Who was it that said something along the lines of, “let him who is without sin” be the first to cast stones? (Jesus. It was Jesus.) It is an important lesson to remember in these trying times, and one that seems to have slipped the (albeit, perhaps sickly?) mind of Arizona preacher Brother Dean Saxton, whose hate speech on behalf of The Almighty One angered one woman so greatly, she took a baseball bat to his skull.
But let us rewind. According to ABC15, Saxton has made it his full-time job to stand outside of high schools in Glendale, AZ, while loudly spewing hate speech about rape victims and the LGBTQ community. According to the news station, he also frequently holds a sign which reads, “You deserve to be raped.”
It was presumably this very notice which caused 19-year-old Tabitha Brubaker to strike him over the head with a baseball bat. According to authorities, the teenager has been charged with felony assault as well as an unrelated marijuana possession charge.
A video of the incident was posted to YouTube, in which the preacher is heard yelling his homophobic bulletin full blast.
“The Bible says it’s not okay to be gay,” screeches Saxton. “You need to stop doing naughty, nasty things, Apollo High School. You need to stop looking up naughty, nasty things on the Internet.”
Several students approach him, asking him to stop his hateful tirade, as does one teacher. The preacher accuses the teacher of influencing the “evil students,” to which they reply, “I’m trying to influence the fact that you need to be gone. I think you’re a disgrace to Christianity. Why don’t you go and preach it to somebody who really wants to hear your message, like Westboro Baptist Church?”
Another adult asks Saxton to leave, adding that he doesn’t think the preacher was “playing with a full deck.” Saxton is then hit over the head, camera still rolling. The crowd that has gathered begins to loudly applaud and cheer.
Though violence is never the answer, Saxton was asking for war when he cast that first stone. He certainly got one. And while we personally may not condone hitting someone in the head with a baseball bat, many on social media certainly do.
Karma eventually gets us all.