Patriot Ride this Saturday

Note: most links (besides those for the Patriot Guard ride) may be pretty disturbing.

Izzy and I are going to join a Patriot Guard ride/honor guard in Varnville this Saturday. The family of SPC Harry Winkler (US Army) requested an honor guard for his memorial service in the town where he grew up.

The Patriot Guard "missions" started as a way to shield families of fallen soldiers and veterans from the idiotic rantings of the members and adherents of Fred Phelps' "church." The "theology" behind their criticism and picketing is a bit hard to follow, but basically seems to be:

• God hates homosexuals. (Their language isn't as polite.)
• There are homosexuals living in America.
• Therefore God hates America.
• From that, it stands to reason that God hates any soldier who has ever fought in the defense of the United States.
• It's a short step to then say that God would rejoice at the death of any American.

Who wouldn't want this at their father/brother/uncle's funeral?

I may have missed the subtleties, but I'm also Catholic and therefore even more hated by God. Worse yet, as I type this, I'm wearing pants (kept me warm on the bike ride earlier) and thus am probably even more despicable.

I went to Westboro Baptist Church's website to see if Phelps' crowd was planning to picket this Saturday's service; they are otherwise engaged. They will be picketing the funerals of two of the girls who died in the Alabama bus crash. No, I'm not kidding; the deaths of these children are a reason to celebrate their view of a god (little g) who would smite the innocent simply because of where they lived. (They are also pretty happy about Katrina deaths, miners in WV, etc.)

I have no answers as to why these children died, nor could I begin to understand wars or the courage it takes to volunteer for service. We pray for their spirits, their families and ourselves as a nation as we grieve.

We will also stand physically against those who take the name of the Lord in vain to spread their hatred.