Beware - The Government Wants to Steal Your Freedom of Thought!
I promise I am going to post something non-political soon, but I guess I am in the work mindset at present.
If I ever want to have fodder to write about, I need to look no further than Focus on the Families' daily policy newsletter. Today they are up in arms about new Hate Crime legislation, which - of course - they oppose. I have not seen the bill not read all arguments, but I can tell you how ridiculous it sounds to me that Focus is lobbying its people AGAINST the House passing any Hate Crimes legislation.
That stance alone seems absurd and backward enough. However, the argument made in the piece is that the law should punish actions, not thoughts. I am not sure many people are convicted of having hateful thoughts (though - if we listen to Jesus - they are just as damnable as murder); what concerns me is when those thoughts turn into violence. It comes back around to the homophobia and hate-mongering purveyed by Focus and such groups. The law is not telling them to accept homosexuality, but it is protecting that group (and every group) from hate turning into violence. I guess I just can't see how any group - even a conservative Christian one - can lobby against a bill that supports coexistence and hopefully deters violence. No one is telling Jimmy D what to think, but it is just ensuring that those hateful or disapproving thoughts don't turn into violence.
Leave it to the Religious Right to find a way to argue against hate crime legislation. If only I were a big business or middle- or upper-class white nuclear family in the burbs... then maybe they'd leave me alone and fight for my rights.
If I ever want to have fodder to write about, I need to look no further than Focus on the Families' daily policy newsletter. Today they are up in arms about new Hate Crime legislation, which - of course - they oppose. I have not seen the bill not read all arguments, but I can tell you how ridiculous it sounds to me that Focus is lobbying its people AGAINST the House passing any Hate Crimes legislation.
That stance alone seems absurd and backward enough. However, the argument made in the piece is that the law should punish actions, not thoughts. I am not sure many people are convicted of having hateful thoughts (though - if we listen to Jesus - they are just as damnable as murder); what concerns me is when those thoughts turn into violence. It comes back around to the homophobia and hate-mongering purveyed by Focus and such groups. The law is not telling them to accept homosexuality, but it is protecting that group (and every group) from hate turning into violence. I guess I just can't see how any group - even a conservative Christian one - can lobby against a bill that supports coexistence and hopefully deters violence. No one is telling Jimmy D what to think, but it is just ensuring that those hateful or disapproving thoughts don't turn into violence.
Leave it to the Religious Right to find a way to argue against hate crime legislation. If only I were a big business or middle- or upper-class white nuclear family in the burbs... then maybe they'd leave me alone and fight for my rights.
1 Comments:
Random question: Are thoughts actions? I generally consider them such.
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