Thoughts in a Haystack

The Righteous Right is at it again.

According to this article in the Christian Post, they are again organizing a protest in Washington aimed at preventing the Senate from adopting its own version of a bill to make the use of fires, firearms, explosives or incendiary devices to cause bodily injury to any person based on their gender, sexual orientation or gender identity a Federal crime to go with the same protection afforded to people for their race, color, national origin and religion.

Why would religious people want to deny these protections, that they themselves enjoy, to others?

Opponents of the bill argue that it is unnecessary because the people the legislation seeks to protect are already covered by other laws.

But that doesn't make sense, unless they are agitating for the complete repeal of the Federal "hate crimes" statute. If so, that fact seems to have completely escaped the reporter's notice. Oh, wait a minute ...

[I]n addition to being redundant, the bill further threatens to censor the free speech of pastors and Christians who, for example, speak out about their biblical views on the sin of homosexuality.

But the law says nothing about deploying Biblical views against homosexuals, just fires, firearms, explosives or incendiary devices ... unless they are advocating that the Bible authorizes using violence against the GLBT community. But that can't be right:

"As Christians we do not advocate violence against other people, so that's not an issue," [Michael Marcavage, president of Repent America, one of the organizations leading the protest] said. "However, the lawmakers in Washington are attempting to criminalize Christians because of their faith in Jesus Christ and because they choose to speak the truth of God's Word."

But that's a non sequitur. There is no attempt in this article to show how this law does any such thing. But there is this:

"The Hate Crimes Act will be the first step to criminalize our rights as Christians to believe that some behaviors are sinful," Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said in a message for a petition to oppose the bill.

Ah, I see! Protecting people from violence is the thin edge of the wedge that will be used to outlaw Christian belief. But what does that say about that type of belief?

Don't be mislead by the decoy staked out by the article concerning the Good News Employee Association v Hicks case from Oakland. It had nothing to do with "hate speech" and, in fact, was a deeply conservative decision, supporting the rights of employers against the free speech rights of employees. Ed Brayton has already dealt with the case extensively and has shown that, though it may have been decided wrongly, it is not in any way part of any conspiracy against Christians, despite the paranoiac fundraising tactics of people like Dobson.

But maybe this is the best insight into the fear the Righteous Right has about this law. One of the "pro-family groups" participating in the protest is Minutemen United. It has this illuminating statement on its website:

Any person who engages in an act of violence while wearing Minutemen United attire, at a Minutemen United event, or as a individual while claiming to be a Minuteman, does not represent the views or goals of Minutemen United.

It sounds to me like they know exactly what company they are keeping.
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