Echoes in Eternity

I read the following paragraph this morning on a "progressive Christian's" blog:

The Hate Crimes Bill passed the house yesterday 249-175 and so we have taken another step towards decency in our country and respect [emphasis mine] for all of our citizens. This has been seen as a threat by conservative religious and legal groups, but others of us see it as evidence of the goodness of our democracy that nobody should be singled out for abuse and violence for who they are.

Leaving aside the issue of hate crimes (which are utterly nonsensical and redundant), let us focus on the portion which I bolded. This is the essense of the difference between conservative, Biblical Christians and liberal/progressive Christians. The former believe that law (secular or religious) is not there to change hearts or minds, but only brings death and punishment and a knowledge of wrongdoing. On the other hand, the latter, as shown so clearly here, believe that mankind will get better through laws; in this case, a law against hate crimes will make people more respectful and kind to other people. The error in this view is that while the law might help contain or limit some behavior, the hateful attitudes won't change.

Conservative Christians rightly believe that the Bible teaches that the only thing that can bring real and authentic change of heart within a person is the working of the Holy Spirit. The Mosaic law always brought death. Secular law should only be used as a method of justice and to control behavior. It should never be viewed as a way to convict the spirits of men or genuinely purify their attitudes.