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 The scene outside the Family Research Council after Wednesday's shooting.
August 17th, 2012
03:06 PM ET
Shooting sparks controversy over 'hate' designation for conservative groupBy Michael Pearson, CNN (CNN) - It's an online gallery of hate. Here on the Southern Poverty Law Center website is Blood & Honour, a racist skinhead group with members who killed two homeless people they deemed inferior, according to police. A quick scroll away is the World Church of the Creator, which calls nonwhites "mud races" and preaches "racial holy war" that has, according to authorities, inspired some members to commit violent crimes. Then there's the Family Research Council. The SPLC says the conservative Washington policy group is listed as a hate group because "it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda" about lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. The designation, in place since 2010, has ignited a fierce debate after an apparently politically motivated shooting Wednesday at the FRC's Washington offices. Conservatives see FRC attack as part of broader war A Virginia man who authorities say harbors "strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner" is accused of shooting the manager of the council headquarters, wounding him in the arm. The suspect was carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, leading investigators to link the attack to recent comments by the restaurant chain's CEO defending traditional marriage and the Family Research Council's staunch defense of traditional marriage. While the SPLC defended its label Thursday, saying it was about the "demonization" of gays and a long history of anti-gay activism, the FRC and its conservative allies struck back. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter "I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology," FRC president Tony Perkins said. In response, SPLC senior fellow Mark Potok said the FRC was looking to make gains from the tragedy. "Perkins and his allies, seeing an opportunity to score points, are using the attack on their offices to pose a false equivalency between the SPLC's criticisms of the FRC and the FRC's criticisms of LGBT people." CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories The FRC, through spokesman P.J. Duffy, declined to comment for this article. Outside opinions were, predictably, mixed. Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry said the council is a mainstream, if very conservative, public policy shop - one of a multitude in Washington. "I'm not comfortable calling them a hate group," he said. "There's probably some things that have been said by one or two individuals that qualify as hate speech. But overall, it's not seen as a hate group," said Berry, who has written extensively about the influence of ideological and public policy groups in Washington. Peter Montgomery, a blogger for the liberal think tank People for the American Way, said he backs the SPLC's designation. "If you ask me, 'Does the FRC promote hatred towards gays and lesbians?' I would say yes it does," he said. "The FRC is not the KKK. But that doesn't also mean they deserve a free ride from being called out on their hateful rhetoric." The FRC opened its doors in 1983, three years after founder James Dobson, then of Focus on the Family, held a prayer session with eight Christian leaders at a Washington, D.C., hotel, according to the FRC's official history. "FRC's immediate goal was to counter the credentialed voices arrayed against life and family with equally capable men and women of faith," the group writes in its history. According to its mission statement, the FRC "champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society." "Properly understood," the mission statement continues, " 'families' are formed only by ties of blood, marriage, or adoption, and 'marriage' is a union of one man and one woman." According to IRS data, the group received nearly $12 million in revenue in 2009, the latest year for which data is available. It works on a variety of topics, including anti-abortion policy, traditional marriage, educational choice, religious liberty and family tax policy. What has raised the SPLC's ire is the Family Research Council's stance on homosexuality. The council calls it "by definition unnatural." "We oppose the vigorous efforts of homosexual activists to demand that homosexuality be accepted as equivalent to heterosexuality in law, in the media, and in schools," according to the council's website. "Attempts to join two men or two women in 'marriage' constitute a radical redefinition and falsification of the institution and FRC supports state and federal constitutional amendments to prevent such redefinition by courts or legislatures." The group says it also supports programs to help people overcome "unwanted" same-sex attractions. But the SPLC says the group goes further than simply promoting a conservative Christian perspective. It spreads lies in pursuit of its own political agenda restricting the rights of homosexuals, the group argues. Among other things, the SPLC says the council uses dubious science to convince Americans that gays pose a threat to their way of life, particularly