student to be arrested for hate crime

And if it had been a Bible, the "religious" right would have demanded harsher punishment for destroying "their" book.

By the way, where the f*** is a source for this?!?!?

fox news

No, no we wouldn't demand any punishment. It's just a book. A very important book, but just paper and leather in the end. Now, if he flushed MY Bible down the toilet, I'd want him punished for theft. But if he bought his own, who cares, really, what he does with it?

the people of fox say that the most he should be charged with is destruction of property or something like that

He must've taken it from someone. Bad idea.

not by what i heard he brought it with him. his second time doing it.

Oh No! The Whole Muslim World Will Fall because some kid got his jollies at their expense! ;~D

Why would the talking heads on Fox suggest this is not a hate crime? The desecration of a religious object is usually motivated by hate in my experience. My son just had a swastika painted on his house and we had our garden Buddha stolen at Zen Center. It seems to me some people just do not have respect for differences of religious views they should have. And such actions are hurtful in the extreme. Motive is always a part of the assignment of criminal degree. So its not just stealing or destroying property, there is more to it than that.

Be well.

It's not a hate crime. It's not even a crime. It's freedom of speech, which includes symbolic speech.

If he flushed a Muslim man down the toilet, then we have a crime.

By your own words, usually, not always. In other words it can be said that it was not necessarily a hate crime since by you own definition it's usually not always.



That doesn't make it a crime just because there is no respect. Besides if it was his own book, why would it be a crime to trash it or flush it for that matter. I thought I could do what I wanted with my personal property. This sounds like that joke that you could go to jail for ripping off the tags from mattresses.

you can. oh no please don't tell anyone that i ------------

BALONEY, SC!

I love ya, man, but show me ONE instance where the religious right has asked for punishment for desecrating bibles, etc. It just ain't there.

I, too, would like a source, but I am sick of "the religious right" being castigated as something they aren't (such as this instance).

Pace university has been having problems between the Muslims and Jews, it started when the Jews wanted to show 'Obsession' which has already aired on television, the Muslims naturally raised hell about it because it shows the 'religion of peace' for what it really is a religion of intolerance and hatred, a religion that demands conversion by the sword, where beheading is ok, where stoning a woman to death for 'allowing' herself to be raped is ok.
The young man in question did in fact steal the book from a common area, the book was not his, then he flushed it down the toilet and is now being sacrificed to appease the Muslims, the same university has had several attacks on the Jewish center, swastikas drawn on it, things like that, of course nothing is being done about that.

ok so arrest him for theft.

So, you are all for flag burning as free speech, as well?

I recall some resistance here on JU to the whole idea of a "hate" crime and I am bewildered by it.

Is this resistance based on the idea that additional law is not necessary?

Is it based on the particular issue? Flushing a Christian Bible or burning one, desecrating a Torah scroll, these are crimes that are motivated by hate and meant to humiliate and anger a group. I would think the intent of a crime would add to the weight of the crime, wouldn't it?

I'd like the opinion of readers on this.

Be well.

Unless he stole something or physically harmed someone he committed no crime at all, hate or otherwise. Defacing someone's property, theft, physical assault, etc are all crimes, but buying a book and flushing down a toilet is NOT A HATE CRIME!

Well, ok, maybe he could be charged with plugging the toilet.

yes i won't do it but it is free speach



turn the other cheek

It's really simple, none of the things you mention are crimes nor should they be. In this country there is no constitutional guarantee to not be angered by someone's actions, and this isn't a theocracy. As I already mentioned, unless one actually assaults someone else's property or person it ISN'T A CRIME.

It was from a common area, so he is not free to sacrifice it to the toilet. But if it was his, then that's fine. Now, I didn't know destruction of property was a crime that could rise to the level of a hate crime. I thought hate crime legislation referred to assault, murder, etc. Crimes against the person.

Actually, burning a cross on someone's lawn or painting a swastika on their house is considered a hate crime (the crime being an assault or defacing of their personal property which is a crime in every state) . Flushing a book isn't even a crime let alone a hate crime.

Even writing some graffiti on someone's wall is considered a crime.

So, everyone who has thrown away those Giveaway copies of the Book of Mormon should now be charged with hate crimes? Wow, clear the jails to make room!! ;~D

Well, I'll admit to not liking the idea, but I won't take away the right of people to do it. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it should be illegal.



Considering that our soldiers were dying for the same people that were burning the American flag in the streets of Iraq at one point, what did you expect people to think or do? But then this is the same as thinking that someone did not accidentally do a specific something to you but then you really you made much fuse over nothing.



The only reason it's a big deal because we crap in toilets; had he thrown it in a river, under his bed or out a window of a moving car chances are there would have been very little if any fuzz about this. And as I said before first you said usually now you are being more certain about it. How do you know, for sure, that it was motivated by hate and not by a person playing a prank? Heck, if I was offered millions to burn a bible, rest a sure I would probably do it since it's just a book. The word of God is in me and so is God.

I still want a response to my BS challenge of SC's assertion that right wing Christians would do the same RE: the Bible. It was an extraordinary claim, demands extraordinary proof.

As a Catholic I would have expected my mom, grandmother or maybe even the Priest to be upset over the idea of desecrating a Bible, but I seriously doubt any of them would have demanded my head on a platter or even have me arrested. Sent to my room maybe, asking God for forgiveness most likely, jail? Please.