How Christian conservative activists spread a vicious lie about a hate crimes bill

[marmar]

from TomPaine.com:


The Ballad Of Ake Green
Rick Perlstein
June 07, 2007



With the Senate considering new hate crimes legislation that adds sexual orientation to the list of protective categories, bloggers have been noting the acceleration of a right-wing disinformation campaign that I first noticed on Election Day in 2004. I was listening to Christian radio flush out Republicans to the polls. I learned, as I wrote then, that

a certain bill Senator Edward M. Kennedy wishes to pass, with the intention of providing federal penalties to thugs who beat up people for reasons of sexual orientation, is actually an opening wedge to anti-Christian pogroms. Dobson and his cohorts have been railing that is not just a step but a giant leap down the same slippery slope that found a Swedish minister named Ake Green sentenced to prison for preaching against homosexuality from his pulpit.

I started digging. And I found that claim epidemic. Here was the Maryland Family Values Alliance, which said Kennedy's bill

would literally throw open the door to attacks against people of faith, who could be prosecuted with federal monies for expressing their views on homosexuality!

A Dr. John Ankerberg invoked Ake Green to argue

that our next president and the Supreme Court justices that he will appoint could radically change the way you practice your religion.... You will not be able to teach all that the Bible says in your church.

His authority was Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship of the nation's largest (and most politicized) evangelical denomination. And what did the man who teaches the nation's Baptist preachers argue? That

f this law is passed, which it will be in a very short time if Christians do not act, even witnessing for our Lord Jesus Christ will be a crime in America, as it is already in several countries around the world.

If you are a conservative Christian in America, it is likely that Ake Green is a household name—and that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt in 2004 that Senator Kennedy had introduced a bill to visit his fate on American ministers who preach God's word about homosexuality.

You'd have to actually have read Kennedy's S. 966 to find out, as these good ministers of the gospel counted on their flocks not to do, that this was a dastardly lie. Read it backwards, sideways, up and down. Read it a thousand times. The law covers physical violence, nothing else. Those visions of thought police and preachers in jail are simply made up. Invented. Big Lie propaganda. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/07/the_ballad_of_ake_green.php

[MNDemNY]

1. We don't need "Hate crime legislation"

I feel that "Hate crimes" criminalize thoughts. This is very anti-US Constitution. Assault, murder, arson etc, etc...... are already crimes. To add another layer of crime because of ones thoughts, no matter how vile, is a very scary thought. This stuff should be used by judges when passing sentence, but not be a crime in and of itself.

[marmar]

2. Sorry, but a person who's the victim of a crime because he or she is gay, black, Jewish, Muslim etc.

would not have been the victim of that crime otherwise. It's a special crime that deserves a special kind of punishment - an attack on a community with the purpose of creating fear, like terrorism. EVERYONE should have the chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without fear of being beaten or worse because of who they are. That sounds very pro-Bill of Rights to me.

[MNDemNY]

7. But , violation of civil rights is already a crime.

Again, no need to call out the thought police.

[MNDemNY]

10. Were do you draw the line,

what about a crime committed against someone simply because of the perps overwhelming hatred of, say, Ford Trucks, and the victim drove a Ford truck?? Red hair..., green eyes, orangr t-shirt etc.... see my point? I don't trust that those lines will be well drawn.

[roseBudd]

14. there is no hatred of red hair, your analogy is absurd

[MNDemNY]

18. That's subjective.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Then you don't understand what hate crime legislation is about.

There is a second crime in a hate crime - a crime committed against the general society, meant to terrorize a segment of that society. The hate crime is more than the assault - it is the fear instilled in the community the victim comes from.

Hate crime legislation acknowledges that there is that secondary crime occurring along with the primary. It is not about 'aggrevating circumstances' that incur harsher penalties. It is about two crimes committed as one.

[MNDemNY]

8. see my response above.

[roseBudd]

15. nobody beats and drags behind a truck, heteros simply because they are straight

[MNDemNY]

19. Again, overly subjective.

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. Why should I?

You obviously did not read mine.

[MNDemNY]

20. I did read and consider your's...

The " secondary crime" is already a federal civil rights crime. Prosecute them for that. No thought police. it's wrong. Trust me, my progressive friend, we most likely are truly on the same side of this problem.

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. OK, putting it that way I can see your point, but there is the aspect

that the hate crime legislation allows for that prosecution without it having to go to the Federal court, which makes the prosecution much more complex and expensive. I don't think we should bring the feds in unless the state is deliberately abrogating its responsibilites to its citizens.

[MNDemNY]

22. Just to make it easier to prosecute,in my opinion,

would not justify opening the door for the prosecution of thoughts, no matter how vile. Actions, not thoughts, should be prosecuted. Thoughts must be changed through education and opportunity.

[depakid]

5. You don't understand common law

Mental states- mens rea have long been elements of crimes. The underlying "motive" or reason for a crime determines culpability.

That's what the degrees of homicide are all about. Not every homicide is murder- or manslaughter- or criminally negligent, even though the underlying acts may be the same.

Hate crimes legislation isn't any different in this respect.

[MNDemNY]

9. Agian see above, it's a slippery slope to the thought police.

[depakid]

13. How so?

You commit an act based on a predisposed hate for a group of people. That's different than simply committing a random crime against a person. Picking a fight in a bar is one thing- going into a bar with the predisposition to kick a gay person's ass is quite another.

[MNDemNY]

11. "mens rea" is simply "criminal intent" nothing to do with motive.

Literally, "Criminal mind"

[depakid]

12. It's like "scienter" -and measures "culpability"

and motive does come into play. Premeditation is based on motive (often financial gain or jealousy) -though jealousy can also be the "motive" behind a homicide committed "in the heat of passion on sudden provocation which would be common law manslaughter.

Techically, they're different concepts, but they're connected.

[MNDemNY]

17. Assuming your assumption,

Then would we not have to delve into the "root" or "cause" of an accused's hatred?? The subjectivity of it all is frightening.

[yurbud]

23. this is a problem of naming: just call it terrorism

it serves the same purpose--it's an attack on civilians for a political rather than personal purpose.

[Democrats_win]

3. "We don't need laws against genocide because murder is illegal." A. Hitler.*

*This is not an actual quote, but it demonstrates that in the face of terrible crimes people will ignore the crimes to appease the criminals. One day following the murder of Matthew Shepherd, people continued to say we don't need hate crime legislation. The facts are glaring, but people remain blind.

Gay people are being killed because they are gay. We need hate crime legislation. This is an attack against an entire community.

The fact that religion continues to lie doesn't say much for the truthfulness of religion does it.

[yurbud]

24. yep. if Shepherd was straight, his murder would have had reverberations for his friends & family

instead of sending a message to all gays.

That's why hate crimes should just be called terrorism, so the knuckledraggers get it.

[Demeter]

6. They Say This Because That's What They Would Do!

It's a clear case of projection. Fundie religion is all about thought control and coercion.

[roseBudd]

25. The ONLY reason the killers of Byrd & Shepherd were eligible for the death penalty is because...

they commited aggravated murder by also committing robbery asnd or kidnapping