that gays are a threat to children. In 1999, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, an FRC analyst co-wrote a booklet called "Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys." In the document, which is not available on the FRC website, the authors reportedly argued that "the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the "prophets" of a new sexual order," according to the SPLC. The group also was heavily involved in the effort to prevent the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting military service by openly gay men and women. Among other things, Perkins said, the change would force the military to pay for sex-change operations. In 2010, the FRC was widely denounced after blogger Joe My God published documents that appeared to show the FRC provided $25,000 for lobbying efforts to defeat a congressional resolution expressing opposition to a proposed law in Uganda, which called for the imprisonment of gays and lesbians and the death penalty for those accused of spreading disease and other acts of "aggravated homosexuality." The story was picked up by several news organizations and still appears in Internet denunciations of the group. In a 2010 statement, the FRC said that it did not support the Uganda bill or the death penalty for gays and lesbians. In a statement published at the time, the group said it only wanted lawmakers to "remove sweeping and inaccurate assertions that homosexual conduct is internationally recognized as a fundamental human right." Not long after that controversy, the SPLC added the FRC to its list of hate groups. The FRC has been a "font of anti-gay propaganda throughout its history," the SPLC wrote. However, unlike many of the groups listed in its "intelligence files," it does not accuse the group of any violent or illegal acts. At the time of its designation as a hate group by the SPLC, the FRC called the label "slanderous" and "character assassination" in an open letter published in Washington newspapers. "This is intolerance pure and simple," the ad read. "Elements of the radical Left are trying to shut down informed discussion of policy issues that are being considered by Congress, legislatures and the courts." After Perkins' comments Thursday, the debate began to take off. In The Washington Post, columnist Dana Milbank noted the controversy. "I disagree with the Family Research Council's views on gays and lesbians," he wrote Thursday. "But it's absurd to put the group, as the law center does, in the same category as Aryan Nations, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Stormfront and the Westboro Baptist Church." On the conservative website Newsbusters, a commenter posting as "Blonde Gator" said calling an organization a hate group doesn't make it true. "Just because the FRC has a mission statement which doesn't align with your own agenda, does NOT make them a hate group," Blonde Gator wrote. Elsewhere, a blogger going by the name of "Senator Blutarsky" said the designation lowered the bar for what constitutes hate. "The Great Chicken War showed that in 2012, all one need do is subscribe to a conventional understanding of Christian teaching, and boom! You're a bigot," the commenter wrote, referring to the Chick-fil-A controversy. On the website for "Truth Wins Out," which describes itself as a nonprofit "fighting anti-gay lies and the ex-gay myth," blogger Wayne Bessen wrote that the SPLC was "100% correct" in labeling the council as a hate group. "As someone who reads Perkins' anti-gay fundraising letters - make no mistake about it - this group loathes LGBT people with a special passion," he wrote. One commenter on the site said the shooting "was Lady Karma finally come a-calling on the FRC." "GLBT people have put up with their hatred, beatings, burning, rapes, murder ... for centuries now," said the poster, writing as "Merlyn." "But the second something like this happen we are blamed and groups like the FRC ramp up the volume of their calls to incarcerate us. I'm not saying I approve of what the shooter did, but all things considered, the FRC got off very lightly." |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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This gay was a pervert just like the people he hung out with and he shot a working man and nothing is said about that...cnn and other lib terrorist organizations attack the place and the southern poverty law group are the real terrorists.
I'm from CANADA and I can name at least five right wing domestic terrorists in the U.S. off the top of my head. How may left wing nut jobs with weapons can you name? It thought so.
Cat got your keyboard?
James Holmes.
the FRC members should have been carrying at the time, as most of their members support the second amendment and concealed carry permits.
I like living in Texas. You don't have to worry about some crazy guy shooting others, because everybody else has a gun too!
so did a lot of you nutjobs in AZ when that lady got shot at a rally....and they all ducked and ran like a bunch of cowards....
Wrong! Gays are the ones trying to redefine 'family'. FRC advocates leaving the same definition in place that has served mankind for 1,000's of years.
There was just a shooting in southern Texas...
