Ministers: Did One of Your Flock Commit a Hate Crime? Hand over your uniform.
When an individual is convicted of a hate crime in most civilized countries, they face some combination of criminal and civil justice. Often, those pickup drivers and gun owners and just-plain-malevolent men claim that they were acting out of Christian faith. I'd like to adjust the mass of hate crime laws in one small but important way. It wasn't "god" or "the good book" (that's a laugh--it's a crappy book) that enabled these murderers. It was you, their local priest or minister or shaman or fraudster. You were careless, and now the responsibility lands in your vestibule. It's the law. So, if one of your religious tribe is convicted, that's it for you. You lose your $199 license. You can't ever run a congregation again. The crime? Let's call it spiritual negligence. It's a felony. Does that make you sweat? Why? Is it the idea that you have to be responsible for the wellbeing of any one who shows up at your church and puts...