Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
General Christian
History and Religion
The SPLC Indictment and the “Christian Nationalist” Label

The SPLC Indictment and the “Christian Nationalist” Label

Last updated on: August 14, 2026 at 9:54 am by Al Baker

0 Comments

The SPLC Indictment and the “Christian Nationalist” Label 2026-08-14T09:54:45-05:00 Al Baker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Christian Nationalism and The Southern Poverty Law Center

Christian Nationalism and the Murky Waters of The Southern Poverty Law Center: The Artificial Category Used to Condemn MAGA and the Hypocrisy of the SPLC

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been indicted for using “donor contributions to infiltrate [and pay] right-wing extremist groups,” including some who were involved in the 2017 Charlottesville episode. – Wall Street Journal

SPLC “revenue reportedly surged from $51M to $133M in the year following the 2017 Charlottesville rally.” The SPLC claims that the FBI was aware of this murky arrangement, but in the details we find out that at least one such informant was paid over $250k in just over two years. SPLC hypocrisy used donor money to support the extreme right wing…”may have played a role in amplifying or facilitating extremist activity,” and that investment paid dividends. – Fox News

What did the SPLC pay these people to do? Organize and encourage extreme right-wing activity. Why would the FBI allow a non-profit to continue doing the work of the FBI?

Does anyone think the SPLC might be pro-Trump? What about the FBI under St. James Comey and Chris Wray? This appears to be more subterfuge by both of these entities. Wray testified before Congress that “…the domestic terrorism bucket, the category as a whole, racially motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larger group.” – The Hill (09/17/20)

WASHINGTON (October 31, 2023) Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, testifies before the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in Washington, DC. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)

FBI Director Wray gave this testimony, probably knowing full well that he was giving shade to a “violent” group that the SPLC (and the FBI) were supporting!

This action by the SPLC and the FBI works hand-in-glove with using Christian Nationalism as a cudgel against Trump and MAGA. Just like Leftists who suffer from TDS and Christians who condemn fellow believers because they support Pres. Trump…The SPLC Fails to Recognize their Hypocrisy!

In 2012 a mentally ill man entered the lobby of the Family Research Council (FRC) in Washington DC. He fired three or four rounds from a weapon attempting to kill as many people as possible.
“Asked by an FBI agent how he came to single out the FRC, [the shooter] replied:
“Southern Poverty Law lists [FRC as an] anti-gay” group.
AND now it is reported that the SPLC has labeled PragerU as somehow a dangerous far-right group! Because of this label (the cudgel) PragerU has been deplatformed in several ways!

Wow. I just found this article by Alliance Defending Freedom:

The problem is that the SPLC wields the “hate group” label as a cudgel to beat its political and ideological opponents. Alliance Defending Freedom

Alliance Defending Freedom logo.

“For years, the SPLC has spent its time attacking political opponents, falsely accusing them of bigotry in an attempt to silence them.” [SPLC] accuses those who do not subscribe to its more liberal views of engaging in hate…”And now, as a federal grand jury has indicted, donations to the SPLC meant to combat hate groups like the KKK may have ended up funding them instead.” (ADF website), emphasis added.

Interesting Side Note

“In addition, Heidi Beirich, former director of SPLC, has been arrested for allegedly funneling donor money to a paid informant inside a neo-Nazi group with whom she was having a secret romantic relationship.” CBS News. (You can’t make this stuff up)

As I said in my opening article, I had not really heard the term Christian Nationalist used until around the start of 2026. I had a hunch that this term was being used as a cudgel to beat Trump and MAGA supporters. My audit of academic studies, the “progressive” ideology of many “research” organizations, and now the news on SPLC seems to bolster my hunch about the term “Christian Nationalism.” This term has been used for the last 10 years to attack Trump and MAGA supporters.

In my prior article “Political Tool And Biased Reporting,” I presented evidence that these “research” organizations are biased. Now we see the Southern Poverty Law Center is not only biased, but also engages in murky, hypocritical operations apparently as an extension of the FBI.

Evidence from Surveys
This is a quick review of the data I presented from these surveys in my article, There Is No Clear Definition For “Christian Nationalism”.

A recent Pew Research survey shows that 60% of adults say the founders of the USA intended for America to be a Christian nation.
How many Christians think the USA should be a Christian nation?

81% of white evangelical Protestants.
That seems to point to the idea that CN leans on white supremacy!
Not so Fast.
65% of black Protestants agree with this view…
36% of Hispanic Catholics also share this view.

More amazing to me is that 44% of non-Christian adults agreed that the founders intended for the USA to be a Christian nation. (Pew study, p.44)

This is how the Pew Study opens:

Americans’ views of what it means to be a Christian nation are wide-ranging and often ambiguous.

This is why I asked my “friend” to define CN after he accused me of using this label.
Barna Research gave similar findings.

THIS is what led me to research this topic. I am tired of the “Christian Nationalist” accusation…especially when the accusation is based on supporting President Trump. They assume their definition to be accurate – that is ridiculous. The definition of Christian Nationalism is all over the map.

And NOW we see that the SPLC was encouraging and even financially contributing to extreme right-wing groups – which helped the SPLC raise money! That should cause some on the Left to rethink what “Christian Nationalism” means, AND they should rethink Charlottesville 2017. It sometimes feels like we are watching The Truman Show (the 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey).

General Christian

Catholic

Politics and Religion

Christian Nationalism

Southern Poverty Law Center

SPLC

Previous Post

April 6, 2026

Christian Nationalism: Political Tool And Biased Reporting