'Patriot pastors' called to crush 'hate crimes' bill

Ministers ordered to fight for freedom, against criminalization of Christianity

By Chelsea Schilling / WorldNetDaily

America has become a morally bankrupt society that embraces intolerance against Christians, including a new push for "hate crimes" legislation, according to one pastor who believes it's all because church leaders have failed to do their jobs.

But this Memorial Day weekend he is calling ministers to fight for those freedoms – from their pulpits.

"Pastors, if you wonder who is to blame for America's slide from the 'Ozzie and Harriet' morality of yesteryear to the 'Brokeback Mountain' immorality of today, look in the mirror," said Pastor Paul Blair of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla.

Blair is founder of a group called Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ, an outreach to pastors that encourages church leaders to take a stand against the spread of immorality in American culture. He is urging pastors across the nation to stop being silent and muster the courage to speak out against efforts to criminalize Christianity. He said church leaders have abandoned the prophetic call and have chosen instead to be CEOs of competitive church businesses rather than proclaiming "faith in Christ alone and repentance from sin."

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Blair's video on the criminalization of Christianity may be seen below.

As WND has reported, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 would provide special protections to homosexuals but leave Christian ministers open to prosecution should their teachings be linked to any subsequent offense, by anyone, against a homosexual.

A hearing on the act, already approved by the U.S. House
as H.R. 1913 and pending in the Senate as S. 909, is expected in the Senate Judiciary Committee soon.

Under a comparable law in Sweden, a minister was sentenced to 30 days in jail for preaching from Leviticus. Similar state laws have resulted in similar results. In Philadelphia several years ago, a 73-year-old grandmother was reported to have been jailed for trying to share Christian tracts with people at a homosexual festival.

WND columnist Dave Welch, founder and executive director of the U.S. Pastor Council and Houston Area Pastor Council, has warned, "Hate crimes legislation, which assigns different levels of punishment for the same crime, is a perversion of equal justice on its face. Compound that injustice by criminalizing the preaching of Scripture as "hate speech" and therefore evil, while protecting unimaginable and abominable sexual behaviors as good, and we are building a perfect storm for national calamity."

Full story HERE