But this topic is just too important to ignore. Christian believers have "looked the other way" for far too long now. The situation is much too dire in this current day and age to let it continue without efforts to oppose this craziness.
Activists want to make it appear that what they are are proposing is necessary for the "safety" of homosexuals and "proper punishment for 'hate' crimes' done (or, in some cases just perceived to be done) towards homosexuals" should include greater levels of punishment than for the same crime(s) done against anyone else. This is what they tout as something that should be considered as a noble position for all people to take. Well, I sincerely hope that what I will share here will alert you to the fact that the true intent of "hate crimes" laws is something very different from that which homosexual activists and their supporters deceptively want you to believe.
I would invite you to read the following emails that I recently received and judge for yourself what is really going on through this agenda.
To me, it's blatantly obvious that their goals are to silence any and all opposition to proclaiming that homosexual behavior is sin, a dangerous and unhealthy lifestyle, and should be discouraged just as much as other physically risky behaviors (such as smoking, drugs, alcohol abuse, and any other unprotected sex outside of marriage).
The first email I will share is about "Hate Crimes in California" sent to me from the Capitol Resource Institute:
With all the important legislation CRI tracks, we usually don't spend much time on resolutions as they are non-binding "opinions" of the legislature.However, sometimes certain resolutions send such a bad message that we are compelled to address them. Assembly Joint Resolution 29 is such a resolution. Early this afternoon the state senate voted to approve AJR 29 (Eng). This measure declares the legisature's support for a proposed federal "hate crime" law in Congress: H.R. 1592--the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA), or the Matthew Shepard Act. AJR 29 urges Congress to pass this bill and the president to sign it into law.
Opposition to hate crimes sounds like a noble position. However, the true intent behind harsher punishments for hate crime perpetrators is to advance a politically correct social agenda. This true agenda can be found in analyzing H.R. 1592. According to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), H.R. 1592 will make it a hate crime to injure or attempt to injure any person "because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person." This type of language should look familiar to readers as radical homosexual activists have already codified such language in California.
Perhaps the most alarming provision in H.R. 1592 is the federal intervention in local matters. According to HSLDA, the bills will "authorize the federal government to prosecute hate crimes if a state does not intend to prosecute the crime, or if the verdict or sentence under state charges 'left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence.'"
This is chilling to read.
The federal government has decided that it has an interest in punishing people for their "biased" thoughts. Who determines what is biased? Worse yet, the federal government will determine whether states have sufficiently punished a "bigoted" criminal. Homosexual rights groups are pushing very hard to pass H.R. 1592 because they know that with such laws, they can "eradicate" any opposition to their lifestyle.
In the senate vote today, only one Republican voted to oppose AJR 29 and its support of the federal hate crimes bill-Senator Dennis Hollingsworth. The rest of the Republican members abstained. The report from the Assembly vote last month is even more distressing: only one brave Republican voted against the measure-Assemblyman Joel Anderson. Six Republicans were absent or abstained. Disappointingly, several otherwise conservative assembly members are co-authors of AJR 29.
Becoming the co-author of a bill represents far more than support for a bill, it indicates advocacy for the measure's content.
It is alarming that some of our pro-family allies have pledged their support to advancing this politically correct ideology. It is also sad to see that so many lawmakers have bought into the despotic "hate crimes" agenda.
This is yet another sobering reminder that we must remain vigilant and continually educate our elected officials-our freedom depends upon it.
Assembly Co-authors
Asssembly Votes for AJR 29
HSLDA Analysis of H.R. 1592
Contact your Legislator
Read WND's article "Christian belief a 'hate crime' under plan"
Next, please read the following email that I received from PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays). I found it quite alarming that those who talk most about "tolerance" and "inclusion" and against "bigotry" and "hate" can be some of the most intolerant, exclusive, bigoted, hateful people towards those they dislike and/or disagree with!!
Arlington, VA (Aug. 28, 2007) -- Last week Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) exhibited at the Arlington County Fair in Arlington, Virginia. PFOX has exhibited at this county fair for the past four years and hands out materials on same-sex attraction and tolerance for the ex-gay community to a hungry public. A local gay group also exhibits there and distributes materials on gay rights.
As happens every year, gay activists disrupted our booth activities. They screamed obscenities, threw our materials from the exhibit table to the ground, insisted we recognize their same-sex "spouses," demanded that PFOX leave, and hit a PFOX volunteer because he is ex-gay.
When we explained that the county's sexual orientation law allows both the gay booth and our ex-gay booth to exhibit, the unhappy gays insisted that sexual orientation laws on hate crimes and discrimination do not apply to ex-gays -- only gays -- and no tolerance should be extended to former homosexuals.
All the gays who stopped by our booth that week insisted that no one could change their sexual orientation from gay to straight, although they knew of people who had changed in mid-life from heterosexual to a gay lifestyle or had changed their gender.
The gays became infuriated when our ex-gay volunteers testified about leaving homosexuality. They adamantly refused to accept the ex-gays' sexual orientation. One gay man went so far as to hit our ex-gay volunteer because he refused to recant his ex-gay testimony. We summoned a police officer, who ejected the gay man off of the fairgrounds. Our ex-gay volunteer decided not to press assault charges against the gay man because he wanted to turn the other check as Jesus had done.
This is not the first year that PFOX has had to summon the police for protection from gay activists. Although the gays have their own exhibit booth, they steadfastly refuse to accept the presence of an ex-gay booth or support equal access. Also disturbing is that several of the gays identified themselves as educators who would ensure that our teen materials do not reach schoolchildren as gay materials do.
