Let me ask you a question: Do you believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman? If your answer is “yes,” then you, dear reader, are a hate-mongering bigot — at least that is what the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a self-described “civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry,” would call you. The scary thing is, a chilling new FBI video begs the question: Who’s spewing hate?
Remember the Family Research Council (FRC) shooting last year? Floyd Lee Corkins, a disturbed 28-year-old man dressed as an intern walked into the FRC headquarters and shot FRC security guard Leo Johnson. Corkins has stated, “I wanted to kill the people in the building and then smear a Chick-Fil-A sandwich in their face … to kill as many people as I could.” Thanks to the heroic efforts of Johnson, Corkin’s deadly plot failed.
In the FBI video, an investigator asks, “How did you [come to] this building, this organization. Did you, how did you find it earlier? Did you like look it up online?” Corkins then admits, “It was a uh, Southern Poverty Law, lists, uh anti-gay groups. I found them online.”
The FRC atrocity hits close to home for those of us at Concerned Women for America (CWA). FRC staff members are not only our allies in the pro-family battle, they are our close friends. These men and women are honest citizens with compassionate hearts and a career calling to uphold Christian values in public policy. But these admirable qualities were conveniently overlooked by the SPLC when it deemed FRC a “hate group” on the basis that the organization respects the institution of marriage.
If any non-profit, business, or individual stands for the purity of marriage, the sanctity of unborn life, or the constitutional protection of religious freedom, then they are counted among SPLC’s “hate groups.” In fact, the SPLC has named CWA as one of “a dozen major groups [that] help drive the Religious Right’s anti-gay crusade.” Skeptical? Then go to SPLC’s website and click on their “hate map.”
Even Bill Maher, the liberal HBO host known for his anti-conservative rants, doesn’t buy the notion that Christians are as “dangerous” as liberal society is attempting to paint us. Maher invited Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, on his show to discuss hate and violence as a result of religious institutions. When Levin tried to argue that Jews and Christians commit terrorist acts, Maher retorted:
“Um that’s liberal bull****. … Talk to Salman Rushdie after the show about Christian versus Islam. … So, you know, I’m just saying, let’s keep it real.”
One can only hope that those who profit from this type of misinformation would “keep it real.” But they are not interested in truth. The SPLC knows Christians are not “hateful,” but they know they can exploit the sentiments of a significant part of the population for their obscene profit with minimal work. By simply labeling them “hateful,” they hope to intimidate Christians into silence, whatever the unintended consequences. The FRC incident actually helps the SPLC’s cause.
But Christians, including those of us at CWA, will not be intimidated. And we will never tiptoe around certain Biblical principles or cherry-pick our moral values. No amount of harassment, demeaning messages, or preposterous labeling will ever cause us to renounce our faith and forgo the Christian principles that laid the foundation for our nation and its success. Ever.