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Steal baby Jesus, that's OK – but kick menorah, go to jail
'We have long maintained that hate-crime laws evince a bias of their own. This proves it'

On Sunday, the New York Times ran a story about two 20-year-olds, and an 18-year-old, who were arrested for stealing statues of baby Jesus from nativity scenes over the past two years. They hit the New York-suburban communities of Suffern and Haverstraw several times in 2005 and 2006. The police said they will not charge them with committing hate crimes; each is being charged with 14 counts of petty larceny.

Also on Sunday, WNBC.com reported that a 20-year-old was arrested for kicking a menorah in the New York suburban community of St. James. He is being charged with a hate crime and could face seven years in prison. He is being charged with a felony.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented saying, "This is so interesting. The reason the menorah is allowed in New York City public schools is because the authorities have branded it a secular symbol, and the reason the crèche is barred is because the same authorities have branded it a religious symbol. Yet when a 20-year-old man vandalizes a menorah outside New York he is charged with a hate crime and may spend seven years behind bars for his felony, while three others of the same age who vandalize several crèches outside New York-over a two-year period-are given a slap on the wrist."

Donohue concluded, "We have long maintained that hate-crime laws evince a bias of their own. This proves it."

Let me say a couple of things on this.  One it is a sad shame.  And if I lived in NY I would probably be stamping up and down.

But let me also state this.  It goes deeper than hate-crime laws evince a bias of their own.  This is true only in the fact that our society has allowed it to be that way.  We have gotten so lax in our understanding and duties of this country.  We take for granted the freedoms we have and have elevated the priveledges that we have to rights.  And have become a nation of "gimme" and "not me".  In that everything is gimme gimme gimme more and more.  And when we are to be held accountable we say it is not mine, not me, or similar.  We expect our government to leave us alone and not to interfere with our freedom but yet we want our government to step in and make laws that govern our lives and we expect them to do that.  "There should be laws against hate crimes, there should be laws against abortions, there should be laws about school prayers, there should be laws for blah blah blah". 

Our governments failing is our own.  Hate crimes are a failing of our own.  Children are not raised to respect anyone, but be politically correct.  And then we also get to the point where we live such isolated lives from our neighbors, we all have fences that go 6' high and do not allow us to see our neighbors and vice versa.  We have built the chaos we live in.  Jesus gives us an out and yet many fall short there.  We go to visitation on Monday's and go out and try to witness to our communities while we struggle to learn our neighbors names.

Hate-crime laws are just another way in which we want our government to tell us what is wrong and that someone else tells us exactly what to do, but yet we want our freedoms.