NOM exploiting FRC shooting to raise money, AFA forgets Bryan Fischer

It is extremely telling how religious right groups are exploiting last week's shooting at the Family Research Council in order to either raise money or paint a false image of piety for itself.

According to Think Progress, the National Organization for Marriage used the shooting to fundraise:

We must fight back and condemn violence against anyone. It has no place in civil society.

But we must also fight back against the violent and hateful tactics of intimidation being pursued every day by gay “marriage” thugs and activists. They will do whatever it takes to intimidate Christians and marriage supporters including harassing people at home and work.

The National Organization for Marriage is fighting back to defend marriage from gay activist bullies but I need your immediate contribution of $50, $100, or as much as you can give right now to fight back. [...]

P.S. We’re not going to allow gay activists to get away with attempted murder. And we’re not going to shut up so they can go about the business of redefining marriage. We’re going to fight, and we’re going to win. But we can only do this if you stand with us today. That’s why we need your immediate contribution of $50, $100, or as much as you can give right now to fight back for marriage.

I bet none of the money raised will go to the security guard wounded in the shooting.

Meanwhile, the American Family Association is exploiting the shooting to claim that the Southern Poverty Law Center caused it by supposedly "unfairly" branding the organization as a hate group.


This came in an email:

Last week's shooter, who was a homosexual activist who volunteered at a D.C. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community center, took the argument to a whole new and ugly level.

Disagreement is not hatred. We don't hate anyone. In fact, we love homosexuals enough to tell them the truth about the risks involved in their lifestyle choices. But for those who hate the truth, the truth will seem to be hate.

We acknowledge the many homosexual activist groups who issued a statement condemning last week's violence, and we commend them for doing so.

However, the Southern Poverty Law Center must be called to account. The SPLC argues incessantly that the use of inflammatory and incendiary language when talking about homosexuality promotes violence, and is quick to blame FRC and other organizations such as AFA for every act of violence they possibly can.

Yet the SPLC has consistently used dangerously misguided language in classifying the Family Research Council- with absolutely no foundation- as a "hate" group. They have repeatedly and without cause demonized FRC, and have spent years stirring up anger in the homosexual community and directing that anger toward an organization whose only crime is to promote and defend the classic American values of faith, family and freedom.

Thus according to SPLC's own standards, it is the SPLC that is to blame for last week's shooting.

We at AFA are blaming the shooter. He must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for endangering the lives of so many innocent Americans. The AP is reporting that he had a box of ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his backpack, raising the possibility that he intended to leave a Chick-fil-A calling card with each of his victims.

But the SPLC, by their own hateful and malicious rhetoric against FRC and AFA, has essentially claimed responsibility for this shooting, and they too should be held to account in the court of public opinion.

I found it ironic that AFA conveniently omitted the main reason why it was branded a hate group by SPLC. In its whiny letter, AFA failed to mention Bryan Fischer, the controversial spokesman whose vicious comments partly led the group to receive the designation:



And of course in its "in-depth" report on SPLC, AFA also failed to mention Fischer. I left a comment pointing this out, but it was deleted.