Yesterday a collection of the nation’s most obnoxious anti-gay activists showed up in Washington DC to have a showdown with the government. They were there to defy the new law criminalizing preaching against homosexuality and to be arrested for preaching the gospel. (Christian Post)
Conservative pastors rallied outside the Justice Department on Monday to test the limits of the newly expanded hate crimes law.
Calling the new law – which broadens the definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks based on sexual orientation and gender identity – a clear threat to religious liberty, the group sought to defend their freedom to proclaim biblical truths.
Of course there were no arrests and, from all reports, the police on duty were bored to distraction. Kincaid asks
But why are these anti-gay activists convinced, against all evidence to the contrary, that preaching against homosexuality is now illegal? How do we explain their irrational thinking and baseless paranoia?
This is not paranoia, this is posturing, pure and simple. Does anyone think that the likes of Rev. Rick Scarborough, Matt Barber, Harry Jackon and Janet Porter are going to put themselves in a position where there is the slightest possibility that they would actually spend time behind bars? They don't have that kind of courage -- let's face it, these are not people who are in serious competition with Mahatma Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These are snake oil salesmen.
They're doing performance art for their base, who are not the kind of people who even know what the Bill of Rights says and doesn't say, and are certainly not going to question anything their authority figures of the moment might tell them.
You'd have to do some serious work to demonstrate that there is any thinking in this other than pure self-aggrandizement. As for paranoia, I'd bank that they're relying on the paranoia in their audience on this one.
Here's a report from Alvin McEwen at Pam's House Blend, with video.
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