Christians against hate crime legislation

Wow, I'm seeing a lot about this "dangerous hate crime legislation" from the Christian Conservatives. Dr. James Dobson, of Focus on the Family has this to say about it:
"It is a very dangerous piece of legislation. What they have in mind is muzzling the church."
Oh my. We Secularists will gang up with those homosexuals and march right into your church and muzzle your preacher. Oh my!

Let's take a look at this. There are two bills in the process, one from the House, and one from the Senate. I'll look at the latest version of each bill, House Resolution 1592 and Senate bill 1105.

Here are some excerpts for HR 1592:
Sec. 3 (A):
(1) IN GENERAL- At the request of State, local, or Tribal law enforcement agency, the Attorney General may provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or any other form of assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that--

(A) constitutes a crime of violence;

(B) constitutes a felony under the State, local, or Tribal laws; and

(C) is motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim, or is a violation of the State, local, or Tribal hate crime laws.

....

SEC. 6. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN HATE CRIME ACTS.

(a) In General- Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`Sec. 249. Hate crime acts

`(a) In General-

`(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person--

`(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

`(i) death results from the offense; or

`(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

`(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person--

`(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

`(I) death results from the offense; or

`(II) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

Here an excerpt from S. 1105:
Sec. 249. Hate crime acts

`(a) In General-

`(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person--

`(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

`(i) death results from the offense; or

`(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

`(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person--

`(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

`(I) death results from the offense; or

`(II) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

This legislation is absolutely awful! If you hurt someone due to their gender, or sexual orientation, you get your crime tagged as a "hate crime". Of course the Church has to oppose this!

It's just like St. Paul the Apostle said:
Romans:
1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,
1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.
1:29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,
1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents,
1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.
1:32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.
No wonder Christians hate this legislation. It contradicts their Biblical message of love.

6 comments:

Socialist Libertarian said...

I actually don't support hate crime legislation, because it amounts to legislating against thought. However, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Either get rid of all hate crime legislation, or include all groups.

lor said...

taken verbatim from the citizenlink website:

"It starts with hate crimes, then it progresses to hate speech, which will silence the pulpits of America."

This is not taken out of context - I looked.

Unbelievable - here's the thing: No hate speech should ever be flowing from any pulpit to begin with. I can't even believe anyone would ever say anything so stupid.

Jesus must be so sad.

Calladus said...

Lor,

I figure if Jesus were real, and he appeared today, he'd show up at a wedding party, turn some ditch-weed into Columbian Gold, and then be denounced and ostracized by religious conservatives.

Pharisees, Religious Fundamentalists - it's hard to tell which is which without consulting the playbook.

lor said...

lol, that's funny - and probably true :) considering that's pretty much what happened the first time around.

Just so you know, I'm a Christian and I am NOT opposed at all to this legislation. I still pray for Matthew Shephards family and all the Matthew Shephards out there.

lor said...

I guess that last comment sounded kinda pompous and jerky - I just meant that no one should have to go through what they went through.

Anonymous said...

I used to be against hate crime legislation because it punished people because of what they think.

Then I took criminal law in law school. Our modern penal system is built on the idea of punishing people for what they think!

What's the difference between manslaughter and murder? What the person was thinking when they did it.

They used to not punish people for planning crimes because it would be punishing what they thought. Now we do.

The concept that a "guilty mind" makes a crime worse prevades our law and I no longer think it is a sufficient ground to attack hate crime legislation.