Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is regarded by many journalists as the gold standard for information on hate groups. But its record is dotted with bias.
SPLC issued a statement on April 3 about a federal court judge’s decision against Matt Hale, an imprisoned neo-Nazi who sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons for violating his religious rights; he belongs to a “religion” called Creativity Movement. The quotes are used to indicate that it isn’t a religion at all. Indeed the judge thoroughly debunked the claim that it is.
SPLC cited Hale’s hatred of Jews and African Americans but made no mention of his history of anti-Catholicism. Nor did it mention the virulent anti-Catholicism of Hale’s predecessor, Ben Klassen.
When SPLC whitewashes the anti-Christian bigotry of Klassen and Hale the implication is that the victimizers are Christians. After all, if 70 percent-75 percent of Americans are Christians, who would the offenders be?
