Repercussions of Inclusive Hate Crimes Bill
I try to not involve myself in politics, but every once in a while something comes along that deserves attention. An event took place in late October which I should have blogged about but for various reasons did not, and I have no intention of boring anyone with a litany of excuses.
On 28 October 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law (as a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act). The bill in question is H.R.1913 – Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
The OpenCongress Summary states:
“This bill, previously introduced in Congress in 2007, seeks to expand upon the 1969 US federal hate-crime law by extending beyond federally-protected activities and towards bodily crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, in addition to the current provisions of bodily crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, and national origin. It would also codify and expand the funding and investigative capabilities of federal officials for aiding their local counterparts.”
The bill expands 1969 Federal hate crime laws to include sexual orientation, gender expression or identity and disability. Previous hate crime laws gave the Justice Department authority to prosecute crimes motivated only by race, color, national origin and religion. The bill is named after the gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard who was beaten and left for dead in 1999 and James Byrd, a black man murdered by white supremacists in 1998, the measure has been a matter of contention for years.
The bill came about after more than a decade of advocacy by the Human Rights Campaign, the families of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr, and countless members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.
On 12 December 2009, Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign encouraged keeping up the momentum in the fight for LGBT equality. He added that right wing groups are falsely claiming the promotion of LGBT equality will end free speech, criminalize anti-gay thoughts, and open the door to jailing pastors for their sermons, and that it would “shred America’s Judeo-Christian value system.”
I’ve never really understood the term Judeo-Christian. I cannot conceive of any Jews ever refering to themselves as being part of the “Judeo-Christian” tradition. For the Jews, Christianity is an offshoot, a heretical movement, that sprang from Judaism two millennia ago. It is far simpler and more accurate to refer to the Christian tradition.
Googling the expression “shred America’s Judeo-Christian value system” comes up with a number of sites very negative towards the bill. Negativity towards the bill is really tantamount to condoning hate crimes. Is this really what Jesus would want? While Christianity can be seen as a set of beliefs and practices, its core should always be the message of Jesus. I always thought that Jesus’ message was about love, peace and tolerance. Guess I was wrong…
To me, paganism is an umbrella term encompassing non-mainstream religions. One complication is that not all people who I would class as pagans identify as pagans. This is largely because the term pagan was originally one of derision. While I am in no way qualified to speak on behalf of all of those whom I would class as pagans, one thing I can say is that all of the pagan organizations and events with which I have been associated have had an inclusive attitude. All have been welcomed regardless of race, nationality, colour and disability. Also welcomed are members of the LGBT communities. I believe that a lesson in tolerance taken from the pagan community could make mainstream society a much more pleasant place for minority groups.
Tony Mierzwicki
Jeeze Tony, I didn’t know you had a blog.
When I heard about this I was not surprised by the negative attention it garnered. Unfortunately we have an extremely diverse group of nut-bags in this country that base their beliefs on what will keep them out of an eternal state of infinite pain.
No there is no reasonable evidence to support this fear of damnation, but as Pascal suggested the chance of it being true provides more than abundant reason to follow these dogma whether the reality of the situation supports the view or not. He argued that if there is no punishment in hell then it’s best to ere on the side of caution and I’m afraid that this seems to be the main reason people follow this line of thought.
I have to be honest with myself first though and I can’t fool myself into acknowledging and praising a being that supposedly created humanity to do exactly what we do and punish us worse than any Guantanamo Bay detainee for those actions. God did make us exactly the way he wanted us right? He does know all, right? As Epicurus said:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
(Of course he can be omnipotent and benevolent at the same time if he’s also mad but he’s another god entirely then lol. Io Dionysus!)
I honestly can’t find any other reason for this silly meme to persist so successfully in spite of the other positive lessons to be found in the New Testament. WWJD indeed?
Take it easy and many blessings,
Rob
Hi Rob,
It’s great to hear from you.
I’ve had this blog for a few months now. There’s no theme as such and I just write about whatever catches my eye.
I agree that the grand plan of the creator god in Christianity makes no sense. After all, god created man with a propensity to sin, and then when man acted in accordance with his design fault, found himself condemned to eternal damnation. Surely the creator god knew that Adam and Eve would commit the “original sin” in the Garden Eden and plunge humanity into an endless merry-go-round of sin and damnation?
I also agree that there is no denying that the rules to live by within Christianity have much to recommend them. Society would be a much better place if all Christians lived their lives in accordance with their scriptures.
Please feel free to comment on whatever you feel like.
Blessings,
Tony
Thanks for posting this. As for “pagan is an umbrella term,” I wonder what you think about the (re)defining of the term that was proferred at the Parliament conference that just ended in Australia ?
Hello HiC,
The Parliament of World Religions definition of paganism stirred up a hornet’s nest. Rather than try to answer your question here, I felt that the issue was important enough to warrant a blog of its own, which is going to be posted soon.
Blessings,
Tony