Posted on 07/02/2004 3:15:09 PM PDT by swilhelm73
THE LIGHTS ARE GOING OUT [John Derbyshire] A Pentecostalist pastor in Sweden has been sentenced to one month in jail for criticizing homosexuality in a sermon. Story here.
Sweden today, the USA tomorrow. I see from the current HUMAN EVENTS that a "hate crime" amendment was slipped into the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 2400) to add homosexuals to the list of protected classes of citizens under U.S. civil rights law. This follows relentless lobbying from groups with innocuous, deliberately deceptive names like "Human Rights Campaign." Naturally the amendment passed the Senate by a landslide: "Eighteen Republicans and all Democrats present voted in favor."
Crimes are crimes--these hate crimes laws are aimed at censoring speech, protecting people from feeling offended--something quite subjective. We are losing our ancient liberties, ladies and gentleman, and the political classes, regardless of party, are perfectly OK with it. Posted at 12:25 PM
Consider the source. Derbyshire is a self-congratulating homophobe.
Agree or disagree with what the minister in question said...but he should have the right to say it; both as freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
The first amendment of our Constitution covers exactly these inherent human freedoms. The benighted Swedes, however, obviously do not.
It's Sweden, already. Home of blonde furniture and blonder natives.
Their views should be expected to by quite blonde, as well.
The good pastor knew the lid he was prying off on public policy when he said it.
FMCDH(BITS)
Oh, be a sport. It's an old tagline.
Are there appeals to higher courts there?
We will have to defend those rights with a rifle here in this country before too long. The courts aren't exactly on our side. No one should allow themselves to be arrested for simply stating the truth - or even an opinion that someone else with a thin skin happens not to like.
The US is 5-7 years behind Sweden in social/cultural norms.....
Clearly you prefer to engage in ad hominems ("homophobe")rather than debate the substance of the subject.
My point is: John Derbyshire exults in homosexual bashing. Indeed, to such an extent that he seeks out odd articles from Scotland and such to make his gleeful points.
I think he has unresolved issues of his own. His happy recountings of his boarding school days in the UK, not withstanding.
Consider that "homophobe" is an invention of homosexual activists and means whatever they take it to mean at the moment. As we speak some Muslim leader is calling gays scum, and the Swedish authorities are averting their gaze carefully. Christians are an insignificant minority; Muslims are a growing threat to the peace and so much be treated gingerly.
Hardly? Swedish couples stopped marrying, even after children were born, about a decade ago. That trend has gathered momentum here in the US over the past couple of years as well as our Swedenistic move towards socialism....
Or maybe he just think that gays are prigs of an especially annoying type, who find offense everywhere. Oh, this is called paranoia, isn't it!
Freedom sure can be detrimental to one's freedom can't it?....
When ludafisk is outlawed, only ludafisk eaters will be outlaws.
The means and content of Derbyshire's 'exultations' on homosexual-related topics aren't the issue at all for those of us concerned with the jailing of this minister.
So, if you have a fair or even unfair problem with Derbyshire, you're entitled to express it without fear of being jailed. Persons with fair or unfair problems with persons of other races, genders, sexual preference, etc. must fear being jailed, at least in Sweden.
And I don't believe that's a good thing.
Certainly those who incite violence against others at a level that can be proven can be jailed, and I think that fair -- but I'm not close to being convinced that standard was met here.
The minister in question specifically did not incite violence.
As the charge against him said he "offended" with his speech and that's it.
But, in Sweden, assume I'm walking along with my 12 year old son, Lars, a fine young man and some obvious tinkerbell walks up and asks to "play" with Lars. I refuse, some discussion takes place and he calls a cop and charges me with offending him by not giving him "access" (whatever that means in faggot) to my son. Where did these deviants get this kind of power? Who is supporting them and why? Are there forces at work that we don't see or understand?
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