THE VICTIMS OF THE GREAT WHITE CLUB FIRE deserved to die, and weren’t good people, according to a rather unpleasant religious site.

To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, I think every good Christian ought to kick their ass. In a figurative sense, anyway.

UPDATE: A reader writes:

While I think the advert was wrong, I think you may be misinterpreting what they said (or meant – but what do I know of what they meant). The orthodox Christian position is that deserving death *is part of the human condition* (that is to say, it applies equally to the authors of the advert). The fundies would argue Mother Theresa was not good enough, in herself, to deserve salvation – and no monster has sunk so low that, after repentance, and trusting in the saving work of Christ, they are beyond salvation. They would argue that, since you must get right with God (which is not something you acheive yourself, ask God to do on your behalf) before you die, and you don’t know the day or the hour of your death, then act now – or a tragedy like the fire, awful as it is, will be infinitely more awful. Again, from the Christian perspective, death is far from the biggest deal in eternity. Being separated from God is the ultimate tragedy.

As a Christian, I’m inclined to be very careful how one draws spiritual conclusions from current events – even if your perspective is right (and how often is that the case), when emotions are running high, who is going to be in a position to respond to what you are actually saying (as opposed to what they though they heard). Especially if you are going to misspeak as grossly as some did right after 911.

Yes, well, I’m familiar with the doctrine — the whole tiniest-leak-can-sink-the-greatest-ship rule (which, by the way, is actually wrong as applied to ships, or none of them would float) — but I’m not prepared to cut them much slack. Sure, you can explain this away, just as you can explain away Marcy Kaptur’s recent idiocy. But you can explain away anything. They said this the way they said it in order to attract attention. Well, they’ve got it.