Evangelism the root cause?
An increase in crimes against gays and lesbians is being attributed by one prominent gay activist to evangelical preachers who say that homosexuality is a sin.
There was a 4 percent increase in crimes against homosexuals from 2003 to 2004, according to a report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
"The literal blood of the thousands of gay people physically wounded by hate during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment," says Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Comments (4)
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Well, but...haven't preachers always preached that homosexuality was "an abomination in the eyes of the Lord?" It doesn't seem like I'm hearing more of it, seems like the same language at the same level to me. However, could the increase in gay hate crimes be attributed to something other than just crazy people with no tolerance for lifestyles other than their own, like, mayhap, the Bush administration's stance on homosexuality and same sex marriages??
Posted on April 28, 2005 6:49 PM
Any person who commits a crime is, IMO, personally responsible for that crime. But we can't ignore the factor of leadership and its effects on followers. When an authority figure makes a pronouncement of emotional reaction, followers will tend to want to mirror it. Especially those who prefer to follow blindly. Danger comes into the picture when such people, with violent natures, latch onto violent leaders.
When one reads certain parts of the Christian Bible, one is liable to be exposed to some of the most horrific emotional "leadership" from the ultimate "leader" -- God. It's small wonder to me that most of the horrors known in Western history find their first expression in Godly pronouncements of disgust and anger.
Is there a single "root cause"? No, human psychology is far to complex for that. But what we see from televangelists and far too many "Godly" political leaders certainly doesn't do much to soften the situation.
Posted on April 28, 2005 7:18 PM
Eric, You are astute to point out the influence of a national leader speaking aganist something and the subsequent like-mindedness of his followers. Bush ran on a "Christian" platform and managed to convince a lot of folks that God wanted him in the WH.
He, along with the moral majority, had ministers/ preachers asking their congregations to vote for him. Their battle cry? Bush was going to restore morality to our nation (even if they had to kill the immoral to do it).
Then Bush condemns gays and lesbians, pro choice people, anyone who didn't want the church and state to become one. Why, then, should anyone be surprised when extremists emulate their extreme leader?
Posted on April 28, 2005 9:59 PM
Foreman's logic is laughable. He attributes the increase in crimes to simple preaching, as if no one had ever spoken against homosexuality before the increase began. Falwell, Dobson and Perkins have been preaching that homosexuality is a sin since long before 2003, and unless Foreman can prove that their audiences have increased, too, he has no case.
Beyond Foreman's faulty logic, there's the issue of descriptive vs. prescriptive statements. A speaker who simply says something is wrong (descriptive) should never be held responsible if a listener then goes and breaks the law. If that same speaker said that listeners should go out (prescriptive) and break the law, then he may be held partially liable.
Much of what Foreman (and other respondents to this post) deem as "hate speech" is simply descriptive language based on these evangelical leaders' beliefs. The statement that homosexuality is wrong is not hate speech, nor does it show a lack of tolerance.
Posted on April 29, 2005 9:22 AM