2009-06-24
Family advocates worry about "chilling effect" such a law could have on religious free speech.
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Majority Leader Harry Reid has reaffirmed his plans to have the Senate take up a so-called hate-crimes bill before Congress' August recess. In a Monday news conference, Reid, D-Nev., called hate crimes "a unique brand of evil." "A violent act may physically hurt just a single victim and cause grief for loved ones," he said. "But hate crimes do more. They distress entire communities."
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Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said Reid has it backwards. A hate-crimes law, she said, could distress entire communities – particularly Christian churches. "As we've seen in other nations where such laws are passed, they can have a chilling effect on the free speech of those who would simply share from the Bible God's views on issues such as homosexuality," she explained. "Hate-crimes laws are unnecessary in a civil society like ours based on the rule of law.
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"All crimes are hate crimes," she added, "To give special status to certain groups of people allows courts to reach beyond punishing people for the illegal acts they commit and judge them for what they may or may not be thinking as they commit those acts."
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As for Reid's pledge to push for a vote on a hate-crimes bill before the end of summer, Horne said it's old news. "That's nothing new," she said. "What we do see here is that Democrats in Congress who are pushing this legislation forward really just have a solution looking for a problem."
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She said the most recent FBI statistics do not back up the alleged epidemic of hate crimes against people in the gay community.
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TAKE ACTION!
The Senate will take up hate-crimes legislation as an amendment very soon. Please contact your senators (http://capwiz.com/fof/issues/alert/?alertid=13283021) and urge them to vote "No" on hate-crimes legislation. If you cannot get through to your senators, contact their state offices.
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Focus on the Family: