Religious Hate Speech?

Britain is considering language that would add religious hatred to a list of crimes considered "hate speech." As a long time opponent of hate crime legislation, I have to say that this is a stupid idea. It is not only stupid but it is dangerous to say that certain crimes deserve more punishment because they were motivated by a certain type of hate. If I kill someone, then I kill someone. It should not matter, legally at least, if I murdered the person because I didn't like the color of their skin or just because I didn't like the way he/she looked at me. It should have no legal bearing at all. A crime is a crime. And regardless of motives, all crimes should have the same penalties attached.



This new move to protect against religious hate is absurd as well. Rowan Atkinson reflects my thoughts rather well (and yes, he really does talk!):

"To criticise a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous but to criticise their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom. The freedom to criticise ideas, any ideas - even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. A law which attempts to say you can criticise and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed."

Look, I'm a Christian and accept whatever it means to be one in the eyes of the world. Christ clearly tells us that we'll be mocked and ridiculed for our faith. Do I want that? Of course not. But the last thing I need is a government punishing people for saying things I don't like. That won't help the cause. And what happens if a Muslim gets upset if I say that Christ is the only way, that they're going to burn in the fires of Hell for all time? Maybe that's hate speech? Who gets to decide? There are certainly Christians out there who would be slapped upside the head by such legislation. We must be careful of these double edged swords, especially since they tend to cut us both ways.



Ultimately it's even more useless because if someone threatens me, I can already go to the police and have that person dealt with. We don't need more legislation. For crying out loud, we've already got more than we know what do with. Let's stop pandering to every little crying baby out there who's had their feelings hurt and start dealing with the business of actually creating a better society.