Federal Grand Jury Charges Southern Poverty Law Center with Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering

Current Events,

Last week, a federal Grand Jury in Alabama charged the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

The SPLC has spent decades opposing white supremacy while also branding Christian organizations like Family Research Council and Focus on the Family as “hate groups” on par with Neo-Nazis and the KKK.

The group has also urged financial institutions to de-bank conservative organizations.

But last week an indictment from a federal Grand Jury said the SPLC has secretly funneled more than $3 million to a covert network of informants affiliated with groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

According to the indictment, the SPLC laundered donations through shell companies to people in the very groups the SPLC claimed it was working to dismantle.

The indictment says one SPLC contact from the National Alliance was paid more than $1,000,000 between 2014 and 2023. According to the indictment, the informant helped fundraise for the National Alliance while also providing the SPLC with stolen documents.

The indictment says the SPLC paid another informant $270,000 while helping plan and coordinate transportation to the 2017 “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Other informants were listed on the SPLC’s own “Extremist File” fundraising webpage at the same time the SPLC was secretly paying them.

The indictment says the SPLC also used these informants to indirectly funnel money to other violent extremist group leaders.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it plainly: “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”

What the SPLC did isn’t just hypocritical. According to federal prosecutors, it’s fraud.

Arkansas families and churches should pay attention. The SPLC’s “hate group” list has been used to pressure banks, employers, and government agencies to treat Christians and conservatives like dangerous extremists. This indictment should make it clear that the SPLC’s “hate group” list isn’t trustworthy.

Family Council plans to continue monitoring this case as it moves forward.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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From Capitol Gains to Cannabis Pains: The Week in Review

Current Events,
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Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

🍎 Arkansas’ Educational Freedom Account Rules (What Happened and What Comes Next): Over the past several months, Arkansas homeschool families have raised serious concerns about new rules affecting homeschoolers participating in the state’s Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program. Here is a brief recap of how we got to where we are today and where things may go from here. Keep Reading.

🏛️ Bad Homeschool Measure Fails in Arkansas Senate: On Tuesday, the second of two bad homeschool Educational Freedom Account measures at the Arkansas Capitol failed. Keep Reading.

🚨 Arkansas Authorities Continue Seizing THC Products from Out of State: On April 4, a State Trooper discovered approximately 650 pounds of mushroom‑based edible gummies and 718 pounds of THC‑infused gummies during a traffic stop on I-40 in Crawford County. The driver told investigators he was traveling from California to Georgia. Keep Reading.

🚔 CA Authorities Seize 20K+ Illegal Marijuana Plants in Raids: Nationwide, states like California and Colorado have legalized marijuana believing it would help stop illegal drug trafficking, and marijuana’s supporters often claim their laws contain safeguards and oversight to stop criminals. But legalization has actually emboldened drug cartels and spread illegal marijuana on the black market. Keep Reading.

❗ DOJ Report Confirms Biden Administration Weaponized Federal Law Against Pro-Lifers: The U.S. Department of Justice released a report last week confirming what many pro-life Americans have suspected for years: the Biden Administration used the power of the federal government to target and punish people for their pro-life beliefs. Keep Reading.

💰 Louisville Pays $800K After Trying to Silence Christian Photographer: Last month a Kentucky city learned a costly lesson about the First Amendment. Keep Reading.

➡ Kansas Legislature Stands Up for Free Speech, Life, and Families with Laws Similar to Arkansas’: The Kansas Legislature made headlines recently by overriding Governor Laura Kelly’s vetoes of several important bills — such as bills protecting free speech on college campuses, defunding Planned Parenthood, strengthening women’s informed consent laws, and expanding education freedom for families. All of these measures are similar to good laws Arkansas has enacted over the years. Keep Reading.

⛪ New Poll Shows Young Men Are Growing More Religious: Gallup’s latest polling data shows 42% of men aged 18 to 29 say religion is very important to them — up sharply from just 28% in 2022-2023. Gallup draws the odd conclusion from this that “political dynamics may be playing a role in religious changes,” but that may not necessarily be what’s driving these numbers. Keep Reading

From Our Friends

DOJ Indicts SPLC for Fraud — Used Donor Money to Fund Racist Groups. From Daily Citizen.

Senator Tells HHS Secretary Kennedy to Stop Mail-Order Abortions. From LifeNews.

Washington State Receives Strong Warning that Forcing Foster Parents to Promote Gender Ideology is Unconstitutional. From ADF.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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New Poll Shows Young Men Are Growing More Religious

Christianity, Church Ambassador Network,

A new survey shows young men in America are becoming more religious and are now more likely than young women to say religion is “very important” in their lives.

Gallup’s latest polling data shows 42% of men aged 18 to 29 say religion is very important to them — up sharply from just 28% in 2022-2023. Young women held steady at around 29-30% during the same timeframe.

Young men also now match young women in church attendance, with 40% of young men reporting they attend services at least monthly.

Interestingly, Gallup’s data shows that the growth in church attendance is concentrated among Republicans.

Gallup writes,

Since 2022-2023, attendance has risen seven points among young Republican men, eight points among young Republican women and three points among young Democratic men. Only young Democratic women show little change.

Longer-term, however, attendance among young Republican men has been trending upward since 2018-2019, while young Democratic men’s attendance has generally declined. The recent increase in young Republican women’s attendance contrasts with no meaningful change among young Democratic women.

Gallup draws the odd conclusion from this that “political dynamics may be playing a role in religious changes among the nation’s young adults.” In other words, Gallup seems to suggest that becoming a “Republican” encourages people to go to church, but that’s probably not the case. Politics is downstream from culture, and people’s moral and religious convictions tend to guide their political opinions.

This is part of a broader trend we have been watching for a while now.

We have written before about the “quiet revival” taking place among young adults in America and abroad.

Bible sales have soared, young men and women are driving a resurgence in church attendance, and CBS News has reported on the large number of adults — particularly Gen Z — who have been baptized into the Christian faith in recent years.

It’s good to see more young men and women turning to Christ and engaging with church.

Of course, as we have said before, it isn’t enough simply to own a Bible or show up at church. The Bible is meant to be read, learned, and followed, and church congregations help believers live out their faith in daily life. Being part of a local community of believers is an important part of discipleship. Church isn’t optional for Christians. It’s essential.

These numbers are a reminder of why that matters — and an encouragement to keep investing in the next generation of believers.

Hopefully this “quiet revival” is one that will continue to spread.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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