New Federal Hate Crimes Act Could Restrict Christians’ Free Speech
President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law last week. The Act is named after a homosexual college student from Wyoming who was murdered and a black man who died after having been dragged from a truck. The crimes involved in these incidents were unconscionable, but the “hate crimes” law that has followed from these crimes is reprehensible and a serious threat to Christians and other people of faith.
Following Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s lead, the Senate voted to attach the Act to the Department of Defense Authorization Bill, a must-pass Bill that provides funding for our troops. This measure expands the 1969 United States federal “hate crime” law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
The new law makes any violent act motivated by the victim’s “actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person,” a federal crime. As a result, a crime against a homosexual victim will more than likely be punished to a greater degree than when the same crime is perpetrated against a heterosexual victim.
The Hate Crimes Amendment raises serious cause for concern as it unjustly promotes the homosexual agenda while potentially burdening Americans’ free speech rights, particularly those of religious groups who do not endorse homosexuality.
The new law states that “courts may consider relevant evidence of speech, beliefs, or expressive conduct to the extent that such evidence is offered to prove an element of a charged offense.” This means that a Christian’s beliefs may be used to enhance criminal penalties that may be obtained against him. For example, consider what could happen if a heterosexual gets in a fight with a homosexual. If charges are filed, a prosecutor could seek criminal sanctions against the heterosexual individual merely because that person may have a religious objection to homosexual behavior regardless of whether their religious beliefs had any relationship to the fight.
Prosecutors could use a defendant’s personal religious beliefs about homosexuality to obtain a sentence three times longer than a sentence for the same crime where the victim is heterosexual. Further, the Act gives the Attorney General the power to help state and local governments investigate and prosecute so-called “hate crimes.”
Most concerning, the government could be one step closer to prosecuting religious speech condemning homosexual activity. If the government were to deem religious viewpoints concerning homosexuality as “violent,” the new Act could allow the federal government to prosecute such religious speech as a “hate crime,” if the Court finds that the speech is inducing violence. This would infringe on Christians’ fundamental First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religious expression.
Advocates for Faith and Freedom will certainly seek to defend the Constitutional right of Christians to express their faith despite this radical new law.
Following Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s lead, the Senate voted to attach the Act to the Department of Defense Authorization Bill, a must-pass Bill that provides funding for our troops. This measure expands the 1969 United States federal “hate crime” law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
The new law makes any violent act motivated by the victim’s “actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person,” a federal crime. As a result, a crime against a homosexual victim will more than likely be punished to a greater degree than when the same crime is perpetrated against a heterosexual victim.
The Hate Crimes Amendment raises serious cause for concern as it unjustly promotes the homosexual agenda while potentially burdening Americans’ free speech rights, particularly those of religious groups who do not endorse homosexuality.
The new law states that “courts may consider relevant evidence of speech, beliefs, or expressive conduct to the extent that such evidence is offered to prove an element of a charged offense.” This means that a Christian’s beliefs may be used to enhance criminal penalties that may be obtained against him. For example, consider what could happen if a heterosexual gets in a fight with a homosexual. If charges are filed, a prosecutor could seek criminal sanctions against the heterosexual individual merely because that person may have a religious objection to homosexual behavior regardless of whether their religious beliefs had any relationship to the fight.
Prosecutors could use a defendant’s personal religious beliefs about homosexuality to obtain a sentence three times longer than a sentence for the same crime where the victim is heterosexual. Further, the Act gives the Attorney General the power to help state and local governments investigate and prosecute so-called “hate crimes.”
Most concerning, the government could be one step closer to prosecuting religious speech condemning homosexual activity. If the government were to deem religious viewpoints concerning homosexuality as “violent,” the new Act could allow the federal government to prosecute such religious speech as a “hate crime,” if the Court finds that the speech is inducing violence. This would infringe on Christians’ fundamental First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religious expression.
Advocates for Faith and Freedom will certainly seek to defend the Constitutional right of Christians to express their faith despite this radical new law.
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