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What to do about JP Morgan’s funding of the Southern Poverty Law Center?

25 Aug 2017

The broader Christian community continues to struggle with how to engage the culture in the ongoing sexual revolution–how do we hate the sin and love the sinner?  There seems to be a consensus that what was done in the past was at a minimum strategically ineffective, and that a new path forward must be forged.  But what that specifically looks like is difficult to identify at the social level. Yes, as individuals we are more likely to be able to enter into dialogue with those of opposite views, but our public activities generate the very animosity that precludes individual discussion–hence the dilemma.  Yet the sexual revolution and pressure from the secular progressive left only grows stronger, seemingly strengthened by the lack of moral opposition.  Our inability to “figure it out” has created a moral vacuum that the progressive left is only too willing to fill.

One manifestation of this is JP Morgan’s decision to continue funding “anti-hate” groups in response to the Charlottesville incident, which announced Monday that they were going to fund “anti-hate” groups:

“The events in Charlottesville have increased the urgency to confront hate, intolerance and discrimination wherever it exists,” Peter Scher, head of corporate responsibility at J.P. Morgan, wrote in a memo to employees, according to CNN Money.  The U.S.’s biggest bank said that the donation will be split equally between the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and is part of efforts to address “deep divisions” in the nation. In addition, the bank will contribute up to $1 million more by matching employee donations, according to Reuters.

Yet it is likely that this donation will only increase the divisions in our country–certainly divisions between conservative Christians and the secular progressive left.  The Southern Poverty Law Center has long since ceased being an advocate for justice, and has simply become a shill moral veneer for the secular progressive left.  Their primary output is the Hate Group map; a cursory view of their map shows any number of racist groups and then, the Christians.  Yes, if you believe in orthodox Christian teaching on sexuality, and what has been accepted by all cultures for millennia as the cultural norm, you are a “hater.”  This map has consequences, as the Family Research Council had a gunman open fire in their DC headquarters based on a leftist finding them on SPLC’s list.  Fortunately the gunman was not able to kill anyone.

So what should we do?  JP Morgan and others that fund these groups are responding to the political pressures and incentives they face. Perhaps they need to face consequences from conservatives? If I had a bank account at JP Morgan, I’d consider closing it with a letter explaining why.  Probably ineffective, but it is certain that silence will only beget more of the same.  What do you think we should do?