From years of exhibiting at public events across the country, PFOX has learned:
Leaving homosexuality is like leaving a cult; many gay activists feel betrayed by ex-gays and hate anyone who supports self-determination when it comes to the ex-gay community. Although God gave us free will to choose our own lives, whether good or bad choices, gay activists would take free will away from us and force ex-gays back into the closet.
Gay activists fear factual information that PFOX makes available to teens. Gay activists have had a monopoly over our youth for so long that they resent any competing information and label anything contrary to their pro-gay ideology as "dangerous" to youth.
Gay activists do not support hate crimes or sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws if those laws include ex-gays. "Hate crimes" is another word for hate against ex-gays while protecting gays. Therefore, we must work to ensure that all sexual orientation laws at any level specifically include former homosexuals or be eliminated altogether as discriminatory.
PFOX is the only organization distributing ex-gay educational literature to the public, including public schools. We are the only ex-gay organization almost everywhere we go. Almost every day we are on the front lines suffering harassment and injustices merely because we demand our equal rights.
The public eats up our information because they have never been exposed to factual truth about same-sex attractions. Teens especially are eager for our educational literature. But our brochures and flyers cost money to print. We also have to pay for exhibit fees and travel. If you would like to help with costs, please make a tax deductible donation to:
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays
PFOX
Box 561, Fort Belvoir VA 22060
703-360-2225
So, what can we conclude from just these two emails?
The fact that the true intent of "Hate Crimes" laws is to silence opposing views; (especially the Christian message that homosexuals can change their sexual behavior and orientation through regeneration by the salvation power of the Cross when accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior) should alarm every Bible-based Christian believer out there!
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6 comments:
Laws like this should worry EVERY person, regardless of their religious beliefs. These laws, although allegedly meant to protect certain groups, do nothing but further victimize the people who were victims in the first place. Crime is crime...the murder of a gay man or woman is equally as hideous as the murder of a heterosexual. But with laws like these, it will make it twice a bad to murder a gay person, or a minority, than it would be to murder a child. All violent crime is done with hate, and there are already laws in place to punish those who commit these crimes. To add additional parameters to it will only assure that laws aren't applied equally. They will do the exact opposite of what they're intended to do. Can you imagine looking in the face of a parent whose child was raped and murdered and saying "Well, the person who did this to your child won't be punished as harshly because your child wasn't gay or a minority."
You are right, though, in that this will make it difficult for Christians to voice their opinions without repercussion. We have the right to say what we want to say, which is part of our freedom of speech. There are groups who believe that since they're offended by what they've heard, their rights have been infringed upon. Nope, that's not how it works. If someone doesn't like what we're saying, they have the ability to stop listening, but they don't have the right to make us stop speaking.
Christian often find their views as being "politically incorrect." That's just simply too bad. Our country provides us the right to freedom of religion and speech, not the right to stop people from hurting our feelings. Sometimes the truth hurts.
You're correct Jaded. This type of law SHOULD worry everyone. But I think that too many people don't know (or even realize) the underlying reasons that radical homosexual activists want such a law pushed through.
My questions:
How can Congress be so blind?
Why aren't more conservatives concerned?
Why are many conservatives caving to the activists?
Why are so many Christians silent on this issue?
You know, I had really high hopes for the nation and government when the Republicans first won majority in the Clinton era, and then continued until Bush took office. I guess that I was so exuberant that I was slow to notice how things changed. Not satisfied with serving the principals and constituencies that god them elected, I believe that a great many "conservatives" turned their back on some core principles, thinking their base would stick with them even as they pursued "moderates" with very unconservative ideas. Though the Republicans lost their congressional majority, many remain unchastened and continue along the same road that will lead to defeat for them and greater problems for the country.
It's a good lesson for me to learn about counting too much on people because they claim to follow a particular philosophy or ideology. I'm not judging them too harshly. Power can be very seductive, and getting it, and seeing the chance for more, can really destroy a person's character. As this next major election approaches, I am challenging myself (and would like to challenge all people of faith) to pray earnestly that God will move during the next election and through the leaders that we have so that bad law will not get passed.
You make a marvelous point, Christine, in asking about why so many Christians are silent. I think that a good part of that is that they are being silent to God on the issues. If that discussion increases, then I firmly believe that public action will increase as well. Take care.
Amen Gary! Very well stated!
I particularly liked your little "typo" that actually reveals where conservatism has gone astray:
"Not satisfied with serving the principals and constituencies that god them elected..."
The trouble with "moderates" in the Republican party is the fact that there is no good when it comes down to moderation in, and of, sin!
What you wrote here is encouraging:
"I think that a good part of that is that they are being silent to God on the issues. If that discussion increases, then I firmly believe that public action will increase as well."
That is exactly why those who are willing to speak out against the "sin agenda" need to continue to do so. Hopefully, the public will catch on and more will raise their voices against the current political and social onslaught of compromise and sin.
Thanks so much for sharing your excellent thoughts!
Good points, Christine.
I oppose hate.
I oppose hate crimes.
I oppose hate crimes legislation.
Liberals think the last statement isn't reconcilable with the first two, but it is. They have a not-so-hidden agenda to silence the church and we need to educate people about it.
Hi Neil,
Thanks for sharing the fact that liberals want to create the false notion that opposing "hate crimes" legislation means we are "bad," hateful people. Unfortunately, for them they blatantly ignore the fact that it is the legislation ideology that is very bad!
It's either that or they are laughing behind our backs thinking that they are getting away with their deceptive agenda.
I wonder if ordinary citizens even realize that there is a not-so-hidden agenda to silence the Christian voices out there that disapprove of homosexual behavior promotion and teachings.
You are correct. We need to educate people about it!
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