Here is more info on that H909 issue :
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote any day on a federal “hate crimes” bill that will pave the way for persecuting Christians and threatening our freedoms of religion, speech, and association.
Dr. D. James Kennedy, and Coral Ridge Ministries have warned for many years against this threat to our way of life and our children’s freedom to live out their faith.
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909) is the Senate version of a bill that passed the House in April. A cornerstone of the “gay” political agenda, it would raise “sexual orientation” to a legal status equivalent to that of real civil rights categories such as race or ethnicity, and it would introduce for the first time into federal law the radical concept of “gender identity.” Since “sexual orientation” is not clearly defined, it would afford special legal protections to pedophiles and other sexual deviants that ordinary Americans won’t get.
In addition, S. 909 would:
• Put pressure on police and prosecutors to devote more time and money to some victims’ cases and not others.
• Vastly expand the federal government’s power to intervene in criminal cases, whether local authorities want this or not.
• Create a taxpayer-funded slush fund for “education” programs that lump conservative Christians among “hate groups.”
• Have a chilling effect on free speech by making unpopular ideas a basis for harsher treatment in criminal proceedings.
• Add a layer of law that is utterly unnecessary. There is no evidence that “hate crime” victims receive less justice. Everyone deserves equal treatment under the law—no more, no less.
Widely known homosexual activist Andrew Sullivan recently said this:
The real reason for hate crimes is not the defense of human beings from crime. There are already laws against that-and Matthew Shepard's murderers were successfully prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in a state with no hate crimes at the time. The real reason for the invention of hate crimes was a hard-left critique of conventional liberal justice and the emergence of special interest groups which need boutique legislation to raise funds for their large staffs and luxurious buildings.
Please call or email your senators now to voice opposition to this dangerous bill. The Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121 or (202) 225-3121.
Here are three key points to tell your senators:
This bill:
Is an Assault on Liberty of Conscience. In free countries, criminal acts are punished—not beliefs or views. The proposed hate crimes bill would result in two convictions—one for the criminal act, and another for the beliefs or thoughts behind it. This is a road to “thought crime” tyranny that is unfolding already in Europe and Canada.
Is not needed. Every state legal code already protects men and women, whatever their “actual or perceived … sexual orientation,” against criminal assault. There is no hate-crime “epidemic” in America. The FBI reports that so-called hate crimes, which are difficult to identify because only God can know the human heart, are a tiny fraction of all crimes.
Puts Pastors At Risk For Prosecution. Anyone, including pastors, can be accused of creating a “climate of hate” that leads to violence, merely for speaking biblical truth. Under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law, 11 Christians were arrested and jailed in 2004 merely for preaching the gospel at a Philadelphia homosexual street festival. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a former judge, said that under this federal bill, clergymen and others could be charged with encouraging or inducing a “hate crime” if they preach against homosexuality.
Please call your senators now to respectfully request their position on this bill and to urge them to vote “No” on S. 909. Among other things, this bill is a giant step toward the criminalization of Christianity.
Comments
Your open hatred of homosexuals is disgusting. I hope they throw all you bible thumpers in jail or reeducation camps. Your ignorant superstitions are dangerous.
I will support Bill 909, as all good people should. There is no excuse for hatred, even if you hide that hatred behind religious mumbo jumbo.
I thought you were a harmless, deluded old man. Now I know you are an evil beast who brings hatred and darkness. If there was a god he would throw people like you in hell. Your stench is vile and disgusting.
There's a better reason for opposing the federal hate crimes bill, that doesn't have anything to do with hating gays and lesbians: S. 909 allows people who've been found not guilty in state court to be reprosecuted all over again in federal court.
Indeed, Civil Rights Commissioners said, in opposing the bill, that that's it's principal effect: to circumvent constitutional protections against double jeopardy.
And some of its supporters have said that's its purpose. (Some pointed to the
Four members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission opposed the federal hate crimes bill in an April 29 letter to House leaders:
“We believe that LLEHCPA will do little good and a great deal of harm. Its most important effect will be to allow federal authorities to re-prosecute a broad category of defendants who have already been acquitted by state juries."
The Commission as a whole recently voted to oppose S. 909.
Get some education. You don't know what the fk you're talking about. Maybe a little religious silence will do some good for all of us. Then that will weed out the judgmental fake Christians and maybe you can stop using God for your hate and putrid filth.
Thank you for the phone number reminder. I plan on sharing it with all my family and friends asking them to call to SUPPORT S 909!!! You are exactly incorrect when you insinuate that "pedophiles" and "sexual deviants" are gay or lesbian. It has been shown in many reports that pedophiles and your deviants are actually more often to be heterosexuals and that those criminal acts have nothing to do with love in any sense of the word. That is about POWER and not anything loving or encouraged scriptur
okay, so the latter part of my message got cut off. Pedophiles or those who commit sexually related crimes are about POWER, nothing about love or caring or scripturally based.
I don't mind if what you say about pastors being at increased risk for arrest for creating a "climate of hate" is true. In fact, I applaud that. Anyone who creates such a climate, is not following God's challenge and message to Love. Preachers or other religious types who continue to encourage hate or are fear mongerers a
Fellow Christians, There is a "hate crimes bill" S.909 that was devised by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in order to criminalize Christianity. Any Good Christian who stands up for traditional marriage or who protests the murder of millions of babies by abortion will be subject to possible fines or jail time. Check out truthtellers.org and watch Rev. Ted Pike's videos explaining the danger and then call your Senators toll free at 877-851-6437 and tell them NO on S.909. Save our Constitution
I cannot believe the ridiculous spin that the religious right put on this bill. It does not 'protect pedophiles', but the religious right is sooo desperate to protect their hate-filled ideologies, they have to make stuff up.
All this bill does is change sentencing guidelines for things that are already illegal and provide more funds to local municipalities to investigate and prosecute ALL hate crimes.
Thou doth protest too much.
Olivia's comments illustrate exactly why S.909 is a bad idea. Talk about hateful! The problem with 909 is not only a form of double jeopardy, but another extension of the federal govt.'s power, an appetite which is limitless. The bill's language is flexible and vague enough to be open to wide interpretation. Don't kid yourself. This is another imposition of political correctness through criminalization of thought and speech. Wonder what is coming down the road next?
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