Matthew Warren and Matt Drudge

Matt Drudge has posted this headline:"SHOCK: Son Of CA Megachurch Pastor Rick Warren Commits Suicide..." Why does "SHOCK" belong here? Would Drudge or anyone else post "SHOCK: Son of ... Dies of Cancer" or "SHOCK: Son of ... Dies of Stroke?"

According to numerous sources, Matthew Warren suffered from a horrible, debilitating, and sometimes fatal disease, depression. We should no more be shocked when a megachurch pastor's son succumbs to this disease than when anyone else's child does. This young man died of a terrible disease, nothing more or less.

We people of faith have come a long way in acknowledging that mental illnesses truly are diseases, not character defects. Matthew Warren, may he finally rest in peace, reminds us we still have much work to do. I pray for the day when schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, severe depression, and all mental illnesses are managed, if not cured.

Matt Drudge's "SHOCK" belongs to a bygone era. At this unspeakably difficult time, the Warren family deserves our love, not a blogger's shock.