Posted on 05/27/2004 6:19:31 PM PDT by take
U.S. Hate Crime Bill Could Criminalize Biblical Truth, Pro-Family Spokesman Fears
(AgapePress) - A controversial hate crimes bill has been resurrected on Capitol Hill -- this time under Republican leadership. The Culture and Family Institute (CFI) says the legislation is being pushed by the homosexual lobby, which is emboldened following the court-ordered legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.
Two U.S. Senate Republicans have introduced the new legislation, the language of which is virtually the same as that in an earlier attempt by liberal lawmakers to put a hate crimes law on the books -- an effort that was defeated. However, this newly introduced bill would attach "sexual orientation" to the language of the previous bill.
Bob Knight CFI director Bob Knight believes conservatives need to be wary about the proposal. "Even though this bill is sponsored by Gordon Smith and Orrin Hatch -- both Republicans -- it's really the old Kennedy hate crimes bill that's been resurrected. And it's a very dangerous bill, because it adds 'sexual orientation' to hate crimes law, and it greatly expands federal jurisdiction," Knight says.
Also, the pro-family spokesman is concerned that the proposed law would require law enforcers to give priority to investigating and prosecuting crimes against homosexuals. "So if your grandmother is mugged," he posits for example, "it won't be a big deal, and the law enforcement authorities may have to put more of their revenues toward the mugging, say, of a homosexual guy walking down the street. Now both deserve protection, but certainly the gay guy doesn't deserve more than your grandmother."
Another major worry is that the hate crimes bill proposed by Smith and Hatch, if passed, will put the First Amendment rights of Christians at risk, making them subject to prosecution simply for expressing biblical views about the homosexual lifestyle. Knight notes that such a bill has already been approved by lawmakers in Canada, where he fully expects it to "muzzle public discussion of homosexuality and even someday silence pastors."
Current Canadian federal law forbids anyone from publishing materials or speaking in any way that could result in the "incitement of hatred and genocide" against certain specified groups. By adding "sexual orientation" to that list, Knight says Canada's lawmakers may have set up grounds for prosecuting anyone who criticizes homosexuality. And that is what he fears may happen in the U.S. if the legislation proposed by Smith and Hatch is approved.
The Canadian bill does contain a religious exemption in the "hate speech" section of Canada's Criminal Code. But in a recent news release, the Christian Coalition Inc. of Canada (CCIC) noted that the exemption places the burden of proof on the accused and is too vague and open to interpretation to serve as an adequate defense against charges of hate speech.
In a disturbing example of the implications of this bill, CCIC cited a Saskatchewan court case in which the Bible was determined to be hate literature. There, the Canadian court upheld a fine against a Saskatoon newspaper publisher and a man who placed an ad listing Bible verses about homosexuality.
Knight says the logical next step in the process of advancing hate crime legislation in America will be to criminalize free speech and thought. Should U.S. lawmakers pass a hate crimes bill that includes sexual orientation, he fears it will be used to give homosexuals special status as a protected group, while Christians' who express biblical views against the homosexual lifestyle end up as "fair game."
If I was there to watch he would just quietly shake his head in disgust. I know him well.
There will be no such thing as a hate crime until someone is charged with one against a White Man.
This SURPRISES him? Orrin Hatch is an enemy of America. To paraphrase "Manchurian Candidate", if Hatch were a paid agent of Al Queda he could not possibly do more damage to this nation.
Hopefully Utah will send Hatch packing in 2006.
What We Can Do To Help Defeat the "Gay" Agenda |
|
Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Version 1.1) |
|
Myth and Reality about Homosexuality--Sexual Orientation Section, Guide to Family Issues" |
Hmmmm? A better resolution would be to get Hatch out of office .. along with all the other RINO's.
I Love Jesus
http://www.ousob.com/mediafiles/i_can_only_imagine.asx listen to this
There's something horribly wrong with Hatch. He reminds me of a preemie. I don't know, his appearance or demeanor wouldn't bother me if he was a real conservative.
You expect a Ted Kennedy or Bawney Fwank to look repellent, since their minds and hearts are repellent.
RINOS are worse than out and out liberal leftists.
I stand for heterosexual marraige, without compromising for political expediency, as these two Mormans have done.
Good point about the Muslims.. If you are a gay person who hates blacks,and kills one,is that a hate crime?
