What do the Spokane Singing Nuns, the American Family Association, Dr. James Dobson’s Family Research Institute, and The Political Cesspool Radio Program have in common?
We’re all listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s map of “hate groups.”
Mount St. Michael, home to a Latin Rite or Tridentine Catholic church, school and convent north of Spokane, has been listed since 2006 by the law center as a radical traditional Catholic group and accused of anti-Semitic activities.
Last week, the law center released the annual update of its “hate map” of groups around the country, which includes an interactive, easy-to-use online graphic. Mount St. Michael is one of 16 organizations mapped for Washington, sharing the state listing with a potpourri of neo-Nazi, Klan, Christian Identity, black separatist, white nationalist and racist skinhead groups.
The Alabama-based watchdog organization defends the St. Michael listing, but it surprised one of its local allies and prompted one longtime critic to say the center was showing its political bias.
The Rev. Casimir Puskorius, pastor of Mount St. Michael, calls the listing “very unfair” and contends it’s a result of a liberal organization taking issue with the teachings of a conservative Christian group.
(Snip)
It’s the Mount St. Michael sisters who perform the Singing Nuns concerts around Christmas and the Fourth of July.
Carol Swain, a professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University and critic of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Mount St. Michael appears to be tarred by a liberal organization for holding conservative religious beliefs. Swain has previously defended conservative groups and individuals, such as Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs, who came under fire by the law center. She contends the law center is so narrow-minded that it is a hate group. Swain, an African-American who once recommended a documentary the center considers racist, has been labeled an apologist for white supremacists by the law center.
“I’ve never heard of anyone getting off their list,” Swain said. She thinks a conservative group should take being listed by the law center as “a badge of honor.”
It should be noted that Carol Swain recently contacted me to be on her television show, but I had to reluctantly decline due to scheduling conflicts.
TPC has been an proud member of the “hate map” since 2006. Click here to read the SPLC’s magnum opus about our award-winning radio program. (I think I enjoy that article a little bit more each time I read it. It has aged well!)
If that wasn’t enough, here’s some more fun stuff from the SPLC.
On behalf of our hosting staff I’d like to say that we’re honored to share a listing with the Singing Nuns of Spokane!
Hate group: St. Michael’s Singing Nuns (No word yet from the SPLC as to whether or not the dog in the photo is also an officially certified hater.)
HT: CofCC
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