Charity ratings website removes 46 conservative organizations from 'hate group' listing following outcry

GuideStar USA, one of the leading charity research website in the U.S., has announced that it will remove 46 conservative nonprofit organizations from its list of "hate groups" following an outcry from conservative leaders.

A letter signed by 41 conservative leaders was recently sent to GuideStar president Jacob Harold, expressing their concern about the "hate group" labels on the profiles of 46 different organizations on the charity research website.

The "hate group" label was based on the designations issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to conservative organizations that have been known to oppose same-sex marriage, abortion, immigration or radical Islam.

"In the weeks and months since, we have heard from both supporters and critics of this decision, many of whom have presented reasonable disagreements with the way in which this information was presented," a statement from GuideStar read, as reported by The Christian Post.

The statement contended that GuideStar is "driven by both our commitment to objectivity and our concerns for our staff's wellbeing" to remove the SPLC annotations from the conservative nonprofits.

"We acknowledge there is a deep, nuanced conversation to be had with Americans of all political, cultural, and religious backgrounds regarding how we address — and identify — hate groups," it added.

Among the organizations listed as hate groups are the Family Research Council (FRC), the Center for Security Policy, the Liberty Counsel, the American College of Pediatricians, the American Freedom Defense Initiative and the Alliance Defending Freedom.

FRC Executive Vice President Jerry Boykin said that he believed that GuideStar's decision to use the hate group designations issued by the SPLC was "another attack on conservative Christian organizations and individuals."

In the letter to Harold, the 41 conservative leaders noted that SPLC gained credibility by attacking violent groups such as neo-Nazis, skinheads and the Ku Klux Klan, but the organization is now trying to apply the same tactics into mainstream political discourse, including debates about immigration and sexual identity.

The conservative leaders also pointed out that SPLC's hate group list does not include Islamist organizations and mosques that incite anti-Semitism and actual violence.

The letter to the GuideStar president further noted that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was recently shot by a gunman during baseball practice, was also listed on SPLC's website. The suspect, identified as James Hodgkinson, had apparently "liked" the SPLC page on Facebook.

The SPLC issued a statement renouncing Hodgkinson's actions, adding that the gunman was also a member of several anti-Republican groups like "Terminate the Republican Party."