Post: Conservative Black Pastors Fight Bill on Hate Crimes
The Washington Post reportsA coalition of conservative African American pastors is lobbying Congress to vote against a bill that would extend federal hate-crimes laws to cover gays, saying they fear it would prevent them from preaching against homosexuality.Wow. We wouldn't want to stop being able to preach against homosexuality, now would we?? But seriously, this isn't a trivial question; people are entitled to say that they believe homosexuality is a sin if that's what their religious belief system tells them. As always, it depends on what they say and how they say it.Several pastors last week urged House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), a sponsor of the bill, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against the proposed Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
I haven't read the bill, so I can't say whether or not conservative religious leaders might be breaking the law by preaching what they truly believe. They shouldn't be constrained within the confines of the pulpit, as much as religious liberals might disagree with their message.
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 12:43 PM
2 Comments:
Paul,
The fear that the hate crime law would restrict what is said in the pulpit is unfounded. There is nothing in the law that addresses speech or "thought crime" ... the entire bill can be read online here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:2:./temp/~c110uisWbH:e4139:
Of course, there is the danger for some conservative Christian ministers with the social attitudes that support this law.
If a future Matthew Sheppard incident happens and the press discovers that the killers went to church where anti-gay theology was preached, the minister and the congregation may get some negative publicity when this is reported in the press.
But the proposed hate crimes law coverage doesn't affect freedom of the pulpit for anti-gay Christians any more than the existing hate crime laws covering race affect freedom of the pulpit for white supremacist Christians.
Paul:
Are you the Grandson of Philip Vilczinski Aka Wilcinsky? My Great grandmother Catherine Benarick married him. He was born in 1865 and died in 1920 in Forest City PA. They are buried at St John's next to one another.
Would you write me at peekaboobrat at yahoo dot com? I received an email from John J. Wilczynski jwilcz at citlink dot net & could not respond. It was not a correct address. I need to speak with you.
610-966-1992 cell-484-515-5329
Thank you
Joan Strus Benarick Wielgus
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