Policing the Pulpit!

Even though I didn't see any coverage from our newspaper or television, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a piece of legislation this week that may have a tremendous impact upon the religious freedom of our nation. Baptist Press, the news outlet for the Southern Baptist Convention, reported Friday that HR 1913, the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" was passed by a vote of 249-175. This act adds "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the current categories protected from hate crimes. The legislation will now be considered in the U.S. Senate which passed a similar measure in 2007. President Obama has said that he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

So what is the big deal? This is but another step in the effort to force Biblical preachers to stop declaring the truth of God's Word about homosexuality and other unacceptable sexual behavior. The Baptist Press story indicated that this legislation, when combined with other laws already passed, could very easily be interpreted so that charges could be brought against a Minister if investigators decided that his sermon induced a person to commit a hate crime. In other words, I could go to jail if a church member or visitor committed a hate crime and it was determined that he or she heard me preach against homosexuality or the act of dressing and behaving as the opposite sex for the purpose of sexual gratification.

Oh, Ken that would never happen! Think not? It already has in Canada, England, Sweden and other some other European nations. There it does not require for an act of hatred to be committed since the very act of preaching on the subject is considered a crime of hate!

Now, please understand that I would never encourage in any way an act of violence against someone because they are a homosexual or cross dresser or transvestite. Their behavior is repulsive (because it is repulsive to God), but a Christian cannot endorse hatred. On the contrary, we as Christians need to reach out to all people in love. But that love should also include preaching and teaching God's Word faithfully with the prayer that God's transformational love will lead the person to live in accordance with God's will.

Where will all of this lead? This is not intended to be a politically oriented blog, but I am very concerned that our very liberal President (check his voting record and writings) backed by a liberal Congress will lead our nation to move further and further "left", perhaps even radically so. I am not a fan of everything done in the name of conservatism either, but I believe we will see many of our freedoms eroded, while at the same time,we will see a greater encouragement toward behavior that is not in keeping with God's Word. My thoughts on political matters is not so much Democrat versus Republican, but is more about Biblical versus worldly. Issues such as HR 1913 do not give me much encouragement about our nation's direction.