A week, ago Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), appeared on Face the Nation to discuss the Supreme Court’s consideration of same-sex marriage.
Host Bob Schieffer introduced Perkins as heading an organization listed as a hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and that CBS had been inundated with people urging CBS not to allow Perkins to appear on the show. The SPLC’s listing of FRC as a “hate group” inspired Floyd Corkins II to attempt to gun down Perkins and his employees.
Perkins ignored the attack and made his case that the Court should stand aside and let the people decide the definition of marriage. But the controversy continued this week as Perkins’s allies demanded an apology for what they see as a gratuitous attack on Perkins by Schieffer, using politically charged accusations leveled by a partisan left-wing opponent.
The Conservative Action Project sent a letter to David Rhodes, president of CBS News demanding an apology. Signed by a who’s who of influential conservatives, including Ed Meese, Brent Bozell, Gary Bauer, Penny Nance, David Bossie and 52 others, the letter said, “The interview was more than sloppy journalism. It was an assault against Judeo-Christian people of faith.”
“To suggest, as Schieffer did, that FRC doesn’t represent Christians flies in the face of reality. The millions of Americans that we, the undersigned, collectively represent are proof of that.”
The letter strongly rebuked CBS for using the “discredited” Southern Poverty Law Center as a source. “For CBS News and Schieffer to cite this radical group to smear the FRC is outrageous given that an SPLC supporter shot and wounded a security guard inside the FRC’s headquarters in 2012.”
The letter pointed out that even the FBI removed SPLC from its “hate crimes resources page and the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army have distanced themselves from the SPLC’s materials.”
The letter was delivered prior to the show this past Sunday in hopes Schieffer would apologize. He didn’t.
In response, Brent Bozell told Breitbart News, “How hard is it to apologize, especially if his anti- Christian slur was accidental? Unless, of course, it was intentional. What else should we conclude?”
Evangelical rock-star Franklin Graham took to Facebook to defend Perkins and FRC, “I know Tony. He’s a great American and a strong Christian. Just because Christians take a stand aligned with what the Word of God says is true, that doesn’t mean we are anti-gay. It means that we love people enough to warn them. God tells us in His Word that lying is sin, stealing is sin, murder is sin, adultery is sin, homosexuality is sin…and ‘the wages of sin is death’.”
Perkins said, “I’m thankful for Franklin’s friendship and support, but even more appreciative of his unwavering stand for biblical truth. This is not about defending our opinions or our views, its about agreeing with God’s stated truth.”
Follow Austin Ruse on Twitter: @austinruse
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