What does the Religious Right say about hate crimes legislation?
When hate crimes legislation came before the House of Representatives in 2007, Religious Right leaders went ballistic. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins insisted that its only effect would be”to gag people of faith and conviction who disagree with the homosexual agenda.” Perkins’ ally Bishop Harry Jackson recruited other African American pastors to appear at a press conference and in a newspaper ad claiming that hate crimes legislation would”muzzle” black preachers and deny them the freedom to preach about homosexuality. Rev. Ted Pike of the National Prayer Network called a hate crimes bill”the most dangerous legislation ever to come before Congress.” Not to be outdone, the Traditional Values Coalition’s Andrea Lafferty said”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.” The same combination of misinformation and willful de
