Treating the "desecration of a religious site" automatically as a hate crime

[howard112211]

is the backdoor entrance for anti-blasphemy laws.

I am against those and will not support them in any shape or form.

What we should have, and have already, are laws against assault (burning a cross in someones yard is assault),
trespassing and vandalism, the severity of vandalism
being measured in terms of actual damage being done to actual property.

Everything else, while perhaps being a display of bad taste and annoying to some people, is freedom of speech, and we should leave it that way.


The other thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7631778&mesg_id=7631778

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Agreed.

[nosmokes]

2. No, it's a place that carries signifigance for others. Show respect.

And unless it belongs to you personally ya got no damn bidness 'defacing' anything anyhow.

[Fumesucker]

3. Funny how this comes up right after the cross at the Wiccan site at the AFA flap..

Those who put the cross on the Wiccan/Druid site at the Air Force Academy were trespassing in order to offer an insult to someone else's beliefs.

What if it had been a swastika made from railroad ties put inside a synagogue?

[liberal_at_heart]

4. I'm done with this topic

There are those of us who think it is a hate crime and those who do not. You're not going to change our mind and we're not going to change your mind, so I think it is one those topics left alone. I agree to disagree and move on.

[paulsby]

5. there are some who disagree that hate crimes should get greater penalties

period.

clearly, if one believes in punishing hate crimes more severely than many, if not most, desecration cases ARE hate crimes.

and of course some aren't.

[TheMadMonk]

6. If the "intent" of the accused is a valid defence argument, then...

...it must also be available as a valid argument for the prosecution.

And as much as it can be considered as a mitigating factor, so should it be allowed as an exacerbating factor that raises the severity of the crime above the norm.

[anonymous171]

7. Nice slippery slope fallacy you got there. nt