HATE LAW FOLLIES

Demonstrators led by Al Sharpton recently marched on Washington to demand justice through federal use of hate laws. Seeking justice from hate laws is like seeking weight loss at McDonald's.

Sharpton said every noose-hanging should be prosecuted. Would that include attention-getting incidents like when a black student hung a noose on her dorm room door in an attempt to get out of university?

And if every word or symbol of racial or religious hatred is to be prosecuted, when will lawyers file briefs against those who cuss in Jesus' name or call Christians' moral beliefs "homophobic?" Along with blasphemous art like the crucifix hung in urine, these words certainly seem like symbols of “religious hatred” of Christianity.

But—as we’ve pointed out innumerable times—hate laws aren’t an instrument of justice. They are a political tool designed to privilege certain social groups and silence others. They end up as instruments of oppression for those in power, eventually silencing the very groups who may have once sought their protection!

Unfortunately, this is still not well understood. Students in West Virginia also recently rallied. They said hate crime laws "should have protected" Megan Williams, victim of days' long horrific torture allegedly at the hands of six white people. (Their logic is flawed. Shouldn't existing laws against horrific torture have punished Megan's attackers—regardless of her skin color?)

Hate crime laws are so complicated that the prosecutor on the Williams case still hasn't filed these charges, despite the marches and protests. That should tell us something.

A number of Jewish skullcaps can be seen on the news video from the West Virginia rally. Jewish groups, particularly the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, have always led the charge toward hate crime laws. ( Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians) Police from 15 European nations just met in London to be trained in hate crimes response by Paul Goldenberg of the American Jewish Committee. The seminar was organized by the ADL-led Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Goldenberg said OSCE will launch a hate crimes information-sharing network on Friday, Nov. 23. It will “facilitate the exchange of information and intelligence on hate symbols and organized hate groups.” This will pave just another dangerous curve in the highway toward international censorship of organized Jewry’s critics.

In 2006, the AJC attacked Jewish anti-Zionists in an essay by Alvin Rosenfield. The work was widely criticized as a slanderous suppression of healthy debate. Unfortunately, leftist academics who resented the essay didn’t recognize the larger threat. AJC—with the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the rest of organized Jewry—seeks to actually criminalize, not just slander, those who criticize Zionism, Judaism, or other protected groups. And they are gaining the power to do so.

This week, the US Department of Justice released a fact sheet on 2007 hate crimes and civil rights violations. The government says it prosecuted a record number of civil rights violations during this past fiscal year. The FBI reported Monday that hate crimes rose 8 percent in 2006.

The US government's fact sheet notes that it received praise from the Anti-Defamation League for prosecution of several crimes. Given ADL's tawdry record of domestic spying and anti-Christianity, this is astonishing. I first read the comments about ADL praise in a news story and figured that writer had chosen to highlight it. But when I double-checked the government website, there it was! It speaks to the power of this non-governmental Jewish advocacy group, that their gold stars are listed in an official government fact sheet.

Americans desperately need to understand the ominous agenda of ADL and other leftist Jewish organizations that seek to silence legitimate speech—like moral criticism of homosexuality or moral criticism of Israel —through hate crime laws.

Instead, shortsighted leaders like Al Sharpton try to earn popularity points by foolishly promising they will provide greater justice.

Writing for the Chicago Tribune, black columnist Clarence Page says the definition of hate crime is too narrow! Page argues it should include black-on-black violence. (Intraracial violence--white on white and black on black--is far more common than interracial.) Page describes the brutal torture of a Haitian mother and her son in Florida . Page asks, "Was that a "hate" crime? It certainly wasn't about love."

Unfortunately, Page misses the whole point. Instead of calling for crimes to be treated equally--regardless of the skin color or motives of the attackers or victims--he asks for hate law preferences to be expanded still further! He suggests all violence against women--including "black-inflicted terrors"--should be prosecuted as hate crimes. This is lunacy!

The muddled thinking doesn't stop this side of the Atlantic . In Scotland , a lawmaker is trying to get handicapped and homosexual people included under existing hate crime laws against racially or religiously motivated crimes. I recently commented on British attempts to include the elderly. Maybe someday we’ll come full circle—back to equal protection for all.

There are two bright spots in a sky of thunderheads. A Pennsylvania court ruled that the legislature must toss out a 2002 amendment that added "sexual orientation" to protected status and also enhanced penalties to their ADL-created state hate law. Conservative Christians led by Michael Marcavage of Repent America challenged this amendment after 11 evangelists were arrested under the amendment for peacefully protesting at a gay pride parade in Philadelphia three years ago.

On the federal level, the federal hate crimes bill is in trouble. Conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats threaten to defeat the arms bill to which the hate crimes amendment is attached. (See, You Must Kill the Hate Bill! Not Bush) The Democrats don't want unrestrained funding for the Iraq war. The Republicans don't want the hate bill linked to the arms bill. This is a very unexpected, encouraging rift in Congress which all who love freedom should do their best to widen. Although now in recess, your Senators and House members should receive this message, either in their home offices or at the Capitol: "Please don't vote for the National Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 1585 with the hate bill attached."

Let both conservatives and liberals in Congress know the real aim of hate crime laws: ending freedom.

By Harmony Grant

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Harmony Grant writes and edits for the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watch dog organization.

Let the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith teach you how they have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.

Learn how ADL took away free speech in Canada and wants to steal it now in the U.S. Congress. Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com. Purchase this gripping documentary to show at church. Order online at www.truthtellers.org for $24.90, DVD or VHS, by calling 503-853-3688, or at the address below.