By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 29, 2022 | Since its funding in 1971, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of Montgomery, Ala. has stood up for the powerless, the exploited and victims of discrimination and hate. It has won legal landmarks that have brought systemic reforms to the Deep South.
SPLC regularly monitors hate groups and other extremists throughout the country, to expose their activities to the public. It is currently tracking 1,600 of these groups. Its 2021 publication, The Year in Hate and Extremism, recently was released. It lists 733 hate groups, of which 34 are in Georgia. Shockingly, we found one in Norcross, the Strong Hold Baptist Church at 5865 Jimmy Carter Blvd. in Norcross.
The website for that church, founded in 2018, surprisingly says that it is not part of a denomination, but is an independent fundamental King James Bible-believing “Baptist” church. We take that to mean that it believes in the Baptist tradition, though the church is not part of any association of Baptist churches.
The pastor of the church is David Berzins, who was raised on the south side of Chicago. He was ordained at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, in 2013. He served four years in Prescott Valley, Ariz. The church webpage says that he “saw a great need for a new church plant in the Atlanta area.” Berzins moved his family across the country to found Strong Hold Baptist Church in Norcross. The first service was held on June 24, 2018, with 53 people in attendance. Easter Sunday 2022, the church had 120 at its service.
The Rev. Berzins told GwinnettForum that “he puts no stock in what the SPLC has to say. They are an extremely liberal, far-left mouthpiece.” He said the church has been listed on the SPLC site since 2019, after a WSB news story aired the church’s views, particularly on homosexuality, when it was first meeting at Lucky Shoals Park.
The SPLC lists Strong Hold Church among 65 anti-LGBTQ organizations in the nation, as a group portraying LGBTQ people as “ threats to children, society and often public health.”
Strong Hold Church’s pastor says he believes homosexuality should be a crime, and also believes that adultery, kidnapping and rape are crimes. “We do not cherry-pick what we don’t like.”
Here are other hate groups that the SPLC list in its publication for Georgia.
- Neo-Nazi: American Nazi Party of Georgia.
- White Nationalist (3): Affirmed Right, Atlanta; American Patriots USA of Dahlonega; and Patriot Front of Georgia.
- Christian Identity: Covenant People’s Ministry, Brooks, Ga.
- Neo Confederate: League of the South, Georgia.
- Neo-Volkisch: Asatru Folk Assembly, Georgia.
- Anti-Immigrant: The Dustin Inman Society, Marietta.
- Anti-LGBTQ (2) : American Vision, Powder Springs; and Strong Hold Baptist Church, Norcross.
- Antisemitism (2): Nation of Islam: Atlanta and Brunswick.
- General Hate (11): Great Milestone, Atlanta and Valdosta; House of Israel, Atlanta; Indigenous Sovereigns, Atlanta; Israel United in Christ: Riverdale and Savannah; Universal Practical Knowledge, Atlanta; Luxor Couture, Atlanta; New Black Panther Party, Atlanta; Sicaril 1715, Atlanta; and Eyes on Egypt, Lithonia.
- Militia (3): Georgia Three Percent Martyrs: Bremen; 111 Percent Security Force, Georgia; and 111 Percent United Patriots of Georgia.
- Sovereign Citizens (4): The Assembly, Lithonia; Corporate Freedom Group, Atlanta; The Moorish Science Temple of America 1928, Lithonia; and Sovereign Filing Solutions, Morrow.
- Conspiracy Propagandists: John Birch Society, Barnesville.
- Antigovernmental General (3): Constitution Party, Woodstock; Oath Keepers, Georgia; and The Patriot Depot, Powder Springs.
SPLC list no Georgia organizations for other categories it includes in its 2022 report: Ku Klux Klan; Racist Skinheads; Anti-Muslim; and Constitutional Sheriffs.
Coming Tuesday
Look at candidate answers and GwinnettForum endorsements in the Tuesday, May 3, edition of the Forum.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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