Posted on 08/05/2004 7:54:18 AM PDT by missyme
"In Europe people are starting to be jailed for saying what they think." Those words were spoken by Vladimir Palko, the Slovak Interior Minister, in a strongly worded protest to the Swedish ambassador to Slovakia. The minister's comments represented outrage over the jailing of a Christian pastor for preaching against homosexuality. The arrest of this pastor in Sweden is only a foretaste of what is to come, if homosexual advocates and their ideology gain traction in the United States and other nations.
Ake Green, pastor of a Pentecostal congregation in Kalmar, Sweden, was sentenced to one month in prison on a charge of inciting hatred against homosexuals. Pastor Green was prosecuted for his sermon in a January hearing, where he was found guilty of "hate speech against homosexuals" for a sermon preached in 2003.
According to press reports, Pastor Green condemned homosexuality as "abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society." His comments were delivered as part of a sermon, drawn from biblical texts, dealing with the sin of homosexuality. In Sweden, biblical preaching is now a crime.
The prosecution of a Christian pastor for the crime of preaching a biblical sermon sets a new low for the culture of political correctness. Evangelical Christians--and all those who cherish civil liberties--should observe this case with great interest and concern. Those who reject biblical truth are now set on silencing Christian pulpits--all in the name of tolerance, acceptance, and diversity.
The logic of this prosecution is driven by the ardent determination of homosexual activists to make all criticism of homosexuality illegal. The logic of many hate crimes statutes plays right into this ideological strategy. By silencing all opposition, advocates for the normalization of homosexuality have the public square entirely to themselves, with defenders of biblical sexuality and the traditional family left without a voice and risking prosecution for any language or argument deemed offensive by the guardians of political correctness.
In response to the protest by the Slovakian Interior Minister, Cecilia Julin, the Swedish ambassador to Slovakia, explained: "Swedish law states that public addresses cannot be used to instigate hatred towards a certain group." So much for free speech and religious liberty.
Sweden passed its hate speech statute in 2002, explicitly including "church sermons" as subject to the law's restrictions. As the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament, debated the legislation, the nation's chancellor of justice released a public note stating that a church sermon characterizing homosexual behaviors as sinful "might" be considered a criminal offense. That "might" must now be replaced with "will," proved by Pastor Green's conviction and jail term.
Swedish homosexual activists pledged to monitor church sermons for content in order to report any offensive preaching to the authorities. Soren Andersson, president of the Swedish Federation for Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Rights told Christianity Today that his group would "report hate speech regardless of where it occurs." He now argues that religious liberty must not be used as a rationale for offending homosexuals.
The Swedish church newspaper Kyrkans Tidning reported that the prosecutor in this case, Kjell Yngvesson, justified the arrest and prosecution of Pastor Green on these grounds: "One may have whatever religion one wishes, but this is an attack on all fronts against homosexuals. Collecting Bible citations on this topic as he does makes this hate speech."
This is one of the most shocking and revealing statements uttered by any legal official in recent times. This prosecutor has the audacity to argue that one may hold to "whatever religion one wishes," so long as one does not preach from the Bible and address the issue of homosexuality from a biblical perspective. The simple practice of reading biblical texts teaching the sinfulness of homosexuality is now against the law in Sweden.
What can explain this arrogance? Northern Europe has become one of the most secularized regions of the globe, with the Scandinavian nations leading the trend towards the utter abandonment and eradication of the Christian faith from modern society. Surveys and polls consistently report an alarmingly low percentage of Scandinavian citizens who hold to any religious faith at all, much less biblical Christianity. Sweden's rejection of Christian morality and biblical teachings on sexuality is now obvious for all to see. Marriage is fast disappearing in the nation, as children are routinely born out of wedlock, couples commonly cohabitate, and homosexuality has been normalized.
This is the inevitable consequence of Europe's loss of faith. When vital Christianity disappears, commitment to biblical morality quickly evaporates. The Bible then becomes a text that must be silenced and biblical preaching becomes a crime. This massive reversal of moral logic defies the imagination, even as this prosecution of a Christian pastor raises the specter of a new wave of persecution against believers.
The recent expansion of hate crimes laws in Canada, intended to outlaw all criticism of homosexuality, is convincing proof that these trends are not limited to Europe. The logic of restrictions on free speech is clear. The issue of homosexuality has also become a test case for American civil liberties. Where homosexual behavior was once characterized as sodomy and thus criminalized, some now openly call for the criminalizing of all "hate speech" addressed to homosexuals. Earlier this year, the U.S. Senate passed a hate crimes provision attached to a defense appropriation bill. Sponsored by senators Ted Kennedy [D-MA] and Gordon Smith [R-OR], the law would have levied fines against anyone found to have committed a crime that is "motivated by prejudice based on the race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim." The provision passed the Senate, but died in the conference process with the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, the fact that the bill passed in the Senate sends the nation an urgent warning, and the logical jump from "hate crimes" legislation to codes against "hate speech" is small indeed.
Where this leads, of course, is to the eradication of all criticism of homosexuality itself. In part, the logic of hate crimes legislation is driven by the therapeutic culture, which translates every important issue into a matter of emotional response. Accordingly, assertions that homosexuality is sinful are now criticized as harmful to the emotional health and comfort of those engaged in the homosexual lifestyle.
