Urgent Action Needed: Help protect pastors' freedom of speech

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The U.S. Senate to Consider Hate Crimes Legislation Soon

The U.S. Senate is expected to consider S.909 soon--which, if passed, could endanger pastor's freedom of speech rights. The bill would create a new class of crimes based on the actual or perceived traits of the victim, including "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." And your help is needed to stop this bill.

Under "hate-crimes" laws like S.909, pastors could be prosecuted for preaching the biblical view of homosexuality, if a violent crime is committed by an individual who says he or she was influenced by the sermon. Similar laws have been used to prosecute religious speech in some states and in other countries as well.

According to Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst at Focus on the Family Action™, "In any given week, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of pastors preaching on God's view of sexuality and marriage, and what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. How many hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people have heard such sermons? Is it possible that one of those millions of listeners at some point might commit an act of violence against a homosexual person and try to blame it on his pastor's teaching? Of course it is."

By applying existing law, along with this new proposed hate-crimes law, preaching like this could be considered "incitement," which would make the pastor as responsible as the person who actually committed the crime. And that puts pastors in the crosshairs of this hate-crimes bill.
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Please contact your senators and ask them to vote "No" on S.909.

To get contact information for your senators or for more information on this bill, visit our CitizenLink Action Center. You may contact either your senator's regional or federal offices.

We've included two videos to help you better understand hate crimes
Click here to view videos to help you better understand hate crimes. Click here to view videos to help you better understand hate crimes.
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