On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten, tortured, and left to die in the state of Wyoming, USA. He was gay and it was a hate crime. Christians are rightly concerned when anyone, no matter who and what they are, is treated in this way. Matthew’s family received wonderful help from the local Roman Catholic Priest as they sought to come to terms with this terrible event, but are Christians really innocent of crimes like this?
If we go to history the answer is no. Countless people accused of the ‘sin of sodomy’ have been brutally tortured, their genitals publically cut off, and burned alive at Christian instigation. In Protestant Geneva people were tied to a large wagon wheel and then systematically beaten with clubs until each bone in their body broke and they died. In the 18th century, Dutch authorities, in a frenzy of hatred and under the instigation of Protestant ministers, held teenage young men under water until they drowned, and executed boys as young as 16 by hanging.
