is this a hate crime?

[bigtenchamps1899]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D953B2UG0&show_article=1

[Jim V2]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D953B2UG0&show_article=1

Pretty sure this was a rhetorical question, but FWIW, I have no idea, based on the limited info provided.

I'm not sure how hate crimes are defined. You can hate your mother-in-law, and egg her house, but that's not a hate crime. I think hate crimes are those committed against someone because of certain characteristics like race, or (I think) sexual orientation. I don't know what other characteristics qualify for hate crime status, or whether those definitions vary by state, but I'm pretty sure dem vs rep and lib vs conserv don't qualify. Maybe one of the criminal attorneys out there has more info on this.

Regardless of whether it's a hate crime, or what you think of Palin's politics, that's a pretty despicable act. Hope they catch the jerk.

[From the Barn]

no.

[Gopher4Life]

From the Barn,

No, it's never a hate crime when the victims are born-again Christians. If the meeting place of a group of agnostics or atheists had been targeted, it would be another story.

[Roy Christensen]

You seem to be embracing the role of victim.

[jamiche]

I think that setting any house of worship on fire should be categorized as a hate crime.

[jamiche]

You seem to be embracing the role of victim.

G4 is a pretty cranky dude these days. I think he needs Gopher Lady to lighten his heart a little with some witty repartee.

[Gopher4Life]

Roy,

>>You seem to be embracing the role of victim.<<

Hardly. Why would anyone say that burning a church (with people inside, by the way) is not a hate crime?

[From the Barn]

With no known suspect or motive, its impossible for it to be a hate crime.

The church could have been burned because of a grudge against the pastor, a prank, trying to get insurance money, or simply because its there.

[Gopher4Life]

I'll buy yur explanation...until such time as perpetrators and motive have been determined. It's hard to imagine the amount of venom necessary to light up a church with people inside.

[From the Barn]

Did they know there were people inside?

Any how much more venom than setting fire to a secular humanist meeting?

[Gopher4Life]

>>Did they know there were people inside?<<

I presume lights were on and at least a few cars parked in the lot. Perhaps I'm wrong.

>>Any how much more venom than setting fire to a secular humanist meeting?<<

That was my point up above. I'm not sure why the victims of hate crimes have to be minorities of some kind.

[From the Barn]

Did I miss the rash of crimes perpetrated against middle class white people because of their race and class?

[Gopher4Life]

Maybe you've been asleep for 200 years?