Broadcast Decency Bill Moves Forward; Thought Crimes Vote Stalled

By Doug Carlson - Jul 24, 2007 - 3

Defenders of faith and family saw two key victories last week on Capitol Hill as a Senate committee passed a bill to help clean up broadcast television and the full Senate was forced to delay a vote on a bill that could incriminate Christians for speech against homosexuality.

The Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S. 1780), which would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “maintain a policy that a single word or image may constitute indecent programming” on broadcast television, passed in the Commerce Committee July 19 with bipartisan support, clearing the way for a vote by the full Senate. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) is sponsoring the bill. A week earlier, similar legislation introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) failed to pass in committee as an attachment to the Financial Services appropriations bill.

The push to crack down on television indecency follows a 2-1 ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in June that stripped the FCC’s authority to sanction broadcasters for airing fleeting expletives like the F-word and S-word between 6 a.m and 10 p.m. Without a successful appeal by the FCC to the U.S. Supreme Court or passage of the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act into law, however, the FCC will be constrained from pushing family-friendly content and fully enforcing a law enacted last year to increase maximum fines for indecency violations tenfold, from $32,500 to $325,000 per incident.

On the Senate floor, a hate crimes bill to provide special protections to homosexuals and transgenders was put on hold for another day as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) yanked the Defense authorization bill from debate July 18 when a vote on an amendment to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq fell short of the 60 votes needed. It was expected that the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was filed as amendment No. 2067 to the massive bill, could be brought up for a vote anytime. Unfortunately, the hate crimes bill is not dead but will likely be voted on as stand-alone legislation or as an amendment when the Senate again debates the Defense bill.

The serious danger of a thought crimes bill, as it might be better known, is that law enforcement officials could usurp the First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression of Christians for sharing the biblical perspective that homosexual behavior violates God’s plan for sexuality.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is grateful for your efforts to speak out on these and other important legislative issues and encourages you to continue to share your concerns with your elected leaders.

Further Learning

Learn more about: Family, Pop Culture, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality, Modesty, Citizenship, Legislation, Religious Liberty

3 comments (post your own) feed

1 On Jul 26th, 2007, at 12:19pm, Greg Zahner wrote:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THOUGHT CRIMES!!!

YOU HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION.

HATE CRIMES ONLY APPLY IF YOU COMMIT A CRIMINAL ACT.

2 On Jul 26th, 2007, at 12:25pm, Greg Zahner wrote:

And the bit about law enforcement officers. A large chunk of hate crimes against gays are in fact committed by law enforcement officers!!!

A KKK member can say all the racist stuff he wants EVEN though there is hate crime legislation for African Americans.

This is ridiculous

3 On Jul 26th, 2007, at 9:57pm, jenny broderick wrote:

Do you all work with ACLJ in anyway?
(American Center for Law and Justice?)
They are lawyers that protect christian rights based on constitutional laws.
They fight alot against abortion and defending our freedom of speech. But will defend anyone who’s rights as a christian are being taken away.  I was just wondering if you all partnered up on things like these.

thank you for making us aware of these legislations that are often times passed unnoticed by the media or rather “over looked”.
We don’t watch the news very often because we have small children and sometimes even “news” topics can be defiling to them and creat curiosity for things they are to young to understand.  So to protect them we don’t often see what’s happening.
So thank you for calling us to make us aware of the threat against our freedoms as christians who happen to live in america.

Post a Comment




Notify me of follow-up comments?

Before You Submit Your Comment (below), Read This:

Thank you for your interest in the ministry of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (SBC).

Comments are moderated to preserve the family-oriented nature of this website and in an attempt to avoid comment spam. We welcome opposing viewpoints, and we will not turn comments away as long as your views are presented with respect to everyone.

Your comments will not appear immediately and are subject to editing or deletion. We will make every attempt to check new comments in a timely manner, though there will likely be delays on the weekends and around holidays.

Please follow the these guidelines to insure your comments will be posted:

  1. Use a real name, at least a real first name. We find folks are less-rude online when not hiding behind a screen-name.
  2. Name-calling and vulgar-language will not be tolerated. Zero-tolerance is our policy. We will not spend time editing profanity. If it contains foul language, your post will be deleted. Oh, and we decide what is and what is not vulgar.
  3. Comments must be on topic. General comments (compliments, complaints, and otherwise) are best delivered here or expressed on your own personal Web site.
  4. And please, do not type in ALL CAPS. It looks like you're screaming at people.

Additionally, within Baptist polity, please recognize that many issues and decisions are addressed at a local church level. SBC denominational (national) offices have no control and desire no control over the activities of a local church. This entity is not responsible for overseeing and insuring the ethical behavior of Southern Baptist pastors or church members. If your concern involves a legal civil or criminal matter, we suggest you contact the proper local officials.

Issues involving pastoral staff or other church members, local Baptist associations or state Baptist conventions are local issues. Therefore the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission cannot and should not address such issues. While we regret we are unable to assist you, we encourage you to seek a biblical resolution of the issue at the local church level. If your question or submission pertains to a matter covered in this text, it is likely we will not acknowledge your submission.

Other than that, we welcome you and hope to see thoughtful discussions at ERLC.com