Easter Sunday

A time of rejoice. A time of reflection. A time of family, forgiveness and love. It is a time that people should know that Christ's life was important. It is a time of transformation.

The question is then raised, why on a police blog would someone write about religion. Well, if it were not for free speech, I would not be going there, in the religious halls. But today, while many people were celebrating Christ's resurrection, there were some celebrating their own efforts.

This effort was the right to protest a church. The right to stand on a street corner and subject their belief's on others. Now don't get me wrong, I do believe that everyone should have the ability to stage a protest. It should be peaceful and respectful. Even though you are protesting someone elses actions, you should provide respect.

So I decided to inquire why one church or congregation would protest another congregation. In order to discover the reasons, you must talk with the protesters.

I was quite surprised that they were willing to speak to the authority figure. They were very interested in knowing their limits, what actions they could take and what would happen if they did not follow directions.

They then informed me of why they were there protesting another church. It was all about the literal Bible. They believed that there are false prophets and that this particular church was about false prophets and not following the Bibles instructions.

See, in their minds, the teaching of Christ is left to those who are commanded to teach. It is all about men. And this particular church allowed women to stand and speak. What a shock.

I wonder if they have looked around at other denominations? Have they seen women priests, ministers and pastors? So why this church? Well, the answer was more illusive than I thought. So I guess that is why I am pondering this point.

There is some measure of understanding of hospitality. Even when your enemy comes forth, there are those who believe that hospitality is important.

So this church that was being protested was very hospitable. They took the time to locate a spot for the protesters (even though they refused). It was like giving them a home. They even went as far as providing snacks, coffee or water.

So I guess I would ask, so what church would you attend? The one that was very hospitable, offering a place to stand, food and drink or the one who stood with signs that said nothing about the protested church, but spoke of doom and gloom (blaming God for 911).

With two officers working in one squad, you could say that we were a little busy. To put it in perspective, there was a suspicious person call, a missing person, alarm calls, open doors, disturbance calls, a fight and a couple of shoplifters.

To top it off, an officer handcuffed an individual for transport. Upon arriving at their destination, he tried to remove the handcuff''s that are at least 25 years old. The handcuff had to be cut off this individual.

So another equipment malfunction. I have a friend that would merely respond, "That's low bid for you!"

Gooday.