Well, not to derail the excellent discussion of the Branch Davidians above, in a nutshell, this is why the charges and convictions are appealing to me when normally, I do not approve of hate crime laws:
This was an instance where a religious leader had gained control of a group and used his power to punish former members for leaving. It seems fairly clear he had this little community in a box, so that people who wanted to be Amish and also wanted some relief from him were forced to move away. The beard and hair cuttings took place after the other Amish bishops chastised Mullet for his demands that his former members be shunned -- which is doubtless a terrible penalty for any Amish person.
The level of intimidation was clearly very high, and far more than even a cross burning on your front yard. Yet without this law, there'd have been very little the police could do, and most likely, not enough to deter Mullet.
I don't expect a suitable set of facts for such a charge will arise very often, but I am not upset that if it does, there's a legal basis for an adequate police response.