When I first saw this headline this morning, I was appalled. The burning of a church is an assault on American values. Yes, the members of this church are recklessly endangering other people’s lives with their willfully narrow-minded understanding of worship (really to make a political point, I would suspect). I get that (and don’t get me going on that). But vigilantism only makes things worse.

When I got a chance to reply, I saw that there’s been a blame-the-victim pile-on, based on no evidence whatsoever. Come on — we can do better. To say that the American right has been provocative in recent years would be the understatement of the century, but we have to stay on the high road and stay above the maelstrom of madness that has consumed the American right. (I just try to take a deep breath and focus on November.)