McChurch - "The Queers and Thought Police are Coming!

5-1-2007

Dr. Dobson Asks the Nation to Oppose Hate-Crimes Bill

by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor

I’m sorry, but as an evangelical pastor and theologian, I find it puzzling that a Christian finds it necessary to attack the sins of people outside the church…Are there not enough sins to go around for everyone? Can we not focus on discipleship of those within the church so that its witness can be “spread abroad in our hearts?”

Dobson insists that the passage of this bill will muzzle Christian pastors from preaching against homosexuality…He reaches over the top to suggest that Christians could be prosecuted for “reading their Bibles a certain way.” This is hogwash!

From my point of view, McChurch needs to be muzzled…It has been all too guilty of abusing its freedoms in order to restrict the freedoms of others, while at the same time insisting on tax-exempt status…The more persecution, the more the church will get back to its mission of spiritual growth from within…

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry

Says legislation could “pave the way for religious persecution” in the U.S.

The U.S. House is set to vote this week on controversial hate-crimes legislation that purports to give extra legal protection to people with gender-identity confusion, but that would ultimately strip away religious freedoms.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act – H.R. 1592 in the House and S. 1105 in the Senate – would mandate additional federal penalties for crimes involving sexual orientation or gender identity. Sen. Ted Kennedy has been attempting to pass the egregious bill in the Senate for six years.

Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said the backers of the bill are hoping people won't catch on that "the true intent of the legislation is not to punish what is already illegal. It is to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality."

He alerted Focus on the Family broadcast listeners to the subterfuge on Tuesday.

“There’s a vote coming up on some insidious legislation in the United States Congress that could silence and punish Christians for their moral beliefs,” he said. “That means that as a Christian – if you read the Bible a certain way with regard to morality – you may be guilty of committing a ‘thought crime.’ ”

Dr. Dobson added that the true nature of the bill was exposed when Republicans proposed an amendment aimed at protecting religious freedom as laid out in the U.S. Constitution.

"Guess what? Every Democrat voted against it, and the measure failed," he said. "What is at stake here is freedom of speech and the expression of conscience, and without a huge outcry from the public expressed to the House, Senate and the White House, it will become law."

Similar laws in Canada and Europe have already led to fines and prosecution for simply expressing a biblical view, he noted.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family Action said conservatives have been able to quash hate-crimes legislation before, but not now.

“The liberals are in charge of Congress, and these bills are likely to pass," he said. "This has a great impact on the advancement of the Christian message."

Minnery contrasted the hate-crimes measure with the shooting last month at Virginia Tech.

“The man who murdered 32 people said in his diatribe he was angry at ‘rich kids.’ And that is not a hate crime under the language of this law,” he said. “Had he killed transgender people -- that would have brought the federal government into it as a violation of the hate-crime law.”

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, a ministry to people who are unhappy with their same-sex attraction, said he and the people he counsels illustrate the inequity.

“This legislation says that we -- as former homosexuals -- are of less value and worth less legal protection now,” he said, “than when we were living as homosexuals.

“We call upon Congress to support the prosecution of criminals to the full extent of the law, regardless of their victim’s behavior,” he added, “rather than advocating unjust legislation that threatens the religious freedoms of all Americans.”

Dr. Dobson called the so-called hate-crimes bill another outrageous attempt to silence opposition to the political agenda of homosexual activists.

"Including gay adoption, the redefinition of marriage, homosexual propaganda in the schools and more," he said. "Pastors may not even be able to speak in opposition to homosexual behavior, and, by extension, heterosexual promiscuity, as prohibited in Scripture. Please help us stop hate-crimes legislation dead in its tracks."

(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)