Hate Crimes Bill Update

The U.S. House of Representatives and The U.S. Senate have passed the Matthew Sheppard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act of 2007 (S. 909)...commonly known as the Hate Crimes Bill. The bill is attached to a National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010.

Click Here to read a legal description of the bill. The bill makes it possible to prosecute bodily injury carried out in response to the actual or perceived identity of a person. Take note of the words "actual or perceived" and "bodily injury". A "perceived" thought of hate could have a lot of interpretations. This bill has been brought forth even though injury against any and all persons is already punishable through existing laws regarding slander, assault, attempted murder, and murder.

Added to the bill as an amendment from Senator Sam Brownback (Amendment S.Amdt.1610 to S.Amdt.1511.) The amendment states that unless speech becomes an imminent incitement to violence it shall be protected. The purpose of the amendment is to clarify that Hate Crimes Amendment (S.Amdt.1511) shall not be construed or applied to infringe on First Amendment rights. Brownback's amendment offers a vital clarification, protecting free speech.

The expanded federal Hate Crimes Bill now goes to President Obama's desk for his signature, at which point it will become law.

Hate crimes legislation was first enacted after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968 and centered on crimes based on race, color, religion or national origin.

Craig L. Parshall, Sr. VP & General Counsel of the National Religious Broadcaster states that "the first step is to understand what the hate crimes law really does and does not provide, and to eschew some of the misstatements abounding on that subject. Unlike those other portions of the hate crimes law where it is studded with references to the First Amendment, the amendment added by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) adopts the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) paradigm previously passed by Congress, which has enjoyed a very good track record in the courts for liberating religious expression. The RFRA language was passed to reverse the disastrous assault on the Free Exercise of Religion caused by a 1990 decision of the Supreme Court. Later, the High Court recognized that RFRA had indeed worked a "substantive" protection for the Free Exercise of Religion."

We hope this information gives answer to questions you may have regarding the Hate Crimes Bill. Thank you for keeping our country and all its' leaders in your prayers. May God's guidance and His will be ours, always.