If any of you out there have been following the news at all, you have seen the unfolding of the courts decision to allow the morons to the left (which belong to an anti-America, anti-gay, anti-…well, just about everything) to protest at a funeral of a fallen soldier waving signs just like you see here.

The Westboro Baptist Church (whose website happens to be www.godhatesfags.com, please don’t visit the site, I really don’t want to give these people any more traffic than they may have) has been the epitome of stupidity and intolerance and gives all of us that are right leaning a bad name. In 2007, they lost a large court battle when they were sued by the father of the fallen soldier. They had showed up at the funeral, of course, and reveled in the death of this mans son. If it was me? I would have taken a few of the bastards out as they ran away screaming until the police stopped me. BUT it wasn’t me, and so papers were filed and the judge ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church (here on out WBC for convenience reasons) was to pay the father $11 million dollars. They challenged the ruling, and amazingly, the next judge overturned the ruling and ordered the FATHER to pay WBC's court costs! Amazing.

Regardless, the Supreme Court has said they will take the case on, and it will be interesting to see what the final ruling will be. My knee jerk reaction would be that the First Amendment would be upheld, however, there are plenty of precedents that limit free speech because the speech incites violence. The often cited example would be yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater when there was no fire.

However, this case brings up a larger issue: the hypocrisy of so many that call themselves specifically "Good" Christians.

I consider myself a Christian, in the sense that I believe in God and Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and try and live a decent, honest life. Have I been to church lately? No, because I work 21 turn and often I work on Sundays. My main point is that so many people that tag the word "good" to the front of "Christian" are often times anything but. In the news recently we have the Christian Militia (who were coming up with a plan to kill police officers and government officials) and the WBC, not to mention the scores of people I have met in my life who claim to be "good" Christians, but don’t act very Christ like what-so-ever.

I know, I know. "But Travis! You swear all the time, you haven't been to church in a while, and you’re very judgmental (just read any of your opinion pieces)!"

Here is where I draw the difference: I don’t CLAIM to be perfect. I’ve done plenty of un-Christian like things in my life and will probably do plenty more before I die, but you will never see me hide behind God or put on a false front when I do go to church. There are plenty of people out there who, while they drive to church, yell and scream at each other, call each other names, talk badly about the people they are about to see…and then as soon as the car door opens, *BOOM!* Out come the "Good" Christians.

Being a person who believes in God should not be something you hold over your friends’ heads. It’s a lot like being an alcoholic, making a big show about beating your addiction, and then drinking a bottle and a half of NyQuil every night just to fall asleep. It’s pointless, and it’s a term that is used so very often by people who are just trying to make themselves feel better, or it is being used as a moniker in order to do hateful things (like the groups mentioned above).

By all means, believe in God, Allah, Jesus, or the flying spaghetti monster. Whatever faith you truly believe in and feel strongly about. But being a Christian, or a Muslim, or whatever, is not something that should be used AGAINST others, and not something that should be used to cover up illegal or heinous acts.