Amazon uses 'discredited' SPLC to eject ADF from Smile program

Amazon Smile is a program of the web behemoth that allows customers to donate a tiny fraction of their purchases to a charity of their choice.

But it's been stung by its use of the "money-grabbing slander machine" Southern Poverty Law Center to vet organizations eligible to benefit.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, which has won seven cases at the U.S. Supreme Court in the last seven years in defense of religious and civil rights, said it has been dropped from the Smile program because it has been labeled by SPLC as a "hate group" for defending traditional marriage.

ADF charged SPLC "exploits the terms 'hate' and 'hate group' against any organization it disagrees with."

SPLC's hate list also was used by the charity-information site GuideStar, prompting lawsuits. While it famously battled the KKK many years ago, of late SPLC has taken to labeling famed surgeon and conservative Dr. Ben Carson as a "hater." And it was linked to domestic terror through Floyd Corkins, who used information from SPLC to target the Family Research Council with a mass-murder attempt at the Christian organization's Washington, D.C., headquarters. SPLC also was reprimanded by the far-left administration of Barack Obama, and the Department of Defense and FBI have severed their ties to the group.

ADF, which among its accomplishments has successfully defended a state program that provides funding for children to attend private schools, offered in a letter Thursday to Amazon to help set up a legitimate program to evaluate charities.

"It you are going to rely on a discredited partisan organization like the SPLC to determine who is eligible to participate in Amazon Smile, you should disclose that in your policy and to your customers," ADF said. "Millions of Americans share our beliefs and thousands of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions organizations subscribe to them as well."

ADF told Amazon its customers "have a right to know that you've placed such an organization as the gatekeeper to participation in a charitable program."

ADF noted it works "to ensure that our public colleges and universities are true marketplaces of ideas, where all students are free to engage in conversation and debate on important issues."

"We want," the organization said, "to secure the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution for every American. That's why we defend people from many backgrounds and from many different walks of life, including artists, healthcare professionals, and university students."

In contrast, SPLC "would prefer to silence all opposing views, ridding the public square of civil discourse."

"SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok has made clear its goal regarding organizations who dare to hold a dissenting viewpoint: 'I want to say plainly that our aim in life is to destroy these groups, to completely destroy them,'" ADF said.

Michael Farris, ADF's president, CEO and chief counsel, said that to justify removing ADF from the Amazon Smile program, Amazon "is hiding behind the Southern Poverty Law Center, a discredited fundraising group that fills its ever-increasing coffers by attacking veterans, Catholics, Muslims who oppose terrorism, and even nuns."

"SPLC is not a neutral watchdog organization," Farris said. "Instead, it raises money by slandering people and organizations who disagree with its views. ADF is one of the nation’s most respected and successful Supreme Court advocates, working to preserve our fundamental freedoms of speech, religion, and conscience for people from all walks of life. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with Amazon representatives to explain why they shouldn’t exclude us from the Amazon Smile program."

Amazon Smile declined to respond to a WND request for comment.