There is a link between hate crime and faith crime and the police are right to raise it. Ab... In the name of the Father...
Yesterday I watched a heated debate on the BBC between two vicars, one a black conservative Christian, the other a white liberal and gay vicar. Their debate was not over gay marriage or gays in the church - they were arguing about the police. The police had not stepped into the debate over gays in the church nor had they come out with any prejudicial statements. The debate has arisen because the Gay Police Association (GPA) had publicised a link between religion and hate crime.
The GPA produced an advert that showed a bible next to a pool of blood under the heading "in the name of the father". This advert appeared in the Diversity supplement of the Independent newspaper on 29 June, two days ahead of Europride. The advert went on to say, "In the last 12 months, the GPA has recorded a 74% increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious belief of the perpetrator."
Why are some members of the church so upset? Gay men have put up with hearing negative links between their sexuality and certain behaviour; we don't sue or phone the police. Perpetrators of hate crime were giving their religion's opposition to homosexuality as justification for their crime. Someone out there clearly doesn't like being reminded of this statistic and a complaint has now been received by the police, accusing the GPA of a "faith crime". The Met now have to investigate, distracting police resources from crime in order to defend the church from reality.
In the US it has been suggested that the increasing incidents of gay bashing in places like New York are linked to the increased opposition to gay marriage from right wing commentators and politicians. Constant discussion about homosexuality being wrong in the eyes of the lord was sure to bring out the crazies who seek to rid the earth of evil. Gay bashing is one aspect of that. Why shouldn't the police mention the link? It is there.
Persecution of minorities is never acceptable. I consider myself to be a Christian - or at least a follower of the basic principles - but I am also a gay man and don't find it a contradiction. I have experienced mild forms of hate crime, which I doubt were faith driven, although I have heard people saying that homosexuality is wrong and the Bible says so. Well, most of us are guilty of ignoring the Bible.
If a Christian tells me that I am ungodly, I am capable of defending myself and dealing with it. But I am glad that the police have raised the issue and started a debate which the church would not have initiated. Any religion preaching hate in the UK should be put in the spotlight, and its followers made to question their faith.
That the Gay Police Association should commission such an advert sets off alarm bells that they are winding up for a campaign of police persecution of Christians who dare to say that sexual activity other than between a man and his wife is sinful.
But we've been here before, haven't we? Henry VIII banned the Catholic Church for telling him not to have nookie with Anne Boleyn. Then, from Elizabeth I, came the penal times.
It's only fair to warn the GPA that persecution of people on religious grounds, when committed on a mass or systematic scale, is an offence under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. Mind how you go!
In every war both sides claim that god is on their side. If there is only one god, it seems rather pointless that he fights himself. Would it not be more sensible to believe that god does not exist, and that the arguments and wars are started by man and it is their beliefs that they are fighting for and not some figament of their imaginations?
There's a world of difference between saying that homosexuality is sinful, and administering a painful or even fatal beating. One is legal, one isn't. One is morally acceptable, the other morally unforgivable.
Ultimately, I'm sure the GPA don't want to target religious people; they're targetting those who would break the law using their religion as a justification. Again, a world of difference. Persecution doesn't even enter into it.
Jonman, you know that there's a world of difference between saying that homosexuality is sinful, and administering a painful or even fatal beating; I know so too, and so do most other sensible people. My suspicion is that they will, out of intolerant rage, use gay bashing as a pretext for silencing all religious critique of homosexual activity.
In Sweden an evangelical pastor Ake Green was jailed for preaching against homosexual activity from the pulpit, but was later acquitted on appeal. If the Swedish police can act as slyly as this we would do well not to put it past a police force which can blow away an innocent Brazilian on the London Underground and then doctor the record of the incident.
"complaint has now been received by the police, accusing the GPA of a "faith crime". The Met now have to investigate, distracting police resources from crime in order to defend the church from reality."
Just to clarify: are you including Islam in that generalisation? And do you mean that for any religion R where some preacher P preaches hate, all followers of R should be made to question their faith?
although his ideas on/reactions to homosexuality are both respectful and sensitive, his life was all the same threatened when he converted to heterosexuality. And that, of course, doesn't go down well with the 'homosexual gene' fanatsy of the gay movement - no money and power in it - on the contrary!
As far as gay bashing is concerned - maybe this is really about a universal thug mentality that gets other people beaten up all the time - and I speak from experience - I do not fit the 'minority' citeria but I was beaten up once - to this very day I can only assume that they (it was a gang of three)didn't like me for whatever reason - tough on me. But to turn this bad experience into a political campaign? C'mon guys.......
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