MONROE - A Monroe organization is among almost 900 in the United States identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Pilgrims Covenant Church was one of nine hate groups in Wisconsin in 2015, specifically for its anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) stance, the SPLC said in its spring publication.
The SPLC is "dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society," according to its website. To that end, the Montgomery, Alabama-based organization compiles an annual list of hate groups and extremists as a part of its Intelligence Project to make domestic hate group activity known to the general public.
SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok said the term "hate group" doesn't apply to groups opposed to homosexuality because of religious beliefs; rather, the term applies to groups actively spreading misinformation about a minority group in a harmful way.
"We don't list groups simply because they're opposed to same-sex marriage," Potok said. "We don't want to tell people what to believe. We don't profess to be theologians. We list anti-gay hate groups for the regular propagation of known falsehoods."
PCC is led by Ralph Ovadal of Monroe. Ovadal created Wisconsin Christians United in 1993, which was later absorbed as a ministry of PCC in 2005, according to the PCC website.
Potok said Ovadal and his followers actively seek to falsehoods which have been renounced a number of times by experts. Sermons denounce "Sodomites" for a propensity toward violence, and mark gay men as pedophiles, claiming that up to one-third of child molesters are homosexuals. Ovadal has also cited stories of the "pink swastika" which claim that Hitler, having trouble finding a proper number of heterosexual people to commit Nazi acts, recruited "evil Sodomites" to do his bidding instead.
"This was an absolutely simple group to list," Potok said. "It's perfectly clear they are a hate group. This was not a hard call to make."
Potok added that these "demonizing lies" subject gay people to violence, but pointed out there are other larger organizations throughout the country perpetuating more damage, such as the Family Research Council from Washington D.C. and Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.
Ovadal did not return several calls from The Monroe Times seeking comment on the designation of PCC as a domestic hate group.
His opinions are, however, readily available on the PCC website. In his sermon, "The Truth about Homosexuality," for example, Ovadal calls on followers to refuse any tolerance in the name of equality as other churches have started to shift toward acceptance of gay people.
Ovadal has written on the subject as well. In 1998, he published a book titled "Answering Sodom," which can still be found among the shelves of the Monroe Public Library. He quotes the novel on the PCC website page denouncing homosexuality.
"I have seen the rage that a simple gospel message of repentance and rebirth can kindle in the hard-core Sodomite's heart," Ovadal wrote. "My testimony to those with ears to hear is that a fascist heart beats in the bosom of America's very dangerous homosexual movement. Yet this is no excuse to draw back or to mute the gospel in the face of the "gay' brown shirts. Quite the opposite."
Pilgrims Covenant Church was one of nine hate groups in Wisconsin in 2015, specifically for its anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) stance, the SPLC said in its spring publication.
The SPLC is "dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society," according to its website. To that end, the Montgomery, Alabama-based organization compiles an annual list of hate groups and extremists as a part of its Intelligence Project to make domestic hate group activity known to the general public.
SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok said the term "hate group" doesn't apply to groups opposed to homosexuality because of religious beliefs; rather, the term applies to groups actively spreading misinformation about a minority group in a harmful way.
"We don't list groups simply because they're opposed to same-sex marriage," Potok said. "We don't want to tell people what to believe. We don't profess to be theologians. We list anti-gay hate groups for the regular propagation of known falsehoods."
PCC is led by Ralph Ovadal of Monroe. Ovadal created Wisconsin Christians United in 1993, which was later absorbed as a ministry of PCC in 2005, according to the PCC website.
Potok said Ovadal and his followers actively seek to falsehoods which have been renounced a number of times by experts. Sermons denounce "Sodomites" for a propensity toward violence, and mark gay men as pedophiles, claiming that up to one-third of child molesters are homosexuals. Ovadal has also cited stories of the "pink swastika" which claim that Hitler, having trouble finding a proper number of heterosexual people to commit Nazi acts, recruited "evil Sodomites" to do his bidding instead.
"This was an absolutely simple group to list," Potok said. "It's perfectly clear they are a hate group. This was not a hard call to make."
Potok added that these "demonizing lies" subject gay people to violence, but pointed out there are other larger organizations throughout the country perpetuating more damage, such as the Family Research Council from Washington D.C. and Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.
Ovadal did not return several calls from The Monroe Times seeking comment on the designation of PCC as a domestic hate group.
His opinions are, however, readily available on the PCC website. In his sermon, "The Truth about Homosexuality," for example, Ovadal calls on followers to refuse any tolerance in the name of equality as other churches have started to shift toward acceptance of gay people.
Ovadal has written on the subject as well. In 1998, he published a book titled "Answering Sodom," which can still be found among the shelves of the Monroe Public Library. He quotes the novel on the PCC website page denouncing homosexuality.
"I have seen the rage that a simple gospel message of repentance and rebirth can kindle in the hard-core Sodomite's heart," Ovadal wrote. "My testimony to those with ears to hear is that a fascist heart beats in the bosom of America's very dangerous homosexual movement. Yet this is no excuse to draw back or to mute the gospel in the face of the "gay' brown shirts. Quite the opposite."