@Jeff Lucas
" I like living in Texas. You don't have to worry about some crazy guy shooting others, because everybody else has a gun too! "
LOL ! 😀
Peace...
Where'd my post go? Strange. All I said was FRC= Hate group. They are trying to redefine 'family' leaving me and my kind out. But I am from and part of a family and here in Canada where gay marriage is legal and old hat we have found families are strenghened by gay marriage. Straight marriage was of course unaffected. Be patient my American friends. For some reason you got the lion's share of mental midgets but soon a tawdry scandal will bring Perkins down just as we always knew it would.
Let's do a tally: In recent years, are most mass murderers deranged LEFT-wing radicals ?
Bush was a republican...
I'm no hater. I have lgbt friends. However, nothing about lgbt is natural whether you believe in creation or evolution.
Wow with friends like you.....
I agree with the research council; SPLC is a domestic terrorist organization
Not to mention a "hate group" themselves...
(in contrast to FRC who are just expressing their beliefs without demonizing, badmouthing or "hating" anyone).
SPLC refers to anyone who writes about Islam as a hate group. Even reporting on acts of jihad or describing the Koranic text which the jihadis refer to is considered hate by the SPLC. The SPLC further refuses to investigate any Islamic group which has been linked to terrorism or has leadership who has been convicted of sponsoring terrorism.
To me that sounds like they have a bias and a political agenda. Why they hold a political bias in favor of jihad/Islamic inspired terrorism they have not explained. I think it has to do with some "left over" thinking from the 60's where they have to protect and defend those they consider non-white or a minority.
They aren't the same group most of us remember from the past.
FRC IS a hate group....and it's perfectly acceptable to hate every last one of them...
It is truly astonishing that CNN is casting this story in this way. A left winger angry at Chick-fil-A goes in and attacks a conservative organization that supported Chick-Fil-A owner after his comments and all of the emphasis is on who is the conservative group? How about who is the shooter and what liberal hate speech caused this incident?
well considering that it was conservative hate speech that ignited it....or did you miss that part because your head was up your butt?
The amazing thing is that if this were any other organization, there would be more interest in the shooter and the motives, but in this case, the victim is being interrogated. Just goes to show the kind of bias shown by CNN.
You mean this story under the headline "Who is DC shooting suspect?"
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/justice/dc-shooting-suspect/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1
SPLC is a hate group. Only ignorant bigots support SPLC.
"Hate group" has been flung around so much lately it has lost its meaning. Why not reserve it for groups that openly profess that they want to hurt another group of people for one reason or another. I fail to see how disagreeing with a lifestyle can get a group labeled as a hate group. People are getting injured and killed and groups like the SPLC are worried about opinions. Its quite sickening.
you ask black people if it hurt to be denied equal rights....FRC is a hate group...they hate an entire population of people they have never met and know nothing about...
You can have your own opinion but not your own facts. Conservatives are in denial about this very simple truth.
Messed up, but not sup rising... Though it is never correct to take a life, thats the game you play as a hate group...
Wholesale slaughter of innocent lives in wombs is the biggest genocide in America.
too bad you didn't get shot the other day...
No. It is a way of preventing the births of people who are unwanted. The largest number of diagnosed sociopaths come from environments in which they were not wanted, and were subsequently abused. They grew up to be criminals, many of whom are quite dangerous. There has been a sharp drop in the rate of crime in this country since abortion on demand was made legal.
It is imperative that abortion remain legal.
@Rob - I am ready to go when God wants me to - not a second before - not a second later. In the meanwhile, I am glad to take this opportunity to promote God's message. Thanks!
Except, of course, that there is no god.
@davidbeschauer - those who abort are ignorant sociopaths to begin with - aborting doesnt help them but makes them worse. better put them in jail so they dont have a chance to reproduce and abort again ... save them from more sins.
Here's a hint: change your screen name to Dudu. It will have much more accurate meaning.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, by designating the Family Research Council, is acting in a more hateful way than the FRC itself. The FRC should take legal action against the SPLC for inciting violence against it.
