Call Now to Prevent Federal Hate Crimes from Becoming Law
The Senate is poised to vote at any time on "hate crimes" legislation. Please click on this attached link to find your senator's phone numbers and talking points on this issue.
Click here for a link to AFA's action center to contact your representatives.
Talking Points on Hate Crimes from Coral Ridge Ministries:
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S909):
Is an Assault on Liberty of Conscience. In free countries, criminal acts are punished—not beliefs or views. The proposed hate crimes bill would result in two convictions—one for the criminal act, and another for the beliefs or thoughts behind it. This is a road to "thought crime" tyranny that is unfolding already in Europe and Canada.
Is Not Needed. Every state legal code already protects men and women, whatever their "actual or perceived … sexual orientation," against criminal assault. There is no hate-crime "epidemic" in America. The FBI reports that so-called hate crimes, which are difficult to identify because only God can know the human heart, are a tiny fraction of all crimes.
Puts Pastors At Risk For Prosecution. Anyone, including pastors, can be accused of creating a "climate of hate" that leads to violence—merely for speaking biblical truth. Under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law, 11 Christians were arrested and jailed in 2004 for preaching the gospel at a Philadelphia homosexual street festival. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a former judge, said that under this federal bill, clergymen and others could be charged with encouraging or inducing a "hate crime" if they preach against homosexuality.
Writes Inequality Into the Law. The hate crimes bill before the Senate gives special legal protection to persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered by making crimes against them more heavily punished than the same crime against a child, a veteran, a pregnant woman, or the elderly.