Some people paint swastikas on places of worship. Others burn crosses on front lawns.

The members of the Westboro Baptist Church bring their brand of hate to the funerals of soldiers.

They think God kills soldiers because he hates homosexuals. We won’t try to explain that kind of logic. We can’t.

We do know that in a country of 298 million people, you’re going to have idiots. And, in a country that allows and encourages free speech, they will be drawn to that great idiot magnet, the television camera.

We hope, however, that local TV stations will show restraint Saturday when a group of gay bashers from Kansas tries to ruin what should be a solemn and dignified ceremony, the funeral services for a dead soldier.

Services will be conducted Saturday for Sgt. Corey Dan who was killed early last week in Iraq.

Members of the Westboro Church in Topeka, Kan., have announced on their Web site that they will protest at the services. The group has come to the ludicrous conclusion that the roadside bomb has become God’s weapon of choice as he punishes the United States for not doing more to persecute homosexuals.

In the name of religion, the 75 members of this little church stalk the families of the dead, showing up at their funerals bearing signs announcing “God hates fags” and “Smell the brimstone.”

The daughter of the church’s leader, Shirley Phelps-Roper, told one interviewer that we have “turned our country over to fags, and now your children come home in body bags.”

Fags and bags. They repeat that over and over on their Web site and in interviews, no doubt because they admire their own ability to rhyme two words.

Of course, hate and stupidity often go hand in hand. That was demonstrated clearly in 2003 when members of the World Church of the Creator showed up in Lewiston to hold an anti-Somali rally.

About a half-dozen members of the group arrived on a bitterly cold day to a similarly cold reception from thousands of people protesting their hateful Neo-Nazi message.

They came, they spoke, the community rallied against them and they were never heard from again.

The haters did accomplish something, however: They pulled our communities together and an organization promoting love and tolerance was born.

We predict the haters from Kansas will do the same. If they appear on Saturday, they should remind us all that compassion and tolerance are precious, and they are not shared by all.

We should remember that haters always find other people to blame and hate, whether they be Jews or blacks, Christians or Muslims, foreigners or gays, and that we all have an obligation to protect and support the people they hate.

There is, of course, much injustice in the world. That a family cannot bury their son in peace is among the most grievous.

We hope the members of the group must one day answer to God for their actions in His name.