Absolutely right!
I though the gun lovers always say that 'guns don't kill, people do' and that any inappropriate use of a firearm is the sole responsibility of the shooter?
The leftist philosophy in America has reached its logical conclusion - promoting hate and violence. I always believed that would be the destination of such philosophy and they have arrived and they have arrived with a bang - literally.
Funny since its the conservative philosophy of placing guns in every able hand in america. hmmmmm i'm sorry but this is what happens when you breed a message of hate as the FRC and the GOP crazies have.
@Freedom FROM Religion - FRC does NOT officially label any group as hate group in way of a hit-list of sorts that SPLC maintains. Maintaining a gallery or hit-list of groups labeled as "hate groups" is a very hateful and distasteful move in itself. Nor has anyone from FRC gone on to shoot someone that does not agree with their politics. Shame on you for being dishonest.
Absurd comment. Every group has its nuts. Some have more than others. Don't go casting stones until you look at the facts.
CNN, when you label people who are against gay marriage (or, please, marriage equality) as being "in defense of traditional marriage," you've already quite clearly established the frame of reference you're using.
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah....loosen your bra, slip out of the girdle, pour yourself a glass of white wine, and sing a couple of choruses of Kumbaya. You'll feel much better.
"I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology," FRC president Tony Perkins said.
Uh...Tony...you first, buddy. What a kidder this guy is.
@sam
Yeah... what a kidder that guy is 😯
Peace...
@sam – FRC does not officially label any group as hate group in sort of a hit-list that SPLC maintains. Nor has anyone from FRC gone on to shoot someone that does not agree with their politics. Shame on you for being dishonest.
Hindu- yet the FRC helps to draft extremely dangerous legislation in Uganda- The Kill The Gays Bill- and continually spreads lies and anti-gay propaganda both her in the USA and abroad- is a shooting spree necessary to be considered a "hate group"?
BTW- the shooter did not work for the SPLC as you falsely suggest. Who's being dishonest again "Hindu"?
@DAVE - where did I say someone from SPLC went to shoot? Read again. However, the shooter probably did get the information from SPLC website as to the nearest place he could go to shoot someone who did not agree with his LGBT views (he was volunteering at some LGBT support org).
So there actually IS a radical-LEFT in this country? But where are they? What does one look like? Does he have a basement full of guns & ammo and bars on his windows? We need to know these things so we can protect ourselves!!
Apparently he's not a very good shot and he either really likes Chik-fil-A, or misunderstands irony.
SMART ALECK ALERT! NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!
To I'm not a GOPer. His aim may not be to blame. Being a liberal weenie, he probably did not know you cannot do a proper shooting using a Super Soaker loaded with Perrier.
The SPLC is the real hate group, labeling anyone who doesn't agree with them "hate group". Who are they to label others? They're right up here with the NAACP. They're only interested in promoting their ideology and condemning anyone who doesn't agree with them.
Uh, it's a little more than just disagreeing with someone that gets you on the list. Did you read the article, Nick?
No, anyone who spreads misleading and wrong information about a group of people (gays, lesbians and transgender people) is a hate group...
...anyone who blames gays, lesbians and transgender people for hurricanes and earthquakes is a hate group...
...any group that has its leading member tell fathers to take showers with their boys (Tony Perkins), in order to show them where parts are and who is the boss of the house is a pedophile and hate group...
@Nick
Along with what -Emperor Vakik, CA said... And any group that wants to "criminalize and prosecute" gays, etc... (Family Research Council)... that's a hate group.
Peace...
So if my OPINION is different than the liberal OPINION then my OPINION is wrong and therefore hateful?
no bob, when your opinion is based on false information, then it is wrong...
Bob- you're totally free to hold your OPINION, but when you go out of your way to spread blatant lies and propaganda and seek to push harmful legislation here and in other countries (Kill the Gays bill in Uganda) yeah- you are hateful and harmful.
BTW- it's not a "liberal" opinion but pointing out that the FRC in fact does do hateful, harmful things.