Hate Crimes

Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, if you don’t know, is the head of the Interfaith Alliance of which the BJC is a part. Normally, I’m all for the work they do there, and I think they present a reasonable stand on religious liberty issues, showing that not all religious people think that government support of religion is a good thing. However, religious liberty is not all that the group is involved in. Rather, they are comprised of the religious left and so involve themselves in a number of social justice issues. Again, I consider myself to be fairly left leaning myself, or at least on the left side of moderate, and I think it’s great that there are religious people that acknowledge that the Bible has more to say about poverty than about abortion or homosexuality.

That being said, I have received an email from Rev. Gaddy (in my lofty capacity as Intern1@bjconline.org) which I could not be more against. It is an action alert kind of email, encouraging the BJC to get involved in mobilizing our grassroots organization to fight for hate crimes legislation. Here’s the gist of it:

Every 73 minutes, someone commits a hate crime in America.Believe it or not, victims targeted because of religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability are not yet fully protected under existing laws. 7,163 hate crimes were reported to local law enforcement in 2006, and the FBI estimates that there are 15 times more hate crimes that go unreported every year*.
Crimes fueled by hatred and bigotry assault a core principle of our various spiritual beliefs -- that every human being has inherent dignity and worth. Religion and government must work together appropriately to make America a place in which diverse people are safe and free.
You and I know that hatred and exclusion are not moral or democratic values. With your support , The Interfaith Alliance will keep working for an America where hate violence is no longer a threat to our communities.

I have two major issues with this nonsense. First, every crime is a hate crime. If you beat the shit out of someone, it’s not going to be because you like him very much. Who cares if you did it because he was black or Muslim or Buddhist or atheist or if you did it because he had a big chunk of change rattling in his pocket? You were able to remove his humanity and treat him as if he were not a fellow human being. That’s hatred.

Second, and more importantly, anyone who fights for freedom of conscience should be horrified at any attempt for government to legislate against what you think. In a free society, your opinions, as horrible as they might be, are your own and none of the government’s damn business. Passing such legislation would set a horrendous precedent. It gives government powers, not only over what actions you take but over what you believe. Thankfully, such laws would be deemed unconstitutional by any court worth its salt.

I'm not a libertarian, because I think stand offish government is ridiculous in a modern world. The state has a responsibility to be involved in the lives of its people, especially in a democracy. But I dont' understand why anyone would trust their government so wholeheartedly as it seems both liberals (with legislation like this) and conservatives (with Patriot Act bullshit) do. Government is made of people and as people is full of stupidity as well as willful sin. Anyone given the power of the sword should be watched very carefully.