Religious fundamentalists are cracking up and I don't mean they're laughing. I'm talkin' gone 'round the bend, fallen off their rockers right smack into the most twisted logic one could possibly imagine.

Why do I say this? Here's the latest whacky headline in One News Now, a right-wing ezine: Hate Crimes Bill--A Threat to Biblical Teaching.

Whaaaaa? Do these two concepts even belong in the same sentence? How could preventing hate crimes possibly be a threat to the teachings of Jesus Christ? Do they have some form of atypical dyslexia where entire meaning gets reversed like, uh, interpreting the Bible ass-backwards? Wasn't Jesus' take home message: "Love thy enemy?"

Let's look at this for a minute.

The hate crimes measure was inspired by the heinous 1998 murder of a University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard. He met two men in a bar who pretended to be gay, lured him into a truck, savagely beat him, and left him to die while tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyo. He held on for five days after being found, but never recovered consciousness and died. Sounds a bit like a crucifixion, doesn't it? You'd think this might evoke a little compassion, inspiring the desire to promote love and acceptance, not hate and brutality, especially among the ultra-religious. You'd think they'd be moved to preach about the need to stop hate crimes. Unbelievably, no way, no how.

This legislation, known as the Matthew Shepard Act, would expand the existing hate crimes law in order to authorize the federal government to prosecute crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, or disability, adding to hate crime laws currently in place that cover crimes against others based on race, color, religion or national origin.

Christian fundamentalists are asserting that hate crime laws threaten the free-speech rights of the religious who speak out against homosexuality. As quoted by the Christian Broadcasting Network, (CBN):

"The Hate Crimes Act will be the first step to criminalize our rights as Christians to believe that some behaviors are sinful," said Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson. "Pastors preaching from Scripture on homosexuality could be threatened with persecution and prosecution."

Oh, contrare. What we've got here is propaganda extraordinaire, a deliberate, devious distortion of facts. 

First of all, the concern is about their persecution? How's that for spinning the victim into victimizer and victimizer into victim all in one fell swoop?  

And what about Dobson's so-called concern about being able to speak out against sinful behaviors. You mean to tell me that loving another is a greater, more worrisome, egregious sin than killing another?

And then there is the statement that their First Amendment rights will be squelched, which is out and out false. Fools don't land in jail. Criminals do. Fundamentalist Christians can believe any absurd notions they want and freely spew with impunity. According to the ACLU, an organization whose driving mission is to ensure constitutional freedoms explains:

"The hate crimes legislation is more protective of free speech than any other criminal law in the entire U.S. code," said ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Chris Anders. "The amendment makes clear that violent hate crimes will be punished, but not mere thoughts, speech or belief. This legislation protects two fundamental American values because being able to live without the fear of being attacked just for being yourself is as  American as the right to free speech."

Lastly, I don't hear fundamentalist Christians complaining about the protection of the religious under existing hate crimes law, do you? They like their legal protection, thank you very much. Is it really about free speech, or something else? Pray tell.

The Religious Right has made it clear that they want to stamp out homosexuality. Could it be that they realize their anti-gay rhetoric might indirectly inspire some to go off the deep end, physically intimidating gays who want to freely live their life? This does, in effect, help them achieve their ultimate goal--to suppress, marginalize and eradicate homosexuality in this culture. 

The way I see it, those who act out violently are just the extreme end of the anti-gay continuum. The less mentally and emotionally sound a person is, the more delusional thinking and distorted beliefs take hold. Those who actually carry out hate crimes are unable to merely feel or think a certain way--they are compelled to violence and aggression due to psychopathic tendencies. In short, they are sick puppies and don't need the kind of prodding or "permission" righteous, anti-gay sermons provide. 

So, what about this anti-gay proselytizing? Even though it's legal, might homophobic rhetoric increase the incidence of hate crimes, placing preachers like James Dobson in dubious ethical and moral standing? It seems very possible, indeed.

The website, Trends In Hate, provides a report, "For the Love of God," that examines the existence of active hate groups around the country, analyzing sociometric data to assess prevalent patterns. The analysis shows that states with high numbers of evangelicals have a high number of active hate groups, along with high poverty, low educational attainment, and high rates of incarceration. Since all of these factors have been known to play a part in high rates of criminality, the question becomes, which factors are significant for hate crimes? While considering all the variables, it was determined that states with fewer evangelicals showed fewer hate groups and states with higher rates of evangelicals have the highest number of active hate groups. 

If preachers were the "real deal" they'd care about violence and hate crimes; and they'd temper the rhetoric, not because of laws limiting free speech, but because of their moral obligation. We all know it's not wise to light a match two feet from a gasoline leak, even though there's no law against it. It's not something you would do if you cared about the effect, now would you?

James Dobson and crew don't have to worry about prosecution. There's no law against ignorance or lack of compassion. Just violence. However, guilt in the eyes of God might be another thing entirely, when common human decency is trumped by the right to promote hate. 

I wonder, what would Jesus think?