Christian groups say hate crimes legislation will make it harder for them to hate gays

April 30, 2007
Christian groups say hate crimes legislation will make it harder for them to hate gays

Christian groups were sending out "action alerts" scaring supporters into believing that passage of the hate crimes bill, a piece of legislation that has clear First Amendment safeguards, would result in preachers arrested from the pulpit and Christians shipped off for an indefinite stay at the Hanoi Hilton.

In the words of Andrea Lafferty, executive director for the Traditional Values Coalition, "Most Christians might as well rip the pages which condemn homosexuality right out of their Bibles because this bill will make it illegal to publicly express the dictates of their religious beliefs." This was a fear that bared as much resemblance to fact as Dannielynn Smith does to Howard K. Stern.