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"If the Shepard case proved the need for hate-crime laws, this emphasis might make sense," Sullivan wrote in The New Republic. "But the case is a somewhat spectacular example of their superfluity. Shepard's murderers were swiftly caught and brought to justice without any such laws. … Even advocates of hate crime legislation concede this point. They know that such laws would primarily affect much less grave misdemeanors."

Most thinking people readily acknowledge that hate drives people to evil and destructive actions, sometimes with fatal consequences. Jesus gave us vivid pastoral warnings about the spiritual harm in calling someone a fool (Matt. 5:22), much less in allowing hate to fester in our hearts. Only a stubbornly heretical religion such as the World Church of the Creator finds anything worthwhile in race-baiting or violence.

But while establishing motive is an important step for police and prosecutors who handle murder cases, the law punishes actions, not motives or pernicious thoughts. Is a crime by one person against another ever inspired by altruism? Do we hear of muggings, thefts, or acts of vandalism in which love is the controlling emotion? One need not be a professional historian to recognize that punishing thought crimes is the work of totalitarian regimes and not of democratic republics.

No informed Christian should see the World Church of the Creator as teaching anything but reprehensible heterodoxy, or Pontifex Maximus Matthew Hale as anything but a wolf in sheep's clothing. Law enforcement monitors such hate groups as potential sources of mayhem, and if World Church members' toxic beliefs result again in violence, they should be arrested swiftly and imprisoned for their criminal actions.

Bad theology should not create bad law. Just as the best antidote to bad speech is better speech, the best solution to false doctrine is the persistent teaching of truth—not a law as poorly conceived as HB136.

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News articles about HB136 include:

House bill goes after hate crime — Chicago Tribune (Mar. 21, 2001)

Illinois State House passes hate-crimes measure — Chicago Sun-Times (Mar. 26, 2001)

Hate-crimes bill wins key supporter | Byrdsong widow backs bid to crack down on instigators — Chicago Tribune (Mar. 13, 2001)

Hate crimes bill hits a wall | Committee rejects it, fears legislation would make churches liable — Chicago Tribune (Mar. 2, 2001)

Articles by contrarian liberals Andrew Sullivan and Nat Hentoff against hate-crime legislation appear around the Web.

Christianity Today's past articles on hate and hate-crime legislation include:

Weblog: Can Calling Someone a Hate Criminal Be a Hate Crime? (Mar. 10, 2000)

Called to Hate? | How antihomosexual crusader Fred Phelps discredits the church (Oct. 25, 1999)

Church Leader Worships Whites | Matthew Hale, leader of the World Church of the Creator, has garnered mass media attention for his extremist message. (Oct. 25, 1999)

'Hate Crime' Legislation Resurfaces (May 24, 1999)

Christianity Today sister publication Books & CulturereviewedHate Crimes: Criminal Law and Identity Politics and examined how Christians might think theologically about the issues raised by hate-crime laws.

Three young men were recently charged under a Wisconsin hate crime law for attacking a Christian because of his faith.

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May 21 2001, Vol. 45, No. 7