On Aug. 15, 2012, a man armed with a 9mm pistol entered the Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C., intending to “kill as many people as possible.”
The shooter, animated by pro-LGBTQ beliefs, told building manager Leo Johnson, “I don’t like your politics” just before shooting him in the arm. Johnson heroically unarmed the attacker, who was then taken into custody and convicted of committing an act of terrorism.
In an FBI interrogation, the gunman confessed to relying on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) website, known for its “Hate Map,” labeling what they deem as hateful and extremist organizations throughout the U.S. These labels are known for targeting peaceful pro-family ministries.
Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council (FRC), told NRB he believes the SPLC has fueled a rise in violent rhetoric that, in turn, has intensified political violence nationwide.
“They have intensified it and normalized it, and all this is designed to marginalize and dehumanize and to essentially make people a target,” Perkins said.
America has moved through a year tainted by political violence, including multiple assassination attempts on the President, kidnapping plots against elected officials, the murder of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
The same rhetoric that turned organizations like the FRC into targets now permeates American political culture.
Data released by the Public Religion Research Institute in Jan. 2026 shows that 53% of Americans believe that harsh or violent language is a driver of violence, with that number increasing since PRRI began recording the data in 2019. The same survey found that younger generations were less likely than their older counterparts to reject violence as an answer to political threats, pointing to an acceptance of political violence in America.
Following the 2012 shooting, Perkins identified the SPLC’s “Hate Map” as “creating an environment” that permits violent responses to civil disagreement. The SPLC listed the FRC as a “hate group” in Nov. 2010.
“We knew that the targeting that the Southern Poverty Law Center had done — putting us on this interactive ‘Hate Map’ — had caused an increase in hateful rhetoric that was coming to us,” Perkins told NRB, “and then, of course, leading to the shooting. And it was proven to be true.”
The “Hate Map” conflates conservative organizations like FRC with terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan under the catch-all banner “extremist organizations.” The map covers issues ranging from Neo-Nazism to “Radically Traditional Catholicism.”
When rhetoric from groups like the SPLC equates Judeo-Christian values and extremist ideologies, it raises concerns about whether Christian organizations are fairly treated in the public square.
While the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech is crucial to democracy and the free exercise of religion, violent rhetoric can cross into unprotected territory. As NRB General Counsel Michael Farris explained in a recent press release, “Under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), speech loses constitutional protection when it encourages lawless action, is intended to produce such action, and is likely to result in imminent harm.”
Mark Potok, former spokesperson for the SPLC, made clear the violent intentions of the SPLC when he said in 2007 that “the press will describe us as ‘monitoring hate groups.’ … I want to say plainly that our aim in life is to destroy these groups, to completely destroy them.”
After Focus on the Family was added to the “Hate Map” in 2025, protesters came to harass the organization within 24 hours. Charlie Kirk was assassinated a year after SPLC added him to the “Hate Map.” Former House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot and injured in 2017 after the SPLC added his name to their “Hatewatch” list in 2014.
Now, the SPLC is under Department of Justice scrutiny for allegedly using donor money to fund violent extremist organizations that it claims to oppose.
“[The indictment] is just the tip of the iceberg,” Perkins said. He believes that the SPLC “needed these white supremacist groups that they were propping up and funding” as comparisons to make Christian groups look extreme.
After the shooting, the FRC appealed to the SPLC to take the FRC and other Christian organizations off their “Hate Map.” The SPLC refused.
“I think Christian organizations that have been harmed by SPLC should take whatever legal actions that they can,” Perkins said. “We cannot allow the message of the Gospel, biblical truth, to be silenced in our culture.”
The current indictment over fraud is one step toward exposing the hypocrisy of the SPLC.
“These charges confirm what NRB members have long experienced: the SPLC’s designations are not tools for justice, but weapons to silence biblical truth and undermine religious liberty,” said Troy A. Miller, NRB president & CEO, in a recent statement. “We demand accountability, and we will continue fighting to ensure faith-based voices are not censored or defamed by discredited actors.”