Hate Group

A hate group is defined as an organization or group of individual people having beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, often for immutable characteristics, and does so as a result of their own principles.  Though criminal activities are often a result of the principles of a hate group, the criminal activities themselves do not define the group.  Instead, such activities are the consequences of the group's ideology.

Many sects today that collectively are identified as William Branham's "Message" cult following meet these criteria due to their views of non-cult members formed through current cult doctrine.  There are, however, certain sects within the cult who claim that other sects do not adhere to Branham's "true teaching", unaware that each individual sect has based their principles upon differing versions of Branham's stage persona.  These sects choose to malign only the groups of people targeted by Branham using the specific version of his stage persona that they accepted as a central figure.  The organizations and demographics they target may include one or more of the following:

• Catholics and/or leadership of the Catholic Church
• Christians who believe in the Trinitarian Godhead
• Interracial couples, especially having one African American spouse (see Donnie Reagan)
• African Americans in general (see Integration)
• Christians who do not accept William Branham as their authoritative figure and/or "Messenger for the Last Days"
• Members of their own sect who do not or suspected to not adhere strictly to Branham's teaching.  (See State of California vs. Keith Loker)
• Women who do not adhere to William Branham's dress code.  (see Matthew Carapella)