An e-mail response to my Huffington Post column this week:
If you will, a quick anecdote that proves your point about the Far Right behavior. Some 20 years ago I was going through Chaplaincy training at the state mental hospital. One day I was assigned to do a Bible study with the patients, and lo and behold, I got "Jesus" in my class.-- who went on a great length about his viewpoints.
At the end I told my supervisor (who monitored the class) "I let Jesus go on too long." He replied, "Yes, but that wasn't your biggest mistake. Everything he was saying was Crazy Talk -- you should have shut him up by telling him, 'That's Crazy Talk.'" So you called it -- we have to label all the Crazy Talk, as Crazy Talk.
Grace,
Pastor Dave
Spot on. At the same time, however, we ignore it at our own peril.