Hate is more difficult to deal with when it is clothed in righteousness and virtue — when it’s garbed in the mantle of free expression and free speech.

None of this is new. But in a world where fanatics can gather followers around the world, it has become dangerous.

We don’t even seem to have the right words for people who fan such flames because “terrorism” is something different. What can one call the next-door neighbours or the friends from church who emotionally and financially support hate, but still expect normal relations and don’t seem to understand what they are supporting?

Governments and courts are right to attempt to keep everyone safe and free to express themselves. When they try to do that, cue the lawyers, advocates and civil libertarians. Doing so is their job. Without them, power and authority could run rampant.

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But this used to be less harrowing, less dangerous on all sides of the spectrum.

Those of us of a certain age remember Skokie and the neo-Nazi group in 1977, who wanted to demonstrate in front of the village hall in full Nazi regalia. This Chicago suburb had a large Jewish population, including many Holocaust survivors. The town’s reaction was swift and furious, denying a permit to gather. The American Civil Liberties Association argued for the neo-Nazis.

In the end, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favour of free speech, although no demonstration ever took place. All of this transpired without gunshots or violence on both sides.

Had all of this happened today, nearly 50 years later, it wouldn’t take much to envision a race riot and death on the streets.

So, should limits be placed on freedoms? Sadly, yes, when others’ lives and safety are in danger; when vileness has become common; when one can watch a “bar” fight in the middle of Macleod Trail because road rage has escalated from flipping the bird to wielding a bat.

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Enough is enough. (Full disclosure: When it was extant, I was a board member of the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association.)

It gives me no pleasure or ease to write the following — It’s time to put safety first, which is the point of the delayed federal government’s Bill C-29, the anti-hate crime legislation.

The bill would “criminalize the wilful promotion of hatred toward religious groups by publicly displaying terror or hate symbols.” It would remove the religious exemption in the Criminal Code. Religious leaders contend it would limit religious freedom if it became law.

How do I know this? From seeing how such actions work.

Calgary’s Kensington Clinic has a permanent court injunction in place to stop opponents of abortion from blocking its entrance. It doesn’t stop the protests or their supporters; it stops the action of interfering with the access of others, and it allows both “sides” free access to what is still a protected right in Canada.

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The staff is safe from harassment, the clinic stays open to deliver much-needed women’s health services and the protesters are free to wave their placards and yell their slogans and objections from across the street.

British Columbia Premier David Eby recently proposed a 20-metre “protection zone” for all places of worship.

Canada’s new bill would go further than either example. By necessity.

But regardless of whose ox is being gored, regardless of the conviction of righteousness and religious fervour, hate of “the other” is a matter of overt discrimination. It has become as vile and pervasive — and ugly and common — as antisemitism. Sadly, as Ben Rhodes of the New York Times said, “othering has come home.”

It’s just wrong and should never be tolerated or accepted. God, Allah, Buddha, Mohammed — whatever the Supreme Being — is no excuse for any of this.

No one else can police or control your inner self. You can seethe inside all you want.

But we, as society — if you act on your hate — can and should be able to treat you as the criminal you have proven yourself to be.

Catherine Ford is a regular columnist.

© Calgary Herald