"Perhaps These Were Love Crimes"

That's the sarcastic lead-in by John Rabe, of Coral Ridge Ministries, who today is criticizing the sensitivities of South Florida's gay community, on the alert for hate crimes after two gay men were beaten -- one nearly to death -- in separate robberies last month.Rabe, a YouTube successor to the...

By Thomas Francis

May 26, 2009

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That's the sarcastic lead-in by John Rabe, of Coral Ridge Ministries, who today is criticizing the sensitivities of South Florida's gay community, on the alert for hate crimes after two gay men were beaten -- one nearly to death -- in separate robberies last month.

Rabe, a YouTube successor to the evangelical tradition of the church's deceased television star, the Rev. James Kennedy, informs his audience that brain injuries for gays are just like brain injuries for straights and glibly suggests that the families must feel "great relief, however, that at least their loved ones were not victims of hate crimes."

Rabe disagrees with the Supreme Court on hate crimes. Fine. But to use these savage beatings -- as well as the victims' traumatized families -- to illustrate his point, along with a big dose of sarcasm? Not what Jesus would do.

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