Southern Poverty defends its attacks on Christians

The left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been in the spotlight recently for its practice of designating conservative non-profits as "hate groups," has gone on defense.

Richard Cohen, the president of SPLC, which has been linked to a domestic terror attack, wrote in a Huffington Post commentary that Christians deserve the designation because they "sow the seeds of hate."

For adhering to a biblical perspective on homosexuality, for one thing.

The Family Research Council, wrote Cohen, has a "long track record of using dehumanizing language and outright lies to portray LGBT people as sick, evil, and a danger to children and society. As stated on its website, it opposes the acceptance of homosexuality 'in the law, in the media, and in the schools.'"

He also renewed his group's attacks on the conservative Center for Immigration Studies.

"It's a group whose immigration agenda is colored by ethnic bias," he claimed.

SPLC's defense of its activities comes on the heels of a lawsuit against the charity-monitoring organization GuideStar over its use of SPLC's "hate" designations.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability warned GuideStar its use of false SPLC claims to undermine Christian organizations was damaging its own credibility.

SPLC sits in judgment of Christians and others, labeling as "haters" those who disagree with its pro-homosexual and open- borders agendas. In fact, SPLC put Dr. Ben Carson in that category before facing a backlash and abruptly backtracking.

Get the Whistleblower Magazine's revelations about SPLC in "The Hate Racket," the story of how one group fools government into equating Christians and conservatives with Klansmen and Nazis – and rakes in millions doing it.

Paul Bedard documented in his Washington Secrets column that some of the groups targeted by SPLC now are unleashing a public counteroffensive, accusing the organization of "fueling hate, killing free speech and even encouraging terrorist-style attacks on those it doesn't agree with."

WND reported Liberty Counsel sued GuideStar for its decision to use SPLC claims to label certain conservative and Christian groups.

Then the Alliance Defending Freedom demanded an apology from ABC News for quoting SPLC in a slam of ADF.

Bedard explained the new effort by the targets of SPLC includes a video and a tweetstorm that took aim at SPLC's so-called "hate map," which identifies groups it says promotes hate and extremism.

SPLC lumps together groups such as the Ku Klux Klan with conservative nonprofits that promote traditional marriage, enforcement of immigration laws and other policies to which it objects.

Bedard said the campaign is led by the Washington-based Family Research Council.

SPLC was linked to the attempted mass murder in 2012 at FRC's Washington, D.C., office. Floyd Corkins II confessed to the FBI he was motivated by the so-called "Hate Map" on the SPLC website that listed FRC as a "hate group."

WND reported a video showed Corkins entering the FRC offices and confronting Leo Johnson.

FRC repeatedly has explained it adheres to a biblical perspective on homosexuality but is not "anti-gay."

SPLC also was linked to the June attack on congressional Republicans at a baseball practice before a charity game. SPLC admitted the shooter, James Hodgkinson, "liked" SPLC on Facebook, Liberty Counsel said.

SPLC previously contended Scalise "promoted white supremacy and supported a 'hate group,'" LC noted.

A spokesman for the campaign told Bedard: "Despite SPLC's baggage – which also includes connections to two liberal gunmen – they continue to be cited as a credible source by mainstream media and others. With SPLC in the spotlight, we must expose this organization for what it really is – a left wing smear group who has become exactly what they set out to fight, spreading hate and putting targets on people's backs."

The report noted the huge victory by conservatives in just the last few weeks in the GuideStar case.

The organization, which reports details about charities in the U.S., began citing SPLC's "hate" designation on its pages. It first got a letter from dozens of Christian organizations and quickly retreated by removing the labels.

However, the slander already hurt the reputation of the organizations, a lawsuit claims, and GuideStar should be held liable for the damages.

At the site for the D. James Kennedy ministry was an explanation of the campaign:

Once a group dedicated to fighting actual hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center has now turned to slandering and demonizing Christian and conservative organizations, labeling them “hate groups.” These groups are placed in the same category as the KKK on the SLPC’s “hate map” for merely upholding traditional standards of marriage and sexual morality.

The SPLC has enlisted in the culture wars on the side of the radical Left, and raised a huge amount of money from misled followers in doing so. Their false designations and demonization of Christians and conservatives has even led to violence.

This special program exposes the fraudulent and dangerous work of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

A video then explained:

The "Profits of Hate" campaign contends SPLC is in the culture wars on the "side of the radical left."

Tweets with criticisms of SPLC included:

"@SPLCenter has been linked in federal court to convicted domestic terrorist Floyd Corkins. http://tws.io/2sYsPEx #SPLCexposed"
"There's a reason the FBI distanced themselves w/ @splcenter. They're discredited & linked to terrorism: http://ow.ly/Miilg #SPLCexposed"
From Christian activist Brigitte Gabriel: "SPLC is Pure Poison."
"The media has a bad habit of citing the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as if the SPLC an objective, credible source."

Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, which also was targeted by SPLC, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Virginia asking the court to declare that GuideStar's publication of SPLC's "false and misleading" report designating Liberty Counsel as a "hate group" amounted to defamation, violating the Lanham Act, which prohibits false or misleading statements that harm a consumer or business.

SPLC also has exhibited behavior so egregious it was reprimanded by the far-left administration of Barack Obama.

Judicial Watch, citing a letter to Michael M. Hethmon, senior counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, and others, said the DOJ reprimand came in 2016 but was "kept quiet at the agency's request."

"[It] involves the SPLC's atrocious behavior during immigration court proceedings. Two groups that oppose illegal immigration, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), were the target of personal, baseless and below-the-belt attacks from SPLC attorneys during official immigration court proceedings. The SPLC filed a motion attacking and defaming the two respected nonprofits by describing them as 'white supremacist,' 'eugenicist,' 'anti-Semitic,' and 'anti-Catholic.' In its reprimand the DOJ says it is troubled by the conduct of SPLC lawyer Christopher Strawn and that his conduct 'overstepped the bounds of zealous advocacy and was unprofessional.' Furthermore, SPLC made 'uncivil comments that disparaged FAIR and its staff,' the rebuke states, adding that the language constitutes frivolous behavior and doesn't aid in the administration of justice," Judicial Watch explained.

"The Obama administration kept the reprimand confidential and asked FAIR and IRLI to keep it under wraps. In the meantime, SPLC continues to publicly trash the groups and escalate attacks against them by putting them on the official hate list. The executive director and general counsel of IRLI, Dale Wilcox, says his nonprofit and FAIR will keep fighting for immigration policies that put America first. 'The SPLC’s latest tactic in its never-ending witch-hunt and the federal government's resulting reprimand should send the following message to the mainstream media,' Wilcox said: 'Stop using the SPLC as a legitimate hate-watch source in your news coverage. That a cabal of biased list-keepers can play such an important role in distorting the immigration debate in this country is testament to the utter failure of much of the mainstream media which frequently publishes their inflammatory commentary and refuses to question their baseless methods or financial motivations,'" Judicial Watch said.

The letter explained the DOJ stopped short of "formal disciplinary proceeding[s]," instead opting for the rebuke in the letter.

"We take this opportunity to remind the attorney practitioners involved in this misconduct that practitioners before EOIR should be striving to be civil and professional in their interactions with each other, the public, the board and immigration courts. Attorneys owe a duty of professionalism to their clients, opposing parties and their counsel, the courts, and the public as a whole."

Get Whistleblower Magazine's revelations about SPLC in "The Hate Racket," the complete story of how one group fools government into equating Christians and conservatives with Klansmen and Nazis – and rakes in millions in the process.