The so-called hate crimes bill is on the fast track in Congress. Lawmakers have attached it to a defense appropriations bill. The measure may come up for vote as early as today.

“This is really a ‘thought crimes’ bill, since it punishes people not for what they did but for what they were thinking,” argues Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association (AFA). “If this law passes, we believe ‘politically incorrect’ thoughts about homosexual behavior will come under enormous pressure.”

As Wildmon sees it, everywhere that similar laws have gone into effect they have been used to intimidate, silence and punish people who have sincerely held religious beliefs that homosexual behavior is fundamentally immoral.

“The bill creates a totally unacceptable threat to freedom of religion and speech in America,” Wildmon says. “Pastors can be jailed under this law for preaching against homosexuality if their teaching can be linked in any way to an act of violence against a homosexual. This will not just have a chilling effect on free speech, it will freeze it out altogether.”

Bryan Fischer, AFA’s director of issues analysis, believes this law will create a caste system by creating two tiers of victims, some of whom will get more legal protection than others. He says, “This is a gross violation of the fundamental American principle of justice that we are all equal under the law.”

Wildmon pointed out that if the amendment continues to be attached to the Defense Appropriations bill, the bill must be voted down.

“We all support adequate funding for the military, but this attachment is a poison pill,” he says. “The American people deserve a straight up-or-down vote on military funding, not a bill that’s compromised by out-of-control political correctness.”