A leftist group from the United Kingdom claims that technology giant Amazon is not excluding enough Christian organizations from its platforms. British organization openDemocracy attacked the Jeff Bezos-owned firm for allowing Christian nonprofits to use its AmazonSmile charity donation program. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), American Center for Law and Justice and Human Life International are some Christian organizations using the Amazon platform to collect donations.
According to a Dec. 22 report by openDemocracy, "dozens of US-based anti-LGBT groups are fundraising on Amazon's online donations platform – despite the company's policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation." While acknowledging Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' support for the LGBT community, human rights activists said the company should kick out Christian organizations from its platform at the soonest.
LGBT advocacy group ILGA-Europe Executive Director Evelyne Paradis said: "Companies, if they really walk the talk, shouldn't be giving their platform to organizations that working to limit the rights of other people. [Amazon] shouldn't be giving space to any organization … actively fueling hatred and/or working against the rights of other people."
According to the AmazonSmile Participation Agreement, organizations promoting "intolerance, discrimination or discriminatory practices based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age" are not allowed on the platform. However, the "more than 40" groups openDemocracy accuses have stood against homosexuality and same-sex marriage – which are in line with mainstream Christian beliefs.
In addition, the leftist organization pointed out that two organizations on AmazonSmile were tagged as hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) branded Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Family Research Council (FRC) as hate groups for their Christian advocacies. AmazonSmile eventually removed the FRC and ADF from the platform following the SPLC designation. (Related: Revealed: Amazon partners with far-left hate group Southern Poverty Law Center.)
openDemocracy is pressuring Amazon to de-platform Christian groups for following the Bible's teachings
openDemocracy presented Amazon with a dossier on the anti-LGBT activities of the groups it flagged on the company's U.S. platform. It then asked if the technology giant would look into any possible breach of the Participation Agreement.
An Amazon spokesperson reiterated the firm's policy: "Organizations that engage in, support, encourage, or promote intolerance, hate, terrorism, violence, money laundering, or other illegal activities are not eligible. If at any point an organisation violates this agreement, its eligibility will be revoked." They added that Amazon has relied on the SPLC and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control to determine if an organization violates the agreement. (Related: Jeff Bezos applauds Islam non-profits on Amazon's "smile" donation program, but BANS Christian groups… wow.)
However, Tyler O'Neil of PJ Media said the SPLC's designation of ADF and FRC as "anti-LGBT hate groups" is entirely based on falsehoods. He added that the SPLC has leveraged its history bankrupting white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan to brand its opponents as "hate groups" and to raise millions through fear-mongering.
Many organizations named by the SPLC as hate groups have found themselves being demonized solely for having a different opinion, O'Neil remarked. Conservative and Christian organizations have been branded as promoting hate over their defense of biblical sexuality. Thus, he commented that leftist groups such as openDemocracy have weaponized the terms "intolerance" and "discrimination" to mean attacks against beliefs they dislike.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Basing itself on sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.' They are contrary to the natural law, … close the sexual act to the gift of life, … [and] do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity."
Majority of Christians adhere to this statement, condemning homosexual activity and defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
In response to openDemocracy's request for comment, a BGEA spokesperson said the group is "grateful to participate in the AmazonSmile program." They reiterated that BGEA does not engage in unlawful discrimination and … [does] not promote intolerance." The spokesperson added: "We hope AmazonSmile will continue to respect the rights and dignity of all people, and won't discriminate against faith-based groups based solely on their sincerely held religious beliefs."
Intolerance.news has more about the left's threats to de-platform Christian organizations on platforms such as AmazonSmile.
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