October 28th, 2009
Posted in I have mixed feeling when it comes to the Hate Crimes Bill being signed into law today by President Obama.
I don’t like the idea of anyone being put down because of how they feel. As a Christian, I desire to meet the person where they are and let God move them; speaking-ill out against a person individually in a hateful way, whether verbally or physically, is not how God intended it to be.
But I know that people are jealous people and will take a meaning of bill farther than it was originally intended — and will say that even speaking about what the Bible says about a cause, such as homosexuality, will call that “Hate speech” — and will take pastors and churches to court over simply restating what the Bible says on the topic. I see this as a terrible battle against the 1st amendment and free speech.
Here is an article referring to this fear that those in the religious community might have against the hate crimes bill being signed into law:
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/hatecrimes-bill-spurs-some-worry-religious-groups
Here is what I expect:
I expect to see someone, who is probably more of a radical in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, to accuse a pastor (probably a Christian pastor, although they could be Mormon), of saying that the pastor’s church is speaking “hate,” and will take them to court.
In the instance that the person is actually jsut speaking opinion and is being personally rude, there is nothing that can be done for them under the law; while by in large, I believe wholly in the 1st amendment and that this speech should be protected to some extent, as long as it doesn’t turn around and incite others to get physically violent against any other group. But if they are just quoting from the bible or restating what is there, I truly hope that the court case falls flat on it’s face! Let the case open the doors to lift this restriction on free speech.