What Would Jesus Do???

[Obamarama]

I wrote this LTTE viewpoint to send to my local paper in response to this recent hate crime (se DU link just below) in which a 72-year old gay man was beaten into a coma (and eventually died) here in MI. Please feel free to copy, plagarize, inspire, etc... to send to your local opinion pages.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x280484

Seventy-two year old Detroit resident Andrew Anthos was a gentle, quiet, unassuming man. A patriotic soul, he spent nearly two decades tirelessly trying to get the State of Michigan to bathe the capitol dome in red, white and blue spotlights for one night each year.

On February 13, as Anthos rode a city bus from the public library to his Detroit apartment, he was harassed by a fellow rider. Quietly ignoring his harasser, he got off the bus near his apartment building. His harasser also got off the bus, followed Anthos, and continued his verbal taunts. As Anthos helped a neighbor navigate his wheelchair through a pile of snow, his harasser beat him multiple times over the head with a metal pipe. The attack left Anthos paralyzed below the neck and unable to speak. He eventually died from his injuries on February 23.

Why would a random bully on a public bus target a gentle, non-threatening senior citizen like Anthos for such a heatless, inhuman attack? Because Anthos was a gay man. As his harasser-turned-murderer taunted him prior to the attack, he was asking if Anthos was gay and made anti-gay slurs. This meek, peaceful man was targeted, maimed, and killed simply because he was gay.

Yet, “Christian” organizations such as American Family Association, Focus On The Family, and Concerned Women of America would like you to believe that someone who perpetrates hate crimes on helpless, innocent people like Andrew Anthos simply because of who they are deserve no special consideration or penalty from our judicial system.

House of Representatives Bill 254, introduced in Washington D.C on January 5th, 2007 states: “…the incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.” If passed, the bill would set clear guidelines for what constitutes a hate crime, and provide minimum sentencing guidelines for anyone convicted of such a crime.

It’s not that these organizations and supporters are against a hate crimes bill, per se. They’re up in arms because it specifically seeks to protect gays and lesbians from hate crimes. Yet, if we were still throwing Christians to the lions and a group was seeking to exclude religion from a potential hate-crimes bill, the James Dobsons, Pat Robertsons, Jerry Falwells, and Gary Glenns of the world and their supporters would be mired in even deeper self-righteous snits than they typically are.

When confronted with crises of faith, conservative evangelical Christians are fond of asking themselves and others “what would Jesus do?” If one believes biblical history that Christ welcomed and befriended prostitutes and various other outcasts of society, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine he would have supported a law that would punish someone who beats a fellow human to a bloody pulp simply because they belong to a specific group of people, including homosexuals.

Don’t allow these organizations and their supporters to cloak their brand of bigotry in the Bible. If these over-ambitious, misguided people -- who curiously identify themselves as “pro-life” -- are successful in blocking the HR Bill 254 hate crimes bill because it happens to also protect gays and lesbians, they will, in effect, discount the value of every human life that falls under its umbrella of protection.

If you’re an immigrant, have a disability, practice a non-mainstream religion, are an ethnic or racial minority, or identify as gay or lesbian, HR Bill 254 would hold the people who would seek you out and attack you simply for who you are to a higher standard of justice. Contact your U.S representatives and urge them to support HR Bill 254.

If you don’t fall into one of those categories, but are a reasonable, caring human being who believes that someone who would hunt down and beat a defenseless, old man into a coma because of who he is deserves specialty penalties for their crime, contact your U.S representatives and urge them to support HR Bill 254.

If you are among those who seek to block HR Bill 254 simply because it includes gays and lesbians in its protections, perhaps you should take pause and ask yourself “What would Jesus do?”

[ComerPerro]

1. Very well written letter, but one could argue that Jesus might not give protections from hate crimes

lets not forget that he himself was beaten and executed due to religious bigotry.

But I completely agree that it is disgusting to advocate against hate-crime legislation.

Of course, they hate it because it exposes them as hate-mongering sickos. It is kind of funny, if it weren't so shockingly appauling, to think that they actually call us bigots and intolerant because we want them to stop practicing discrimination and hatred.

[Gryphons Eyre]

2. American Fascists....

In Chris Hedges new book "American Fascists:The Christian Right and the War on America" he explains why some evangelicals are trying to block hate crime legislation. In the theocracy they envision homosexuality might very well carry the death penalty along with adultery, blasphemy, striking a parent, etc. They see the world in apocalyptic terms where the unbeliever must be converted or eradicated. This apocalyptic cleansing will result in a "Christian Nation" where all the righteous will live without strife or need. Victims such as Andrew Anthos are actually blamed for their own murder because they have transgressed against God and through their un-repentances deserve to die.

Hedges calls these Christians heretics and rightly so. They have twisted and corrupted the teaching of Jesus to support their own bigotry and hate. Those of the Christian faith and civil libertarians are warned that "there comes a time when those that preach intolerance can no longer be tolerated." I can only concur. Allow me to quote the beginning passage from the first chapter:

Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.

-- Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies

an interview on NPR "talk of the nation" can be found here.

[Obamarama]

3. Cool...thanks for the link.

And welcome to DU! :-) I like the ring of your very first post: "American Fascists."

[newyawker99]

5. Hi Gryphons Eyre!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Gryphons Eyre]

6. thank-you newyawker99!

Most kind of you to welcome me to DU. I have not been inclined to post in public forums choosing rather to share my thoughts in a more private venue. Perhaps it is time for me to be a bit more socially inclined. At the very least I hope I can contribute to the fine dialogue already in progress!

g

[Cabcere]

7. Welcome to DU, Gryphons Eyre!

:hi: Good to have you here.

[auntAgonist]

4. K&R

excellent letter imho.

aA
:hi:

[Cabcere]

8. Brilliantly stated

and beautifully written. :thumbsup: K&R.