“I’ll Take Sweden . . WOWNOT!”

Okay, there’s still too many drawbacks to Sweden for me to want to move there, but at least there’s

THIS SIGN OF HOPE.

A piece back, a Swedish pastor of a Pentecostal church made inflammatory remarks about homosexuals (among other things, he called them a cancer on society) and got slapped with Sweden’s hate-crimes law.

I would distance myself very far from the language the pastor used. It does not treat persons with homosexual temptations with the respect and compassion they deserve.

I do, however, (a) value freedom of speech–even offensive speech, (b) value freedom of religion, and (c) oppose hate crimes legislation as counterproductive and a cause of balkanizing harm to society by its special protection of some classes and not others (i.e., it’s a violation of equal justice under law).

Therefore, I am heartened to learn, though, that an appeals court overturned the conviction. It may get reinstated by the Swedish supreme court, but it’s still a hopeful sign.

GET THE STORY.

(Cowboy hat tip to the reader who sent this in!)

NOTE: Two points to whoever can identify the two commedians the title of this post references!

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

5 thoughts on ““I’ll Take Sweden . . WOWNOT!””

  5. I heard something over the radio today which noted that a speaker at a Christian broadcasters’ convention claimed that a move to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine would adversely affect Christian radio as we know it. From what I heard, the speaker’s claims were based on two items:

    • The speaker claimed that a simple quoting of Biblical injunctions against homosexuality (without even using inflammatory language) would be considered a hate crime, and thus punishable by law.
    • Another claim was that the Fairness Doctrine itself would require the station to present opposing views. I guess the fear here was that the local Satan worshippers would demand equal time for every half hour of J. Vernon McGee or whatever.

    Frankly, it sounded to me like inflammatory talk, and actually in my view the Fairness Doctrine might have some benefits. For example, it’s no secret that many Christian broadcasters also follow a conservative political agenda. In my view, it would be valuable to take a broadcaster advancing conservative political views, and grant a few opposing minutes to a Christian liberal.
    Of course, I also believe that the church would benefit by having its tax-exempt status removed, but that’s just me…

Comments are closed.