And More on the Fundies - HR 1592

They're opposed (no surprises there) to hate crime legislation, which includes prosecution for violent acts based on gender identity bias., currently making its ponderous way through Congress.

Isn't "thou shalt not bear false witness" one of the Commandments? Yep, thought so. It doesn't seem to slow the religious extremists down.

They're claiming, in unison, that passage of the bill will be the death of free speech in this country and that pastors will be unable to preach according to their beliefs.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The operative words are "bodily injury" As in "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me". (Not completely true of course, words can hurt, but they are not the subject matter of this bill).

Here is the report from Tom Paine today.

Here is the description and text of Senator Kennedy's Bill itself.

Below are three excerpts from H.R. 1592: Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.

`(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person--

`(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person--

SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution.

That leaves me with two possible explanations for the fundies' approach.

1. Illiteracy

2. Prevarication

Our Senators and Representatives may need our support since I imagine the extremists will swarm all over them.

In related news, did you know those evil lesbians will be responsible if one of our cities is devastated by an "Act of God"? The Reverend John McArthur of Grace Community Church says so and James Dobson of Focus on the Family agrees.

Here's a portion of the Media Matters report:

On the June 4 edition of his Focus on the Family radio show, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson broadcast a sermon by John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, titled "A Nation Abandoned by God." In the sermon, MacArthur said America had forsaken God and engendered the "wrath of abandonment" as a result. MacArthur declared: "You know a society has been abandoned by God when it celebrates lesbian sex." MacArthur further argued that as a result of America's abandonment, the destruction of a major U.S. city "could happen" and that "God would be just in any calamity he brought upon us."

The good reverend's diatribe was included in a sermon presented on the National Day of Prayer.

No wonder these Taliban imitators are so concerned about keeping their freedom of speech.

Not to worry, it's protected, thanks to the hard work of several of the organizations they most despise.

Afterthought: The man goes on to rail against the number of pornographic websites on the net. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of pornography (to each their own as long as children aren't involved), but take a look back at my post of a few days ago for true pornography masquerading as religious belief.

Perhaps this preacher should read his own Bible a little more often.

Luke 6:42 and again in Matthew 7:5 (from the Beatitudes):

KJV: Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

COMMENTS:

Worried said...
After I fussed last night about being unable to access the comments page, Blogger suddenly allowed it. I haven't tried the add image box. Good post, Granny. people need to know how dangerous these fundies are.
Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:18:00 PM

Granny said...
Glad you could see the comments.I don't want to run the fundie idiocy into the ground but sometimes it's impossible to resist.We need to take them very seriously, no matter how ridiculous they sound.
Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:46:00 PM
Nvisiblewmn said...
Wow, good one there about "bearing false witness...."
Friday, June 08, 2007 7:53:00 AM
ThomasLB said...
They don't seem to understand that a hate crime is fundamentally different than a regular crime.If I don't like a guy so I punch him in the nose, the only guy affected is the individual I punched.If I hate gay people, and scour the neighborhood looking for a gay guy to pummel, that affects far more than the individual- that terrorizes the whole community.Maybe that's the way we need to approach it. Don't tell anybody we're protecting gay people, tell them it's an anti-terrorism bill.
Friday, June 08, 2007 11:49:00 AM
Worried:
I usually try to understand another person's viewpoint even when I thoroughly disagree with him. For the life of me, I simply cannot get any understanding of why the fundies are so obsessed with other people's sex lives. As long as private intimacy is between consenting adults, who cares ?! Of all the fascinating facets of humans that interest me, their sexuality or sex lives is not even on the list. I think the fundies need some sessions with a good psychotherapist.