AFA to Dem lawmakers: We will stick by the Bible
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Democrats in Congress are publicly calling for conservative groups to lose their tax-exempt status over “hate” but one of those groups is pushing back over who gets to define what it right and righteous.
“This is all part of the anti-God war that is going on in our country,” warns American Family Association spokesman Ed Vitagliano, “and if you are a Christian, especially if you're a Christian, you are the enemy."
Vitagliano and AFA are responding to a Sept. 19 congressional hearing, “How the Tax Code Subsidizes Hate,” that was led by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee.
AFA was singled out along with many other groups include the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which is routinely quoted in OneNewsNow stories, and the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council led by Tony Perkins.
The Washington Examiner reports that Democrats invited “multiple victims of mass shootings” to tesftiy, who denounced hate and discrimination, but ironically the FRC headquarters was targeted in 2012 by a shooter armed with a 9mm pistol who planned mass murder due to the group’s biblical stance on homosexuality.
In a statement released after the hearing, prominent Democrat Rep. John Lewis said “some” of the organizations mentioned at the hearing promote “hate based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity,” but it was unclear from the statement which groups are not being accused of conduct that warranted a congressional hearing.
According to LifeNews.com , UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh also testified at the hearing and warned Democrats that a 1958 Supreme Court ruling defended the First Amendment rights of controversial groups to engage in free speech without punishment.
“It is settled that speech can be effectively limited by the exercise of the taxing power,” the professor, reading from Speiser v. Randall , told lawmakers. “To deny an exemption to claimants who engage in certain forms of speech is in effect to penalize them for such speech.”
Regarding the claims that the federal tax code is “subsidizing” hate, Volokh said it also subsidizes Socialism and Satanism, “and a wide variety of dangerous and offensive ideas.”
In a series of tweets quoting various groups, the House Ways and Means Committee used its official Twitter page to claim the AFA has described homosexuality as a “poor and dangerous choice” that has been “proven to lead to a litany of health hazards to not only the individuals but also society as a whole.”
VitaglianoIt’s unclear from the committee’s Twitter feed where that comment originated from, such as an article or a radio show, although the 42-year-old ministry maintains homosexuality is sinful and unnatural, citing the Bible, even as the gay-rights movement has increased its power and influence in recent years.
Vitagliano, a vice president at AFA, says the message from Democrats is that “you’re a hater” if you stand by a biblical view of human sexuality, marriage, and family. But he vows the AFA will continue to fight back, even with it appears First Amendment rights are being threatened by lawmakers in Congress.
“It's no surprise to us,” he says. “It makes us only more determined to stand up for what's right and for what is true in Scripture."
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Subsidizing hate,
i hate, when subsidized, is hate
And even if it was hate - hate speech is allowed as free speech under the Constitution of the United States.
“It is settled that speech can be effectively limited by the exercise of the taxing power,” the professor, reading from Speiser v. Randall , told lawmakers. “To deny an exemption to claimants who engage in certain forms of speech is in effect to penalize them for such speech.”
How Ironic. That ruling handed down 54 years before Obama's IRS targeted Conservative groups for their ideas/speech. Progressives simply don't seem to know what free speech means, nor do they appear like the concept.
Please note the words seem & appear as opposed to generalizing.