Thus, in the name of sensitivity, tolerance, and political correctness, such offensive speech must be eliminated, the pulpit must be silenced, and faithful pastors are now fair targets for condemnation and, eventually, for criminal prosecution. Pastors in Sweden are now on notice--if you preach what the Bible teaches about homosexuality, you will go to jail. The watching world and the praying church must bear witness to this violation of conscience. We are now witnesses to the criminalizing of Christianity.
""abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society."
Doesn't that accurately describe Ted Kennedy?
Heh, wait until those Jihadis gain ascendency there. I wonder what they chop off for the crime of homosexuality?
When will the leftists stop pushing their agenda so hard? Will they ever stop? Where will it lead?
Yes, the world is getting better. What Sweeden, which has an official state church, does, is their own affair. It certainly is not catastrophic.
Oh, and if it shuts people like you up it has to be a GOOD thing.
You and I have polar opposite views of the world. Your idea of Christianity is an anathema to me. Please, don't write me again.
The growth of Christianity in no way supports the notion of religious freedom, though. I think the data would show quite the opposite, in fact, that a church under duress becomes a stronger church. (By "church," I refer not to a denomination but the body of Christ.)
So while more people than ever may be coming to Christ, Christianity is still under attack like never before.
MM
Don't think that it is beyond reality that we could be heading for a "One World Government" If the U.S looses it's power the freedoms of everyone is in grave jeopardy.
One religion for the world one government, what we could not imagine happening 20 yrs ago Modernman,
"Implant chips in humans, tracking people through satellite systems, a secularized Europe the growth of Anti-Semitism through-out Europe the Euro currency, The expansion of the Homosexual Agenda, Global Terrorism"
Were not living in Mayberry were headed in face of 'Destruction"
Actually, I had a very remarkable 6th grade teacher at a Catholic grade school. He spoke about just these kinds of things, like renewed persecution of Christians and the fall of communism in the old USSR in our lifetimes. They seemed impossible at the time and he told us we would think they would be impossible, but he was right on a lot of these things. And, yes, a lot of people including a few of the other teachers thought he was a bit of a kook. I wonder if they think about him and these things now.
It seems like we are gleefully spiraling downward, not climbing upward in morality, unless one buys into 'the new morality'. It's like that quote from Alice in Wonderland quoted on FR a lot - 'We're through the looking glass ..."
Maybe if they push hard enough they will Self Destruct?
Thought you might be interested in what is going on in the world..
Thank GOD most people in America and on FR don't think like you...
Don't worry you won't see me ping your name again..
you can disagree with out being rude to Missy.
No, not really. Slovakia just handed its sovereignty over to the collection of leftist Eurocrats in Brussels. The EU hate speech law is similar.
I do not believe any screwup occurred in WACO, "as far as God is concerned". The reason I say that is that if David Koresh had lived through Waco, there would have been such a lawsuit with him the winner....all based on free speech and freedom of religion. Our courts were spared that atrocity and a bandwagon on which the "left" could have jumped just to hurt the conservatives and the christians.
Yes, the FBI was accused of screwing this one up, but better a screwup and Koresh gone than his surviving it to make a mockery of courts. Remember this man was a child molester. God judged him in his own way, and he used our government agency to do it.
After dozens of prostletyzing posts in another thread and repeatedly writing me over and over again after I said I wasn't inetrested, no, I can't "not be rude to Missy". I want her to get it through her incredibly thick head that I want her to leave me alone.
I am Jewish, strong in my own faith, and I find people who incessantly try to convert me or prove to me that they are right in their views (based entirely in fundamentalist Christianity) highly offensive. I tried being nice over and over again and she refused to respect my beliefs.
I have always found that women had a special place for homosexual men. Now women have a special place for each other also.
The Swedish Government has 10 girlie-men and 11 females as Ministers.
Sweden & Swedes
Did you know that:
After the 2002 election, 45 percent of Members of Parliament are women, which is a world record.
Of course, efforts to promote equality also embrace other categories of people besides women.
Sweden has very far-reaching legislation and practices aimed at banning discrimination and unfavorable special treatment of people due to their ethnic background, physical or mental disabilities or sexual orientation.
We also have laws aimed at ensuring the rights of children not only in society, but also in relation to their parents.
For example, Sweden triggered international controversy in the 1970s when it became the first country in the world to forbid parents from spanking their children.
I submit that this is the kind of policies you have with a dominant female influence along with passive girlie-men in Government.
What do you think Cyborg? Does Sweden have it right?
2A bump
Did you see what he or she said to me..
I have never insulted this person never .
I agree with your point about the direction towards one-world government, and the need of that government to establish a one-world religion as part of the deal. I also agree that we should do everything in our power to oppose this agenda, and those who support its evil goals.
It is nevertheless important to realize, even in the face of all this, that the Lord is far mightier than these people, that He has ways of accomplishing his will which are unseen to us, and that He will prevail in the end. It is written. You can take it to the bank.
If your going to talk about me on FR then address me.
You were never nice to me and I never insulted you yes I had discussions with you about our religious differences many do on FR.
I have spoke over and over to many of the long standing Jewish freepers sure they know sometimes I get carried away on my views of Jewish/Christian differences but they also know I have a good heart and kind intentions twoards them, you have no clue how to read people that is why you look at me as the Spawn of Satan.
You are so close minded about me that when I pinged you about this article you decided in your brain that is was about attacking your faith rather than the serious issue of human rights being violated in the world and immorality taking over.
I mis-read the kind of person you are....Have a great life.
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