LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

Baptists want hate-crimes bill to be defeated

The Southern Baptist Convention, which wrapped up its two-day visit to San Antonio on Wednesday, passed a resolution asking the U.S. Senate and President Bush to prevent hate crimes from being prosecutable, saying it would add an extra layer of protection for homosexuality, which they say the Bible denounces.

The convention's 8,600 "messengers," or delegates, in one of the smallest SBC annual meetings in 30 years, applauded a message from Bush broadcast via satellite, emphasizing his policies that they support. He also commended their efforts in disaster relief and other areas to help the needy.

"Every day, Southern Baptists are giving back to their communities and ministering to those in need. And you made our nation stronger as a result," Bush said in the broadcast.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed by the House last month and a similar bill introduced in the Senate in April provides federal support to state, local and tribal law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting violent felony crimes motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of the victim.

The SBC's hate-crimes resolution says that such a law, if passed, would makes gays, lesbians and transgender people a special protected class and could make preaching against the same-sex lifestyle a form of "thought crime." ...

I wonder how they would feel if people were physically assaulting Southern Baptists because they hated them?