Robertson Calls Hate Crimes Law a Noose

700 Club host Pat Robertson took aim at the expansion of the federal hate-crimes protections to include LGBT people Thursday, calling the new law a "noose ... around the necks of Christians" that threatens their freedom of religion and speech. He ignored the fact that hate-crimes laws protect people on the basis of religious beliefs.

"What about a law that says it's a federal crime to attack someone because of their religious beliefs? Not a chance," said Robertson.

The religious persecution rationale is enormously flawed, according to the blog Crooks and Liars.

"Robertson seems completely unaware that in fact religious bias is one of the categories of bias crime covered by hate-crime laws -- and it has been from the very start, since these laws were first enacted on the state level in the early 1980s!" writes David Neiwert.