{"id":9122,"date":"2025-06-09T22:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T22:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=9122"},"modified":"2025-06-09T22:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T22:54:08","slug":"this-isnt-hate-its-the-love-of-christ-focus-on-the-family-wont-stand-for-hate-group-label","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2025\/06\/this-isnt-hate-its-the-love-of-christ-focus-on-the-family-wont-stand-for-hate-group-label.html","title":{"rendered":"‘This isn\u2019t hate, it\u2019s the love of Christ.’ Focus on the Family Won\u2019t Stand For ‘hate group’ Label"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Focus on the Family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Focus on the Family\u2019s president Jim Daly is holding back no punches after the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently added the ministry to its \u201chate group\u201d list. \u201cSouthern Poverty Law Center made the decision in some kind of criteria that they, and only they know, and that is to put us on the hate list. I think, again, it exemplifies what’s wrong with the culture right now\u2014that we can’t have differing opinions on things,\u201d he told Fox News<\/em>. Daly stated that the ministry\u2019s support for traditional marriage between one man and on woman has earned the ire of the SPLC. He said despite the culture\u2019s growing acceptance of gay marriage, the ministry would not change its stance. \u201cFor us, we can’t relent on changing what we believed to be scriptural truth for the current place of where the culture is at,\u201d he said. \u201cFor some reason that then deems us as a hate group. It\u2019s very discouraging really, because I think the SPLC started in a good place\u2026 but they have turned that muscle now on the Christian community.”<\/p>\n

Being added to the SPLC\u2019s list can have serious consequences, with Daly stating the ministry has already experienced protests since being added to the list. \u201cWe had protesters harassing our employees coming into the door here\u2026 so we had to get and pay for extra police presence on our campus. It raises danger for everybody,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s their motivation, but it is a consequence.” He shared the organization\u2019s many contributions to the community, including offering marriage resources to hundreds of thousands of people. \u201cThis is not hate. This is the love of Christ trying to show people God’s design for marriage and parenting and people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In an op-ed for Town Hall<\/em><\/a>, Tom Tradup, VP\/News & Talk Programming at Salem Radio Network called the SPLC \u201ca far left and anti-Christian website whose sole purpose apparently is to attack pro-family groups which espouse traditional American values.\u201d Tradup noted that Focus has avoided any large scandals within its ministry during the 20 years it has been led by Daly, whereas the SPLC\u2019s founder, Morris Dees, who was fired for \u201cmisconduct.\u201d Gary Schneeberger, an assistant to Daly, stated in an interview with Salem that he was surprised it took so long to get on the list. \u201cWe\u2019ve been sort of hate-adjacent on their list for years\u2026they said some things about us that weren\u2019t positive but until now we\u2019ve never made the list,\u201d he said. \u201cSome people in our organization started laughing when they heard this. We\u2019ve been on the same mission for nearly 50 years and they\u2019re just now seeing who we are?\u201d After reviewing the SPLC\u2019s reason for adding Focus on the list, Schneeberger said the SPLC\u2019s issue seems to be simply that Focus believes in the Bible. \u201cAnd it is not hateful to push back on anything in the area of public policy,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially when some group challenges Biblical truth and holy conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Focus on the Family\u2019s president Jim Daly is holding back no punches after the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently added the ministry to its \u201chate group\u201d list. \u201cSouthern Poverty Law Center made the decision in some kind of criteria that they, and only they know, and that is to put us on the hate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":9125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n'This isn\u2019t hate, it\u2019s the love of Christ.' 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