The Hate Crimes Bill Passes

The Hate Crimes Bill, Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H. R. 1592), has just passed through the House but Bush promises to veto it and I believe that he will.

From the Hate Crimes Bill:

(1) The incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.

(2) Such violence disrupts the tranquility and safety of communities and is deeply divisive.
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(5) A prominent characteristic of a violent crime motivated by bias is that it devastates not just the actual victim and the family and friends of the victim, but frequently savages the community sharing the traits that caused the victim to be selected.

From the Houston Chronicle report:

WASHINGTON — Just hours after the White House issued a veto threat Thursday, the House voted to add gender and sexual orientation to the categories covered by federal hate crimes law.

The House legislation, passed 237-180, also makes it easier for federal law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving bias-motivated attacks. Similar legislation is also moving through the Senate, setting the stage for another veto showdown with President Bush.

What Christians think about the hate crimes bill:

The bill imposes special fines for those who commit a "hate crime" against a protected class and provides federal assistance to those prosecuting such crimes. Existing hate-crimes law provides federal help to states and localities in prosecuting crimes based only on the victim's race, religion or national origin.

Christian activists believe that if passed and signed into law, the legislation could be used to target Americans who voice their opposition to the homosexual lifestyle – including pastors preaching and reading the Bible.

You can preach all you want but you don't have the right to incite violence and you don't have the right to harass people you don't like. I don't like you, but you don't see me showing up at your church with a sign saying, "God Hates Haters."

The purpose of a hate crime is to threaten an entire group of people. So the Hate Crimes Bill does not provide "special rights" but "basic rights" to oppressed people from the "tyranny of the majority." Those opposed to the hate crimes bill have never been on the other side of violence or seen what the threat of violence does to the community that is under threat. And no, being a white Protestant Christian does not put you in a group of oppressed people in America. You are the "tyranny of the majority." You are the oppressor. If you don't like being called those things then leave people alone.

From the "Declaration of Independence":

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.