Monday, April 30: Homosexuals, Hate, and the Gospel
By the way, there is no epidemic or rash of “hate” crimes being committed against homosexuals or sexually confused people or blacks (by whites). However, there is an epidemic that deserves more attention, as noted by an e-mailer:
“The single biggest reason that hate-crime legislation leaves me cold? I live just outside Philadelphia, Pa. So far, there’ve been 137 murders, a 20% increase so far over last year’s total of 406. The vast majority have been black on black, mostly male on male. Who hates whom?”
And let’s not forget hispanic-on-black “hate” out in CA.
Producer-Hate
Earlier this month, a producer at a cable news network sent me an innocuous “Aren’t you going to comment on Don Imus?” e-mail, which I’d intended to ignore. Later that day, I got an e-mail from someone from a Yahoo! account with the same name. It was in CAPS, including the subject line.
He called me an a**hole and a self-hater because I criticized Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts, for promising to repeal a 1913 law that prohibits out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if the marriage would be illegal in their home state, so that homosexuals could “marry” in his state. Then-governor Mitt Romney refused to repeal the law because he knew it was practically the only thing preventing Massachusetts from becoming the “Las Vegas for same-sex marriage.”
I e-mailed the dude at his work (twice) and Yahoo! accounts, trying to figure out what was going on. I received no reply from either account.
I determined that I’d caught a cable news network producer red-handed sending hate e-mail from his work computer, and he’d probably get in trouble if his higher-ups knew about it. I figured if he were not the Yahoo! person, he’d quickly e-mail back to set the record straight. He didn’t.
Given that I’m a high-profile blogger who knows how to create a blog swarm, I could’ve come down like a whirlwind on this guy. I could’ve embarrassed his butt so bad and stirred up so much trouble…
But I didn’t. I’m guessing that when he realized he’d been dumb enough to send me hate e-mail from his work computer with his name attached, knowing he’d sent one earlier from his work e-mail address, he was sweating bullets. Never once did I threaten to tell his boss(es) or vow to out him. I let it go. Clowning him would not have been fun, and such nastiness just for its own sake would have bothered my conscience.
So, Mr. Rude-Producer with the Yahoo! account, this post is dedicated to you. And I dare you to send more hate e-mail just because you don’t like my stance on homosexual “marriage.”
The Gospel as Hate Speech
A reader alerted me to some disturbing developments. This week the House Committee on the Judiciary passed a bill titled, The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (to read the text, go to THOMAS and look up bill H.R. 1592), which would expand the federal definition of “hate crime” to include crimes that involve violence against a person because they sleep with people of the same sex or are confused about their gender. (Also see Christians in bull’s-eye in new ‘hate crimes’ plan)
Every time our elected officials vote for laws like this, I feel stupider. That our country has descended into such idiocy to think a thug who “hates” blacks and homosexuals ought to be punished just a little bit more than a thug who doesn’t…it makes me feel stupid that some of my fellow Americans think that way and people I know and love may have helped put such boneheaded politicians in office.
Why this federal-level expanded definition of hate crime is a problem should be obvious to everyone. In my circle, we like to joke that one day, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be outlawed. Harty-har-har. It looks like the joke is on us.
And I’ll tell you this: It’s easy for me to talk big and bad on a blog, in the comfort of my mother’s lovely home. But if it becomes a crime to tell the world that the God of the Bible condemns homosexuality as sin, count me as one more black person in prison. If speaking out against the perversion of homosexuality itself and the corruption of the meaning of marriage becomes a criminal activity, I’ll be an outlaw.
This is what Jesus was talking about, American Christians. Persecution is not about people looking at us funny or talking about us behind our backs or mocking us on TV or in movies or sending us all CAPS hate e-mail. Persecution is facing loss of property, loss of liberty, and loss of life for doing what Christ admonished us to do: tell the world who he is, what we believe, and why we believe it. Persecution involves a willingness to stand firm and face the consequences of the laws of men in Christ’s name.
If you think I’m overreaching and overreacting about H.R. 1592, ask yourselves this: Do you think your grandparents or great-grandparents ever could have imagined a day when politicians and the people would be discussing whether to allow two men to marry each other?
Update: To people who keep pointing out that the bill is referring to acts of violence and not speech, I know that. While the bill purportedly pertains to acts of violence only, I think it’s one step closer to criminalizing “hateful” speech, the kind of speech that offends homosexuals. Guess what? The Gospel is offensive to most unbelievers.
Related posts:
- Georgia Strikes Down Thought Crime Law - what I think of so-called hate crime laws
- Deval Patrick Orders State to Record Homosexual “Marriages”
- Deval Patrick and Homosexual “Marriage”
- Black and Hispanic “Hate” in LA County
- Selective Outrage Over Black Crime Victims
- George Orwell, Eat Your Heart Out
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