1.  President Obama signed the defense appropriations legislation, which contains the Hate Crimes Bill, to federalize crimes of violence if the motives are based on the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the victim.

As explained in the April 23 issue of this newsletter, hate crime laws treat certain violent crimes differently, depending on the motivation of the persons committing the crime.  But a crime is a crime.  If a victim is beaten, the motivation for the attack should be irrelevant.

This new law does not relate to hate speech, but it could interact with the already existing federal law on aiding and abetting a crime.  18 U.S.C. 2 states:

"(a) Whoever commits an office against the United States, or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces, or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal."

Of course, no Christian would encourage a violent attack on a homosexual-or anyone else. 

But it is possible some deranged persons might think that their ministers told them to beat up or kill a homosexual.  While a minister charged for aiding and abetting a hate crime would almost certainly be acquitted, since they could produce scores of members of their congregation to testify as to what was said in a sermon, it would take time and money to mount a defense.

Considering the ultra-radical appointments of the Obama Administration at the Department of Justice (DOJ), there is likely an army of liberal lawyers eager to charge ministers with hate crimes.

In fact, National Public Radio reports that one Justice official exclaimed, "This law is going to be used extensively."  And Tom Perez, head of DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said, "We have a lot of equal-opportunity bigots in the United States."

2.  As a result of a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and the Christian Legal Society (CLS), the University of Florida (UF) has changed its policy that discriminated against Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX), a Christian men's fraternity. 

The fraternity will now be allowed to exist on campus as an official student organization. 

Because the university changed its policy, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit. 

In 2007, while allowing other groups to determine their membership according to shared values, UF refused to recognize the fraternity as a student group because its membership is limited to Christian men.  As a result of the group's lawsuit, the university has adopted a new policy allowing religious groups to select leaders and members on the basis of their religious beliefs.

"Religious liberty requires that religious groups be allowed to draw their leaders and members from those persons who agree with the group's beliefs, just as other groups are allowed to do," said CLS Senior Counsel Kim Colby.

"Christian student groups should not be singled out for discrimination," said ADF Legal Counsel Timothy Tracey.