Canadian law commentary on hate crime
here -
[ QUOTE ]
The law has special criteria for crimes motivated by hate. These are crimes committed against a person or group because of hate or prejudice on account of their:
* race, colour, or national or ethnic origin
* language
* colour
* religion
* sex, or sexual orientation
* age
* mental or physical disability
[/ QUOTE ]
It would seem if you are harmed for belonging to a certain category rather than either randomly or for something personal it may fit hate crime? If any other 'unknown' person was identified as being in the same category and would be harmed for that reason alone, that would seem to be the basis of the law.
"sorry, nothing personal, but you're xyz."
Atheism is obviously not a religion, but it is a category within that topic. If an anglican took to beating all non-anglicans ( theist, deists, atheists, adeists) it's hard to see why the baptist beating would be a religious hate crime and the adeists beating wouldn't be. but...
luckyme