From Stop the American Criminal Liberties Union:
“Religious broadcasters were celebrating Friday over the removal of a hate-crimes provision from the National Defense Authorization Act. The American Civil Liberties Union supported the provision, saying that it protected free-speech rights while punishing only the hateful conduct.
The bill punished the conduct of targeting someone for violence because of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It allowed bigoted speech or association with hate groups as evidence of a crime, but only if it was directly related to the crime.
But religious broadcasters were not assuaged. “We know the bill’s sponsors did not believe it had any First Amendment implications,” National Religious Broadcasters senior vice president and general counsel Craig Parshall said, “but we felt it did. It was a troublesome scenario,” he added, calling its removal “a big victory.” …
Religious broadcasters are concerned that such a bill might suppress speech from the pulpit, like preaching on morals and values that might not square with some powerful politicians, say opposing homosexuality or branding Islam a false religion.
Why would the ACLU support the suppression of free speech? Why would they be so agahast that someone was exercising their rights under the First Amendment?
That's right!
Because the REAL target of this provision was NOT about protecting anybody. It was about suppressing churches from preaching the truth about homosexuality, Islam, etc. It was about a handful of people trying to dictate to the other 299,999,900 people in this country what they can and can't say about their religious beliefs--if those beliefs include the belief that God exists, and that He considers sin to be sin.
Otherwise, you can blaspheme His name, splash billboards with all kinds of offensive images and words, and call Christians racist bigoted homophobes--and that is OK under the Constitution.
But preaching the truth from the Bible isn't.
Er, something.
