Appeals Court Overturns Hate Speech Conviction of Pastor (Sweden)

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.sr.se/rs/english/

"A Swedish pastor convicted of hate crimes after branding homosexuals a ”cancer” in a sermon had his conviction overturned by an appeals court on Friday."


Awesome. The right has lost their favorite "Europe is evil" story.

[Azathoth]

1. Good

The conviction was a kick in the face to free speech. Throwing people in jail because you're offended by what they say in a sermon in their own church is something that harkens back to the Inquisition.

Plus, Fred Phelps has just lost his favorite martyr.

[whistle]

2. Explain please, how the right was using this story to brand....

...Europe as evil. Link not opening.

[Charlie Brown]

5. Here are some links

Here's an article from the President of a Baptist Theological Seminary that uses the incident to condemn "liberal" Europe.

"The prosecution of a Christian pastor for the crime of preaching a biblical sermon sets a new low for the culture of political correctness. Evangelical Christians--and all those who cherish civil liberties--should observe this case with great interest and concern. Those who reject biblical truth are now set on silencing Christian pulpits--all in the name of tolerance, acceptance, and diversity."

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/mohler/?adate=8/5/2004

Here's a thread from the Southern Baptist Con. that cites the incident on a tirade against hate-crime laws.

"Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute, said the senators who voted for the proposal are "setting up our children and grandchildren for persecution as activist courts rule that biblical morality is 'bigotry.' Using similar laws, the mere criticism of homosexuality is considered a 'hate crime' in Sweden and Canada."

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=18522

Here's a whole thread at FR that bashes Europe, "libruhls," etc. because of Sweden's law.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1185545/posts

[whistle]

7. Thanks....

[Stockholm]

13. Good summary of the news today

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=960&date=20050211&PHPSESSID=b5adb2e601354bed1627fe28ddc3d857

[Stockholm]

3. I am not sure what to think of this

Just hope the prosecution appeals to get a supreme court decision.

Regarding Phelps...

[DistantWind88]

4. Why?

Should he go to jail for something he said in a sermon?

[Stockholm]

8. Why not?

A pulpit, a clerical collar and a pious smile can never be extenuating circumstances when a message is reviewed in court.

If the group targeted had been jewish or black, these opinions would never see the light of day.

And that is the crux of the matter. The Swedish law was amended to cover hate speech based on sexuality just like race, religion etc.

Further the Appeals Court was not united in their judgement.

[DistantWind88]

9. I hope we never

come to that in the US.

[Charlie Brown]

6. There's no reason someone should be prosecuted

for expressing an opinion. Indeed, the court cited the nation's free speech law in overturning the decision. This was a good decision.

[Stockholm]

10. Mmmm ...

That "opinion" was considered possible hate speech by the prosecutor, hence the court case in the first place.

[DistantWind88]

11. Therein

the problem; "hate speech" should still be protected speech, IMHO. Who defines what is hate?

[Charlie Brown]

12. I believe the law applies to public addresses

I think churches should be treated as a private establishment.

If a similar law was passed in this country against criticizing conservatives, we'd all be in jail.

[David__77]

14. Being gay, I agree with this decision.

The people must be mobilized to combat this fascist-type speech. I'm not saying that there should never be prohibitions on fascist-type activity, but these "god hates fags" types actually do more to help the progressive cause than to harm it. True, this can lead to physical assaults and the such, but it is the price that must be paid for relative freedom of speech. If it is to be restrained, the hammer will surely fall to the left first.