Extremists? Yes indeedy. Christians? I Don’t Think So.

Usually when Dan and I go to bed, we will spend 20-30 minutes surfing through the channels before we go to sleep. Last night I stumbled upon BBC World News and was surprised to see a report about “Christian extremists” who were protesting at funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. These so-called Christians were holding up signs that said things like “Don’t Worship the Dead,” “God Hates Fags,” “God Is Your Enemy,” and “God Hates You.”

The news piece featured a group of bikers called the Patriot Guard who rode in, revving their engines and holding up large American flags to drown out the voices and obscure from view the protesters.

(If you’re interested in seeing a news report on this, you can see a similar story that aired on ABC News here.)

Now granted, it was late and I was tired, and this wasn’t an American newscast, so I thought that surely there must be some mistake. This just couldn’t be for real. That individuals would protest at a funeral and insult the dead was unthinkable… to hear that they are doing so in the name of God just made me sick to my stomach. I thought that surely there had been some misunderstanding, said as much to Dan, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

But my wonderful and resourceful husband looked it all up for me and sent me the links, which I have included in the above paragraphs. Every bit of it is real, and there was no mistake in the news report I saw.

Well, I take that back. There was one mistake. The reporter kept referring to the protesters as “Christian extremists.” I tell you, there is absolutely nothing Christian about what those people are doing, and I would even go so far as to say that their actions are downright blasphemous.