I hate to say it, but I see a lot of good coming out of the tragedy at Charlottesville. Which was the result of hate on both the Left and Right. Enough!
E Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 25, 2017, at 09:11, BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical > Centrist Community <[email protected]> wrote: > > 8/25/2017 9:07:50 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > > > D. James Kennedy Ministries Sues SPLC over Hate Map > Coral Ridge broadcaster is first Christian group to take Southern Poverty Law > Center to court over ‘anti-LGBT’ label. > KATE SHELLNUTT AUGUST 24, 2017 > > Christianity Today > > > > > A venerable Christian ministry based in Fort Lauderdale recently saw its name > listed on a CNN map of “all the active hate groups where you live,” as well > as in local news reports as the No. 1 hate group in Florida. > > > D. James Kennedy Ministries shares sermons, devotionals, and religious > liberty messages inspired by the late founder of Coral Ridge Presbyterian, a > prominent Florida megachurch. In media coverage after Charlottesville, the > Christian broadcaster was mapped alongside about 60 “hate groups” in the > Sunshine State, using designations from the Southern Poverty Law Center > (SPLC). > > “Enough is enough,” said Frank Wright, president of D. James Kennedy > Ministries, which filed a lawsuit against the SPLC on Wednesday. The > organization also sued GuideStar and AmazonSmile for their use of the SPLC > list. > > > Conservative Christian organizations have challenged the SPLC’s “anti-LGBT” > category for years, but Wright’s is the first to take legal action—spurred by > the controversial watchdog group’s increasingly vocal activism during Donald > Trump’s presidency. The SPLC recently received a prominent boost from Apple, > which pledged a $1 million donation and will launch a new feature to allow > users to donate directly from iTunes. > > The civil rights advocacy organization made a name for itself in the 1970s, > providing legal defense for victims of the Ku Klux Klan and other white > supremacists. (Wright and other conservative Christian leaders are quick to > applaud them for this history.) However, as the SPLC expanded beyond race to > other cultural issues like sexuality and immigration, it has also shifted > attention toward what it calls the “radical right,” drawing allegations of > bias from many conservatives and some on the left as well. > > D. James Kennedy Ministries—formerly called Truth in Action—claims that the > SPLC falsely labeled it as a hate group with the intention to hurt its > reputation and fundraising efforts, according to a 39-page lawsuit filed in > federal district court in Alabama (where the SPLC is headquartered). > > The suit alleges that the ministry’s inclusion on the list of hate groups > amounts to defamation—spreading false, harmful information—as well as a > trademark violation, misrepresenting the ministry in order to drum up > fundraising support. Wednesday’s filing made the same claims against the > charity-research site GuideStar for promoting the SPLC designation, seeking > an injunction against further use of the “hate group” label and damages from > both organizations. > > > > Wanting to call out “hateful rhetoric” during a “highly politicized moment,” > GuideStar recently added the SPLC designations onto its profile > pages—including for Christian nonprofits who stand for traditional marriage > like the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Liberty Counsel, the Family > Research Council (FRC), and the American Family Association—then removed the > hate labels after backlash in June. The controversy made many of these > groups, their leaders, and their supporters even more upset over the > prominence of the SPLC’s categorizations. > > Over the past week, several Christian groups on the list demanded apologies > and retractions for being labeled hate groups in the Charlottesville > coverage, including by CNN. ADF took particular offense since the news > overlapped with the fifth anniversary of an attempted shooting at the FRC’s > Washington office by a suspect who used the SPLC hate group list to target > them. > > The FRC applauded the suit, saying “The SPLC is inciting hatred against > Christians, which has already led to violence. It needs to stop.” > > CNN later corrected the hate map it ran online, correcting the headline to > “more closely align with the content of the piece” as being the SPLC’s > assessment and not CNN’s own. It also removed the full list of group names, > and stated “context has been added regarding some groups who oppose their > inclusion on the SPLC list.” > > In its lawsuit, D. James Kennedy Ministries also alleges religious > discrimination by Amazon’s charity partner program AmazonSmile, which makes a > small donation to shoppers’ designated nonprofits. Since AmazonSmile uses the > SPLC as one way to determine organizations’ eligibility, and the SPLC based > its “anti-LGBT” designation on the ministry’s Christian convictions, the suit > claims that D. James Kennedy Ministries was wrongly excluded from the program > and possible donations due to its religious beliefs. > > Part of their defense against calling opposition to same-sex marriage hateful > comes from the US Supreme Court decision that made it legal. “Many who deem > same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and > honorable religious or philosophical premises,” the court wrote, “and neither > they nor their beliefs are disparaged here.” (The Evangelical Council for > Financial Accountability quoted the same line in its response to GuideStar’s > use of the hate group label for certain Christian organizations.) > > The ministry is being represented by one of its board members, David C. Gibbs > III, who was the lead attorney in the Terri Schiavo case and works with the > Christian legal group National Center for Life and Liberty. > > Wright said his ministry has been preparing its suit for months, but moved it > up after Charlottesville drew so much attention to the SPLC list. One older > donor even called his office last week to ask, “Since when is D. James > Kennedy Ministries a hate group?” > > The organization took out a full-page ad in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to > dispel the characterization, running an open letter under the headline: “D. > James Kennedy Ministries Is Not A Hate Group.” > > “We do not hate anyone,” Wright wrote. “We have been falsely branded by the > SPLC for nothing more than subscribing to the teachings of the historic > Christian faith. We are a nonprofit ministry whose deeply held Christian > convictions energize our mission to faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus > Christ.” > > D. James Kennedy Ministries released a documentary last month focused on the > SPLC’s work to “demonize” conservative and Christian groups, and offers > donors a pamphlet entitled “The Southern Poverty Law Center: Exposed.” > > Christian ministries and legal organizations on the SPLC hate map include: > > Abiding Truth Ministries > Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) > American Family Association > American Vision > Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM) > Citizens for Community Values > D. James Kennedy Ministries > Family Research Council (FRC) > Family Research Institute > Illinois Family Institute > Liberty Counsel > Mission: America > Pacific Justice Institute > Pass the Salt Ministries > Pray in Jesus Name Project > Ruth Institute > Save California > Traditional Values Coalition > World Congress of Families > Maajid Nawaz, a British critic of Islamist extremism, also threatened to sue > SPLC in June over his inclusion on a list of anti-Muslim extremists, and > political commentator Bill Maher offered his support. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who > also appears on the same list, wrote forThe New York Times that “Taking a > stand against the neo-Nazi display we saw in Charlottesville is an impulse > that should be cheered,” but Americans “need to find more trustworthy and > deserving partners to work with than the SPLC.” > > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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