Delivering a smackdown to demagogues who claim hate crimes bill will lead to religious prosecution

For so long now, the religious right (and the right in general) have been wailing hysterically about how the new hate crimes bill (named the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act), which would do nothing more or less than offer severe punishments to criminals who attack others on the grounds of them being a minority (whether it be ethnicity or sexual orientation). They claim that it would lead to, amongst other things, pastors being arrested and prosecuted for hate speech against homosexuality and gays. This is an abominably stupid claim, and there is no better expert on the subject to explain exactly how and why these fear-mongers are dead wrong than Charles Haynes, one of the most renowned senior First Amendment scholars in the country. Take it away:

To illustrate their fears, religious conservatives cite cases in Europe and Canada where a few pastors have been prosecuted in recent years for “hate speech” after they spoke out against homosexuality. These prosecutions are indeed insidious attacks on free speech and free exercise of religion – but they all occurred in countries without a First Amendment.

In my view, it can’t happen here. Americans have, after all, lived under hate-crimes laws, federal and state, for decades – and some of the state laws already include sexual orientation. In all that time, religious leaders of various stripes have preached controversial beliefs about race, religion and national origin without ever being charged with a hate crime based on the content of their speech.

Thanks to the First Amendment, we enjoy the strongest protection for free expression in the world. In a society where even white supremacists, anti-Semites and anti-gay hatemongers like the Rev. Fred Phelps are free to speak, local pastors need not worry about being prosecuted for preaching the Gospel as they understand it.

But just to be certain that the legislation will not be misused, sponsors of the hate-crimes bill have added language to ensure that “nothing in the Act shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech.” Further, “nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual’s expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual’s membership in a group advocating of espousing such beliefs.”

The only speech affected by this bill is speech that has no constitutional protection now, such as speech that directs people to commit violence, in a manner likely to incite imminent lawless action. Bias-motivated acts of violence are the target of this legislation, not speech protected by the First Amendment.

Talk about batting it out of the ballpark. I dunno if it’s just me, but really, it is always so very satiating to hear an expert who actually has a clue come out and prove how dishonest the religious right is. (And, again, the right in general.) I believe it is abundantly clear that, considering how obvious all of this is, these lying cranks know very well that there is nothing to argue over, nothing to debate about, when it comes to the passing of hate crimes bills. They’re not interested in honest discussion, they never have been. All this is is pure demagoguery for the sake of attention – and getting the gullible and ignorant to open their wallets.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
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