This whole thing gets curioser and curiouser.
That's a lesson I learned years ago long before FR ever began. And people confuse them with conservatives; they're NOT.
oooh, ..... can we add the ACLU, CAIR, Me.Ch.A., La Raza, and all the enviro-nuttues in there too? I like the way you think.
GOP revolution on its last legs
May 27, 2004
BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Dr. Tom Coburn, the plainspoken obstetrician from Muskogee, Okla., was back in Washington briefly last week. Republican senators greeted him with mixed emotions. He is their best hope for keeping an Oklahoma seat Republican in the closely divided Senate. The bad news is, he would be as prickly as he was during his six years in the House (1995-2000).
Coburn's problem is that he takes seriously the professed Republican agenda: limited government, entitlement reform and anti-abortion advocacy. He was a rare sincere GOP supporter of term limits, leaving the House after three terms as he promised to do. The result is scant support for Coburn from the Republican establishment.
That situation suggests the current realignment cycle in American politics is nearing an end after 36 years, with the Republican Party displaying symptoms of a nervous breakdown. The party's leadership, from President Bush on down, went out of its way to push the undependable Republican Sen. Arlen Specter to victory against a staunch conservative in the Pennsylvania primary because he was considered a stronger general election candidate. In contrast, dependably conservative Coburn gets no establishment support in the contested Oklahoma primary, though he is the best bet in November.
The Oklahoma Senate seat was safely Republican until Sen. Don Nickles surprised everybody by not seeking re-election. Nickles, Sen. James Inhofe and the state party apparatus got behind former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys. Conservative Republican Rep. Ernest Istook wanted to run but was squeezed out. The only problem was that Humphreys looked like a loser against Rep. Brad Carson, a clever Democrat who votes with the liberals two-thirds of the time but sounds like a moderate in Oklahoma.
With a Democratic victory in sight, Coburn on March 1 ended his retirement from politics. Without financing or endorsements, he had a 12-point lead over Humphreys and was running even with Carson, according to the Tulsa World's poll (taken March 26-April 5). Instead of generating support, those numbers intensified the establishment's determination to keep Coburn in Muskogee. Instead of raising money for him, the Republican lobbyist community whispered that Coburn was not solidly for Bush.
All this dates back a decade when Coburn came to Washington as a foot soldier in the Gingrich Revolution. By July 1997, Coburn had concluded that Speaker Newt Gingrich was no revolutionary. He was a leader in the unsuccessful coup attempt to replace Gingrich with then-Rep. Bill Paxon, now the only big-time Washington lobbyist who supports Coburn.
Coburn in the Senate can be expected to act much as he did in the House, when he constantly harassed the appropriators for spending the budget surplus. He would not follow the accepted freshman senator's model of spending his first two years listening and waiting. From day one, he would join John McCain in upbraiding colleagues over their insatiable appetite for pork. He would push immediately for Social Security and Medicare reform. He would make clear his unhappiness over the way the Department of Health and Human Services has been run under Republican management led by Secretary Tommy Thompson.
Coburn was so uncongenial to the go-along, get-along mood that characterized the Republican majority in the House that a conflict-of-interest complaint was filed against him because he went back to Muskogee every week to deliver babies. If he had to choose, he declared, he would give up Congress -- and the complaint was dropped. In his current campaign, Coburn spends two days a week practicing medicine.
In announcing his candidacy, Coburn took dead aim at professional politicians: ''I believe we have a deficit of moral courage in the United States Congress. We have many learned individuals who know what is right but have not the courage to stand against the moral corruption that is now attempting to undermine our republic.'' Tom Coburn is not running to be the most popular senator.
Coburn sounds excellent. Why would the article be entitled "Etc on Its Last Legs"?
Screw RINOS. I suppose they're better than regular liberals since they make the GOP the majority, but the "going along to get along" and "you vote for mine, I'll vote for yours" s**t is ruining conservatism.
What is it with the republicans penchant for suicide? IMO Hatch should perform the act in private and spare the republic the damage due to his personal mania. The good citizens of Utah really need to consider how it is that they keep electing the man who gave us Ruth Bader Ginsberg. IMO, he is an unrepentant and irreparable weapons-grade asshole and fool.
I would pay to see Hatch run over by a steamroller.
Bears repeating!
If only I were that noble... ;^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.