The Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest annual “Year in Hate” report documents 1,371 hate and antigovernment extremist groups in the U.S., including three new groups beloved by conservative evangelicals: Focus on the Family, Turning Point USA and PragerU.
Focus on the Family was included for its anti-LGBTQ activism.
Jim Daly
Focus CEO Jim Daly said Focus isn’t a hate group, but SPLC is. He called the group’s list a “faux hate list” that “always finds a way to hate Christians.” He asked viewers to show their support with a donation to Focus.
“Radical group attacks family values!” said the appeal. “Reject the lies by supporting family ministry today!”
“Let me tell you the truth, we are the furthest thing from a hate group,” Daily said in a brief video on the ministry’s home page. “We love everyone who’s created in the image of God. That’s every human being.
“Let me tell you the truth, we are the furthest thing from a hate group.”
“Know that we are a loving group. We care about your marriage, we care about your parenting journey, we care about innocent preborn babies and the elderly. And we care about foster children. That’s what Focus on the Family is doing. Join us in helping parents be the best parents they can be. Join us in saving a baby from abortion or saving a child out of foster care.”
Family Research Council, which was founded by Focus and has been on the Hate Map list for 15 years, defended Focus and claimed SPLC labeled Focus as hateful “because Focus on the Family defends the sanctity of life, upholds God’s design for sexuality and proclaims biblical truth without apology.”
“This isn’t about ‘hate’ — it’s about silencing biblical truth and targeting Christians who stand firm in their faith,” said FRC, which again warned that “SPLC’s march against biblical truth wouldn’t stop in Washington — it would reach into churches, homes and anyone who dared to uphold God’s design for family and sexuality.”
FRC said SPLC’s work is serving “the enemy” and called it “evil,” but offered no examples of SPLC targeting churches or homes.
FRC was the victim of an attack on its Washington, D.C., headquarters by a gay rights activist that may have been inspired by SPLC’s Hate Map. Neither Focus nor FRC cited SPLC’s stated reasons for adding Focus to the hate list: “Focus on the Family has long relied on its biblical worldview strategy to push back against LGBTQ progress and reproductive rights. The organization’s online Daily Citizen demonizes LGBTQ people, claiming they are unnatural and un-Christian, and promotes anti-trans pseudoscience, such as conversion therapy that seeks to change their sexual or gender identities of LGBTQ youth.”
“The organization’s online Daily Citizen demonizes LGBTQ people, claiming they are unnatural and un-Christian.”
SPLC cites one Daily Citizen article, “Do Not Fall for the ‘Affirm Them or They Will Die’ Lie,” which addressed the problem of suicidal ideation by transgender people, a problem Focus author Glenn Stanton dismissed, writing: “It has long been parroted as an unquestionable truism that if we do not fully affirm and support the wishes of every gender-confused or gender-pretending young person or adult, we risk being responsible for their possible death. … But we must all fully appreciate that the claim is as manipulative as it is false.”
Family Research Council urged supporters to sign a petition on a donation page. “Thank you for standing with us by signing the petition: Tell the Trump administration to cancel the SPLC.”
The petition calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to sever all ties with SPLC because it is “a Leftist aligned organization that has a long and well-documented history of smearing faith-based organizations” and inciting division and violence.
“Furthermore, we call on the DOJ to investigate the SPLC’s documented role in influencing federal agencies under previous administrations… .”
SPLC labeled Turning Point USA an “antigovernment extremist group,” citing its “politics of fear” that can evoke hate for others: “Turning Point USA’s primary strategy is sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ community and civil rights activists. TPUSA and its spokespeople often warn their audience that their children, wives, religion, way of life and they themselves are under attack by various constructed enemies. TPUSA exploits complicated feelings of insecurity and anxiety to manufacture rage and mobilize support to revive and maintain a white-dominated, male supremacist, Christian social order.”
TPUSA’s Charlie Kirk called the SPLC’s criticism of the group “a badge of honor” and called SPLC “a laughingstock, a hollowed-out husk of an organization that’s been exposed as a grift time and time again.”
Related articles:
Evangelical groups cheer layoffs at Southern Poverty Law Center
America’s hard right is fine-tuning hate tactics, SPLC warns
Conservative group’s new ‘Hate Map’ targets ‘woke’ liberals