These Christians: See how they club one another

Through all of my life, I have held to the belief that most people are basically good and just want a fair chance at a decent life for themselves and their families. I believe in trusting a person until they give me a reason not to trust them. I have worked for people who were paranoid and did not share this trust in others, but I've chosen not to live that way.

Every once in a while, however, an event occurs that shakes my belief in the basic decency of others. One such event was the decision of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, who died of cancer earlier this week.

To me--and to many others as well, I'm sure--Elizabeth Edwards was a role model. In everything that she did, she showed class and dignity.

She and her husband, John, a candidate for President in 2008, overcame the death of their 16-year-old son, Wade, in 1996 and turned it into a life-changing event for themselves. She was an exemplary political wife in both 2004, when John ran for Vice President and she first became aware of her cancer, and 2008, when her cancer recurred. Even then, she stood by John and continued to campaign for him.

After John withdrew his presidential candidacy and she learned that her cancer was terminal, she became a staunch and vocal advocate of women who suffer from cancer. When she learned of his infidelities, she somehow managed to carry on. Elizabeth Edwards remained an example and role model right up to the end.

Thus it shocked me to learn of the plans of members of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket her funeral. They preach Christianity but they don't practice it. I'm reminded of a comment made by a classmate many years ago, when I was a seminarian studying for the Catholic priesthood: "These Christians. See how they club one another."

What disgusts me even more are the reasons that these so-called Christians have given for their protest. I will not dignify their ugliness and lies by repeating any of them here, but they are so cruel and hurtful that they make the Crusades look like a misson of mercy and the Spanish Inquisition look like an exchange of text messages between best friends.

Some of you may remember Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, a demagogue of the 1950s who ruined many lives by preying on the fear of Communism that was prevalent at the time and persecuting many innocent Government employees by falsely charging them with being Communists (at a time when the American Communist Party was still legal in this country, if I'm not mistaken). McCarthy was finally stopped by a landmark broadcast by Edward R. Murrow, the great pioneer television journalist, and ultimately by his own actions at the Army-McCarthy hearings, where he claimed the U.S. Army was knowingly harboring Communists.

As the hearings began to come apart when McCarthy's hypocrisy and cruelty became clear, Joseph Welch, the attorney for the Army, put McCarthy in his place with some memorable words. I would say those same words to the pastor and parishioners of Westboro Baptist Church:

"Until this moment, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness....If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me....Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?....If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good."