Posted on 02/11/2005 9:10:33 AM PST by metalmanx2j
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A Swedish pastor convicted of hate crimes for a sermon denouncing homosexuals as a "cancer" was acquitted Friday by an appeals court that said he was protected by the country's free speech laws.
The Goeta Appeals Court said that while Aake Green's (search) views of gays can be "strongly questioned," it was not illegal to offer a personal interpretation of the Bible and urge others to follow it.
"The purpose of making agitation against gays punishable is not to prevent arguments or discussions about homosexuality, not in churches or in other parts of society," the court said.
Green, 63, was the first clergyman convicted under Sweden's tough hate crimes (search) laws, which make it a crime to make inflammatory remarks against racial, religious or national groups. The laws were ratified in 2003 to include homosexuals.
Green gave his sermon the same year, telling a congregation on the small southeastern island of Oeland that homosexuals were "a deep cancer tumor on all of society." He warned congregants that Sweden risked a natural disaster because of its leniency toward gays.
"Homosexuality is something sick," Green said. He compared it with pedophilia and bestiality, saying gays were more likely to rape children and animals.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That's incredible. A court in Sweden actually did the right thing.
Lousy thought criminal! Lock him up and throw away the key for questioning the left.
Finally, one country that "gets it". Unlike the morons here in Penna who charge Christians in Phila with "hate crimes". A freaking sad state of affairs.
You beat me to it. Maybe there's some hope for Scandinavia after all.
Not so fast--I think Sweden made their point to those that'll wander too close to the electric fence. They may not convict you, but they'll sure make life hell for you.
Ve must make sure zat ze people vill not be
polluted by ze dangerous ideas.
When personal freedom's being abused, you have
to move to limit it.
If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the
Constitution inhibit the government's ability to
govern the people, we should look to limit those
guarantees.
You know the one thing that's wrong with this
country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say.
The purpose of government is to rein in the rights
of the people.
The preceeding quotes are courtesy of William Jefferson
Clinton, deity of the American left and majority of Europe.
They aren't much in the way of free speech laws if you can be tried for saying something and it takes an appeals court to figure out that saying something in a sermon is protected under free speech. This proves, these countries just suck.
So if you quote the bible, they can't send you to prison but can bankrupt you in legal fees defending yourself.
I wouldn't call that a country which "gets it".
That same thing can happen right here in America, and has, DES. Many times.
Can we borrow these judges?...
Ooooh. A swing to the right in Sweden???
Makes me feel better about owning my Volvo.
Bear in mind that Volvo is now owned by Ford and is now more American than a Dodge truck - which is owned by Mercedes (Daimler).
"He compared it with pedophilia and bestiality, saying gays were more likely to rape children and animals."
And there is a statistical fact. Of course, the gays says it isn't rape since it should be legal to have sex with 6-year old boys....eeeeew.
The 'progressive' Netherlands lowered the age of consent to 12 recently, making pedophilia legal in that country.
Glad to read that the system worked. The original court overreached.
A lesson for the US; either you have Freedom of Speech or you have a hate crimes law. You cannot have both.
My prediction is that the liberals there are about to find out that Sweden is no exception to the rule that the Christian church rises on the blood of its martyrs and the testimony of its confessors.
But --
Does anyone have a link to an English translation of the entire sermon that raised the ruckus? All I see about it here are sound bites. As to whether giving this sermon was wise or not -- the devil is in the details. To call something a cancer, if this is stated in a contextless vacuum, is to imply that it is simply to be destroyed. I don't think anyone less extreme than the godhatesfags crowd would endorse such a implication. Orthodox Christendom wants homosexuals not to be killed, let alone go to hell -- but rather that they should repent.
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