guess women are not immune from being haters. What I found most upsetting is that they had a child with them carrying one of their hateful signs. Already they have spread the virus of their hate to another generation.

The job remains for all of us to counter their hate with a message of acceptance and love. We are all created in God's image and are entitled to be accepted and respected. I am so glad that those folks are gone from Richmond.