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A_Wanderer

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A CRIMINAL investigation has been started by Scotland Yard into an advertisement from the Gay Police Association (GPA) that blamed religion for a 74 per cent increase in homophobic crime.

The Times has learnt that the inquiry into the advertisement, which was carried in The Independent, was ordered by the unit set up to counter hate crimes such as homophobia.

The advertisement depicted a Bible beside a pool of blood under the heading “In the name of the Father”. It appeared in the newspaper’s diversity supplement to coincide with the Europride event in London.

It stated: “In the last 12 months the Gay Police Association has recorded a 74 per cent increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious belief of the perpetrator.”

Scotland Yard has rejected the 74 per cent figure, which it said did not reflect its statistics.

Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell, who leads the domestic violence and hate crime unit, disclosed the investigation in a letter to Ann Widdecombe, the Conservative MP. He wrote: “The original advertisement has been recorded as a religiously aggravated hate crime incident following a crime allegation by a member of the public.

“This crime is now the subject of a proportionate effective and objective criminal investigation. The police senior investigating officer is in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service. Any decision to prosecute is the sole decision of the CPS.”

The unit has referred the advertisement to the Directorate of Professional Standards at the Metropolitan Police. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has also been consulted.

Miss Widdecombe, a Christian who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1993, was angered by the advertisement. “It seems a deliberate attempt to stir up hate against Christians,” she said. By using that famous line of worship, In The Name of the Father, the association is effectively alleging that Christians are solely responsible for hate crime.
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Now thats all kinds of wrong.
 
religion makes it feel oh so good to hate.

but Jesus loves you. just not those homos over there holding hands in the park. he hates them. just like you.

yes, yes, yes ... we all know that religion isn't the cause, it's a justification/excuse, etc. i mostly agree. so, just as we ask the Muslim community to police itself, let's ask the Christians to do the same and confront bigotry and intolerance when they see it in the midst of their flock.

or would that violate someone's right to the free expression of their religion?
 
I agree this seems pretty over the top, but to be fair some of the incidents which have been investigated by police as "hate crimes" against gays under the hate crime provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act have seemed pretty bizarre to me too--a Catholic children's book writer who told the BBC she didn't think gay adoption was "normally advisable;" an elderly couple who asked their borough council if they could provide Christian materials for display alongside gay magazines that were on display in council offices as part of an awareness-raising campaign; a Muslim community leader who told the BBC he considered homosexuality "harmful" and "morally unacceptable." All became subjects of hate crime investigations based on these statements alone.
 
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So let free speech reign and abandon these evil laws that try to force respect - a feeling that is not a given - at the expense of tolerance.
 
yolland said:
I agree this seems pretty over the top, but to be fair some of the incidents which have been investigated by police as "hate crimes" against gays under the hate crime provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act have seemed pretty bizarre to me too--a Catholic children's book writer who told the BBC she didn't think gay adoption was "normally advisable;" an elderly couple who asked their borough council if they could provide Christian materials for display alongside gay magazines that were on display in council offices as part of an awareness-raising campaign; a Muslim community leader who told the BBC he considered homosexuality "harmful" and "morally unacceptable." All became subjects of hate crime investigations based on these statements alone.



seeing as how the article was fairly vague about what constitutes a hate crime, i was making the assumption that it was more than simply distastful, ignorant speech -- as you've highlighted above, though i wonder if we would feel the same way if we substituted "homosexuality" with racial or religious terms -- and more as acts of harassment or physical assault like we've seen on the upswing in New York and the well-publicized assault in San Diego that i've linked to in previous threads.

and while i generally agree with A_W's stance against any sort of legislation regarding speech, and have always been uncomfortable with hate crimes legislation, i do think it should be incumbant upon the Christian community to similarly self-police, to realize that speech can incite members to violence (especially when it's preacher-to-congregation) and when one equates homophobic attitudes as expressions of God's will.
 
Irvine511 said:

and while i generally agree with A_W's stance against any sort of legislation regarding speech, and have always been uncomfortable with hate crimes legislation, i do think it should be incumbant upon the Christian community to similarly self-police, to realize that speech can incite members to violence (especially when it's preacher-to-congregation) and when one equates homophobic attitudes as expressions of God's will.

I went to a Catholic high school where, ten or twelve years before, several students had engaged in despicable acts of homophobia off-campus. When the faculty got wind of it, the students were reported to the police, charged with their crimes, forced to undergo sensitivity training, and dismissed from the school. I was glad to hear this.

I don't like the idea of "enforced tolerance", but crimes should be reported and dealt with. The church ought to be at the forefront of dealing with such activity, instead of making excuses for it.
 
nathan1977 said:


I went to a Catholic high school where, ten or twelve years before, several students had engaged in despicable acts of homophobia off-campus. When the faculty got wind of it, the students were reported to the police, charged with their crimes, forced to undergo sensitivity training, and dismissed from the school. I was glad to hear this.

I don't like the idea of "enforced tolerance", but crimes should be reported and dealt with. The church ought to be at the forefront of dealing with such activity, instead of making excuses for it.



:up:

i agree with the distinction of "enforced tolerance," but does that extend to other things as well -- can someone express a racist attitude in the political arena (or classroom) in the same way that a homophobic attitude can be expressed and often accepted as legitimate political discourse?

although, i do have to say, the term "sensitivity training" does weird me out a little.
 
I see examples of this more often these days, and I would say that religion is the culprit here. I think there was a general feeling over the last ten years that dialogue could reconcile the rift between the gay community and religion, but I think there's a general feeling that religion will never accept gay people for any reason, no matter what is said. Indeed, I see it here when I've written pages and pages on how the Bible has little to do with homosexuality and everything to do with ancient customs regarding idolatry, prostitution, and pederasty, and the best I get out of it is irrational, angry rants calling me a "false prophet."

The seeds of rampant anti-Christian prejudice have been sowed in the gay community, but, really, the seeds of rampant anti-gay prejudice in the Christian community have not only been sowed, but they've become a fully grown forest whose seeds are actively poisoning whatever untouched soil is left.

So, really, who is surprised here?

Melon
 
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