Hate Crimes in the Name of God?

Lately, more times than I like to recall, I have been told I am going to hell. I am not talking about being cursed in an angry sort of way--”Go to hell!” I can handle that. I am not talking about the altar calls of my youth when mothers, to the singing of “Just as I Am,” would venture tearfully through the sinners and lovingly beg them to come to the Lord. I can handle that as well. I would not put myself in a position where that could happen to me, but I would know that these folks meant well. There would be no look of hate or scorn in their countenances.

This is what I am talking about: I have just gotten through making a presentation at a school board meeting where I have argued against the teaching of creationism in a public high school science classroom. Two women follow me outside and with flushed faces and obviously in the grip of anger tell me in no uncertain terms that I am going to hell.

Or this: I have just made a public presentation arguing against the placing of nativity scenes in a public parkway where all other signs are banned. I am angrily shouted down and publicly told that I am going to hell by people who are urged on by a local minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am on the Human Relations Commission in our local community, so I have had some occasion to study what are called “hate crimes.” These incidents sound and feel an awful lot like hate crimes to me.

It is clear to me that these angry outbursts on the part of others are intended to shut me up and deny me free speech. It is also clear that it is their intent to frighten me into some predetermined conformity. It is also clear that they intend to demonize me. I am not sure how this differs from burning a cross in my yard. The intent is exactly the same: They hope to scare me.

Believe me, these outbursts are not about saving my soul. These people are shutting off public discourse in community after community across the land. They do it by intimidation and fear. The question I am most often asked is, “Aren’t you afraid to stand up to these angry people?” Such groups as Catholics, Jews, Unitarian Universalists, Mormons, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, New Agers, atheists and a growing number of others find themselves uncomfortable and threatened by these folks. My question is, are these hate crimes? Or are they merely the precursors to hate crimes?