A well-known conservative evangelical ministry has gathered more than 33,000 petitions against a "hate crimes" legislation and will deliver them to President Bush and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week.

The petitions collected by Coral Ridge Ministries are a response to the hate crimes amendment that Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) attached to the defence spending bill under consideration in the Senate this week.

"This is the single most dangerous piece of legislation we have seen in the recent past, because of its threat to silence the Church on the subject of homosexual behaviour," said Jerry Newcombe, senior producer of The Coral Ridge Hour, CRM'S TV broadcast. "I shudder to think what the impact on free speech will be if this law is enacted."

Many Christian and pro-family groups have been protesting the hate crimes bill for months, arguing that the federal bill is repetitive of existing state laws and threatens the free speech of those who speak on the biblical view of homosexuality.

The hate crimes legislation seeks to add sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to the list of racial, ethnic, and religious categories already protected under law. It would also make it easier for the federal government to become involved in hate crimes investigations.

Chuck Colson - founder of Prison Fellowship and former top aide to President Richard Nixon - dubbed the hate crimes legislation the "Though Control Act of 2007."

"See, the bill is not about crime prevention or even civil rights," wrote Colson in a column this week. "It's about outlawing peaceful speech - speech that asserts that homosexual behaviour is morally wrong."

The evangelical leader noted that hate crimes can be defined to include verbal attacks and peaceful speech. He also pointed to hate-crime laws in England, Sweden and Canada where the "Thought Police" have already prosecuted Christians for breaking these laws. Moreover, 11 Christians were prosecuted under the state hate crimes law for preaching against homosexuality in public in Pennsylvania.

Coral Ridge's hate crimes petitions will urge President Bush to veto any hate crimes measure that reaches his desk and asks Sen. McConnell to build a coalition of senators to stop the legislation from even reaching the president.

The White House, to its credit, had warned Congress in May that the president plans to veto the hate crimes bill if it reaches the president's desk.

CRM, in addition to the hate crimes petitions, has also partnered with the Family Research Council this past spring to create a special video, entitled Hate Crimes Laws: Censoring the Church and Silencing Christians, to expose the threat of adopting such laws.

"Ultimately, 'hate crimes' laws pave the way to label the Christian message as 'hate speech' and lead to criminalising Christians," said Newcombe, co-producer of the Hate Crimes Laws video. "How can we as Christians get the vital message out that Jesus died to free us from the consequences of all our sinful lifestyles, when 'hate crimes' laws threaten to silence us? Now is the time to speak up, before we can't speak at all."

Coral Ridge Ministry, founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy, has radio and television programs that reach more than three million people weekly through more than 750 radio outlets and more than 600 TV Stations.