WORDING WORRIES
CLERGY
Vote set today on
bias-crime bill
By BOB MAKIN,
thnt.com Online, January 7, 2008
Clergy in New Jersey fear legislation
to tighten bias-crime laws will limit free speech. But at least one
clergyman — and a Middlesex County legislator who co-sponsored the bill — said
those concerns are misplaced.
On Thursday, the state Senate unanimously passed a bill to amend the 1993 law to
specifically include gender identity and national origin and to broaden the law
to include school bullying and to establish the Commission on Bullying in
Schools.
The Assembly will vote today on a companion bill.
Hate crime, bullying and other forms of intimidation, particularly against youth
by peers, are on the rise in New Jersey, said the Rev. Bruce Davidson, director
of the Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry within the state Senate.
Any legislation that aims to curb that trend is good, Davidson said.
But other clergy members said that they feel the word "intimidation" is not
clearly defined by the legislation, which was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Buono,
D-Middlesex, and Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen.
If intimidation means an expression of opinion from the pulpit, clergy said,
then the bill restricts freedom of speech and religion, particularly in regards
to the heated debate about same-sex marriage.
Buono argued that "intimidation" has been worded in the law since 1993, as have
sexual orientation and ethnicity, which covered gender identity and national
origin under the old law.
While no clergy have been restricted in terms of freedom of speech or religion,
Buono said, hate crime and bullying are on the rise. A 2003 report
published by the Office of Bias Crime of the state Attorney General's Office
indicated that half of all bias crimes are committed by residents ages 11 to 20.
"I think that's true," said Davidson, a New Jersey-based pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for 33 years. "Working with young
people as a pastor for a long time, I've noticed in the last few years that more
young people are accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth who
are open and out, which is much more than when I was in high school.
There's a great deal of tolerance, but there's more than a few instances of
serious bullying and targeting kids who are gay or who are perceived as gay
because they align themselves with somebody.
"School is a place where kids should have the freedom to learn," he added.
"That right needs to be protected. Bullies only get power if it's given to
them."
As for fellow clergy, Davidson said that he believes the beefed-up legislation
still does not infringe upon freedom of speech and religion, unless a physical
or emotional threat is involved.
"I would hope that there aren't clergy from the pulpit suggesting any act of
violence against any human being based on their identity or religious
affiliation or anything for that matter," he said. " 'Intimidation'
implies an intent to do harm. I think that taking a moral stand because of
religious beliefs is not intimidating anyone if it's done simply out of the
teachings of your faith. I think you cross the line that is not protected
by church-and-state separation or social morays if you're taking religious
teachings and saying that it's appropriate to assault physically or verbally the
people that you don't approve of."
Some evangelicals who campaign against same-sex marriage fear laws similar to
laws in Sweden that led to the one-month sentence against the Rev. Ake Green, a
Pentecostal pastor from Kalmar whose charges were dropped three years later.
Comparing state and U.S. laws to Sweden's isn't valid, Davidson reasoned.
"It's a totally different form of government and constitution," he said.
"Where these bills pass and legislation is put in place, the constitution of the
state and the United States is not disregarded. The kinds of freedoms that
folks are concerned about losing is not going to happen in the United States
because it's a different form of government. The Pentecostal minister,
unless he's standing on the street, saying, "Kill gay people,' doesn't have
anything to worry about."
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