Burying Tamerlan

The obscene refusal to bury the body of Boston Marathon Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev is over.  Yes, he was a disturbed man who did something evil.  But for pity's sake, the foaming at the mouth by ostensible "Christians" that he should not be buried reflects ill upon us all.  Didn't Jesus say to forgive the enemies and turn the other cheek?  Isn't the ethos of Christianity that it is up to God to judge?   Wasn't Tamerlan as much a child of God as  anyone else?  And doesn't any parent mourn their child, even if he did something incomprehensible?   Honestly, sometimes I'm with Gandhi--too many Christians are so unlike their Christ.

Fortunately, a Christian DID follow Christ, and stepped forward to help bury Tamerlan.

 From the AP:

The Virginia woman whose actions led to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev being buried about 30 miles north of her Richmond home said the angry backlash from local officials, some cemetery neighbors and online critics has been unpleasant, but she has no regrets. 

"I can't pretend it's not difficult to be reviled and maligned," Martha Mullen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. "But any time you can reach across the divide and work with people that are not like you, that's what God calls us to do." 

Tsarnaev, 26, was quietly buried Thursday at a small Islamic cemetery in rural Caroline County... 

Mullen said she was at a Starbucks when she heard a radio news report about the difficulty finding a burial spot for Tsarnaev. 

"My first thought was Jesus said love your enemies," she said. 

Then she had an epiphany. 

"I thought someone ought to do something about this — and I am someone," Mullen said.
So Mullen, a mental health counselor in private practice and a graduate of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, sent emails to various faith organizations to see what could be done. She heard back from Islamic Funeral Services of Virginia, which arranged for a funeral plot at the Al-Barzakh cemetery. "It was an interfaith effort," she said. 

Mullen, a member of the United Methodist Church, said she was motivated by her own faith and that she had the full support of her pastor. 

"Nobody is without sin," she said. "Certainly this was a horrific act, but he's dead and what happened is between him and God. We just need to bury his body and move forward. People were making an issue and detracting from the healing that needed to take place."

Sadly the local community is not as Christian as Ms Mullen and there is considerable outrage. 

Really, people?