Posted on 10/08/2015 5:58:17 AM PDT by wagglebee
MONTGOMERY, Alabama, October 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled Liberty Counsel, the law firm representing and supporting Christian Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who famously went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a "hate group."
Pointing to evidence that Liberty Counsel supports Christian beliefs on homosexuality, SPLC placed the group on a list of "hate groups" alongside other organizations such the Ku Klux Klan, the ultra-violent New Black Panther Party, and neo-Nazi white supremacist groups.
On a page explaining the "hate" designation, the SPLC include quotes by Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver pointing to the harmful effects of homosexual behavior, and saying that homosexual behavior is immoral.
Direct mail marketing millionaire Morris Dees founded the SPLC as a civil rights organization to monitor the Ku Klux Klan and other violent and/or racist groups.
In recent years, however, the SPLC has dramatically expanded its list of "hate groups," and particularly turned its attention on Christians and Christian organizations that support natural marriage. Critics sasy that its criteria for what constitutes a "hate group" are "entirely subjective and largely ideological."
Liberty Counsel has also criticized the SPLC, observing "[t]hey do not distinguish between racist or violent groups and legitimate organizations that participate peacefully in the political process – tarring all with the same label. In recent years whole categories and new groups have been added, not because of actual 'hate' activities, but because they hold conservative positions on controversial political issues such as homosexuality."
Meeke Addison, director of communications for the American Family Association's Urban Family Talk, told LifeSiteNews, "The SPLC has long been void of cultural relevance. It's not surprising that they would label yet another legitimate organization a 'hate group.'"
"Disagreement with popular opinion is not hate," Addison said. "However, by SPLC's definition, anyone who holds deep views contrary to those of the SPLC, whatever those views are, they are hate-filled."
The SPLC's defamation of Christian organizations has created real-world tragedy. On August 15, 2012, after the SPLC listed the Family Research Council (FRC) as a "hate group," homosexual activist Floyd Lee Corkins II took the SPLC's listing to heart and attacked the FRC headquarters.
Corkins entered the FRC building with a gun and 100 rounds of ammo, shouted, "I don't like your politics," and started shooting. He was stopped by FRC security, but he later admitted he intended to "kill as many as possible" in the hopes that his murder spree would "make a statement against the people ... with their stance against gay rights." Corkins was ultimately found guilty of terrorism and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
"The Southern Poverty Law Center is an anti-American, anti-Christian, Marxist organization," Family Research Council Executive Vice President Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (ret.) told LifeSiteNews. "They are connected to domestic terrorism in a federal court, as a result of testimony by Floyd Lee Corkins II, who entered our facility, shot our building manager, and admitted to the judge that he intended to kill as many people as possible, because of our position on natural marriage."
"Corkins admitted he targeted us because of the Southern Poverty Law Center's listing us as a 'hate group,'" Lt. Gen. Boykin pointed out. "Think about this for a moment. This is the same tactic as Islamic terrorist groups: they label people as hate-mongers, which incites others to commit acts of violence. It is very reckless behavior."
Addison has concluded that the FBI contributes to the SPLC's stature (and fundraising) by legitimizing the anti-Christian organization. "The FBI's past acknowledgement of SPLC only served to validate a political organization's fundraising efforts," Addison told LifeSiteNews. "The FBI's dissolution of any type of relationship with the SPLC is long overdue."
Addison urged the FBI to disavow the "anti-hate" hate group. "The federal government should have never been a willing participant in an illegitimate organization's intimidation or suppression efforts," she told LifeSiteNews. "I hope today's news signals a complete and total end to any federal undergirding of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
Attorney Matt Barber, vice president of Liberty Counsel Action, opined of the SPLC, "The hard-left group has become everything it presumes to expose."
The SPLC has also come under sharp criticism for its financial practices. Morris Dees has used his multi-million-dollar mail marketing experience to turn his organization into a powerful fundraising machine. The SPLC has a budget of $30 million but enjoys a huge "endowment" of $223 million, some of which is stored in bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. The American Institute of Philanthropy, popularly known as "Charity Watch," has given the SPLC a "FAIL" for continuing to fundraise while sitting on such a massive pile of money.
They will soon be putting us in gulags.
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Do lawyers who defend murderers qualify as ‘hate groups’?
Or does the SLPC just reserve that tag for political opponents?
The SPLC appears to hate a lot of people/groups.
Pretty much. The SPLC is the biggest hate group in the country with plenty of blood on their hands. A President Cruz DOJ should and will go after these vermin with everything they got.
Isn’t this an Alinsky tactic? Label your enemy and then demonize it incessantly?
Yes, but they have many bills to pay.
And the government may provide a generous bounty for our heads.
Where is the poverty?
They do not appear to be missing any meals; with 303 million dollars+++
Revenue $40,418,368 (2012 FY) Endowment $303 million
The SPLC is a communist front organization dedicated to the destruction of America and western civilization. Wonder if Obama studied there?
For a lot of people a “hate group” is any group that disagrees with you.
I hope the next administration audits and revokes this hypocritical, bigoted band of extremists tax exemption. It’s “hate list” is biased and politically motivated. Laughable in fact if not so sad people could be so hate-filled and childish as SPLC.
The day will come when this and similar organizations will be branded with the hate group mark they so richly deserve.
Sadly, the lazy corrupt msm will gladly quote this smear group as a "legit" organization..
So... SPLC calls the shots now as to what and what isn't a "hate group?" FU, SPLC. F all of you.
SPLC labels all white heterosexual Christians a Hate Group unless they agree to murder other white heterosexual Christians. News at 11:00!
For a lot of _liberals_ a “hate group” is anyone that disagrees with them.
It really comes down to the nut of them declaring Christian values as “hateful”.
The hell they will....
SPLC is a hate group...why would ANYONE give a fig of credence to anything they say>
When are they going to put the BlackLivesMatter people on their list of hate groups.
Then again, who gives a crap about a ‘list’.
Oh, they have a list. Should people be scared, you know, since lists mean serious business?
But they are different.
They have a list.
A list!
That’s weird. I’ve always considered those nasty little bastards down at the SPLC a “hate group”. They hate America.
Can Liberty Council SUE the SPLC for libel and defamation?
I would just love to see that.
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