02-14-2019 05:19:47 PM -0800
02-14-2019 04:32:01 PM -0800
02-14-2019 11:44:52 AM -0800
02-14-2019 08:02:54 AM -0800
02-13-2019 08:55:56 AM -0800
It looks like you've previously blocked notifications. If you'd like to receive them, please update your browser permissions.
Desktop Notifications are  | 
Get instant alerts on your desktop.
Turn on desktop notifications?
Remind me later.
PJ Media encourages you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY.
X


Muslim Reformer Joins Christians in Suing Far-Left Terror-Linked Organization for 'Hate' Defamation

Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz making air quotes.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has long listed Christian organizations and activists for reform in the Muslim world along with racists like the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC's "hate group" lists and "hate map" have unfairly targeted mainstream conservatives, and even some liberals. Now, some of the groups slandered by this organization have begun to fight back — and it's not just Christian groups like D. James Kennedy Ministries and Liberty Counsel.

"The SPLC, who made their money suing the KKK, were set up to defend people like me, but now they've become the monster that they claimed they wanted to defeat," Maajid Nawaz, a British politician and founder of the anti-Islamist organization the Quilliam foundation, declared in a video announcing his lawsuit against the SPLC for defamation.

"They have named me, alongside Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on a list of 'Anti-Muslim Extremists,'" Nawaz said. "I am suing the SPLC for defamation and I need your help to win."

The Quilliam founder announced his lawsuit in late July. He admitted that "suing the SPLC will be very expensive," adding, "I can't fund it on my own." Therefore, he launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to carry out the lawsuit.

Following the white nationalist riots in Charlottesville, the SPLC — which already had a massive fundraising operation — picked up more supporters and publicity. George Clooney and his wife Amal pledged $1 million to the group, as did the company J.P. Morgan.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was even more generous. Cook announced his company would give $1 million to the SPLC, that it would match any donations from employees at a two-to-one rate by September 30, and that Apple would set up a system in iTunes software to let consumers directly donate to the organization.

In June, the charity navigation website GuideStar adopted the SPLC "hate group" list, marking each profile of the targeted organizations as a "hate group." ABC and NBC  parroted the SPLC's "hate group" label against Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) last month, and CNN published the group's "hate map" online.

But the SPLC does not deserve this widespread trust, support, and publicity. The organization is a "cash-collecting machine" that spreads libels against religious organizations and has been connected to two domestic terror attacks.