Each Day Already is a Challenge

HR254, The Thought Crime Bill

Yesterday I received an email from a conservative source about HR254. The official name of the bill is The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act, but in researching, I discovered that many have started calling it The Thought Crime Bill.

The subject of the email I received about this bill was: Hate Crimes Bill Would Crush First Amendment Freedoms and Place Bible Preachers in Peril. Other web sites and blogs use these words: Threatening Our Civil Liberties, Assault on Freedom, What About the Fourteenth Amendment That Guarantees Equal Protection?

I read what I could find about this bill, and, although I didn't see where just quoting Bible verses would be construed as intimidation, I do know that other locations (states and other countries) with hate crime bills have considered this to be the case.

Here are some of the things I've discovered in my Internet search:

1) The bill was introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).

2) Those who are opposed to it say that it could criminalize Christianity.

3) Some say that the new Democratic majority in Congress is catering to militant homosexuals.

4) This legislation imposes penalties on those who commit crimes against homosexuals and establishes unequal standards of justice for the same crime, depending on the criminal’s motivation. There are those who say it will also be used to crush criticism of homosexuality and punish Christians for witnessing.

5) This bill is being proposed even though statistics from the years since 2001 show a decline in violence against homosexuals. In today's world, an individual is more likely to be attacked for being a Christian than being a homosexual. (Same-sex domestic violence increased by 13% since 2002.)

6) In Philadelphia, Christians with Repent America, including a 75-year-old grandmother, were arrested for quietly witnessing at a city-sponsored gay celebration.

7) In Canada, Christians have been fined and forced to attend "sensitivity training" for letters-to-the-editor setting forth the Biblical view of homosexual relations.

8) In Sweden, Pastor Ake Greene was prosecuted for a sermon.

9) There are persons who say this pending hate crimes bill could also be used to stifle a frank discussion of Islam and that questioning the Koran’s teachings on Christians and Jews could be considered a criminal offense.

11) A law like this almost passed in the last Congress, with a Republican majority.

If you are opposed to this bill - after prayer and research!!! - then contact your elected officials.

U.S. Capitol Switchboard: [phone]
The White House [phone]

For months, I had quite a discussion going with a gay writer on our site. He was interested in what the Bible said and what I thought the Bible meant about homosexuality. Our discussions - via email - lasted for about three months. If this bill does see words as intimidation, then I might not have been able to have that discussion.

There is a discussion forum here for Christians and Muslims. Would this bill would make participating in such discussions a risky business?

I do not condone violence against any individuals, no matter what their gender, race, religion or sexual preference. But I do think it is wrong for our laws to give greater punsishments to those who harm persons who are gay or of a different race than the criminal than they do for harming children or the elderly. Hate, or at least indifference, is involved in all acts of violence and crime, not just against those who are gay.






http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.254:

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

http://www.shelleytherepublican.com/2007/01/18/briefly-patriotic-the-hr254-thoug...

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Government/Police%20State/hr254.htm

http://www.indianavoiceforthefamily.org/PDF%20Files/hatecrimes.pdf