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In the democratic West, organizations dedicated to the incitement of racial violence, including white supremacist, black supremacist, and neo-Nazi groups, are commonly described as hate groups. Typically these groups make no bones about it; they openly admit hating their targets.
Other groups are more controversial, and little or no consensus has developed as to whether political, religious or anti-religious movements deserve the label "hate group". Some advocates have applied it to some radical activists who engage in "questionable and often illegal" methods to achieve their goals, such as Operation Rescue, the Animal Liberation Front and the Ex-premies.
Two main elements are present in hate group literature and tactics:
Some people claim, without referring to scholarly works, that there are two additional characterizations:
Some advocates who regard certain fringe religious organizations, new religious movements or (controversially) " cults" as spurious, and condemn their methods, also call them "hate groups". For example, the prominent counter cult activist Anton Hein considers scientology a hate group because that religious movement has, in his opinion, a long, documented history of hate and harassment activities[1], which—along with lying and deception—are condoned and encouraged in Scientology's own 'scriptures.' (See, for example, Scientology's Fair Game [2] policy.)
In turn, CESNURCESNUR is a center for studies on new religions, based in Turin, Italy. It was established in 1988 by a group of religious scholars from universities in Europe and the Americas, working in the field of new religious movements. Its director is the Italian’s president Massimo IntrovigneProfessor Massimo Introvigne a lawyer and social scientist (B. Philosophy, and Dr. University of Turin, Italy) is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions ( CESNUR, and is a part-time professor at the Queen of the Apost, writes in his article "So many evil things: Anti-cult terrorism via the Internet"[3], that fringe and extreme anti-cult activismThe term anti-cult movement was coined as part of the controversy surrounding religious cults. In the 1960s, middle-class youths in the United States started to follow new religious movements that were foreign to their families and often at odds with the resort to tactics that may create a background favorable to extreme manifestations of discriminationTo discriminate is to make a distinction. There are several meanings of the word, including statistical discrimination, or the actions of a circuit called a discriminator. This article addresses the most common meaning of the word, social, racial, religio and hate against individuals that belong to new religious movements. Elan VitalElan Vital is an organization that supports the work of Prem Rawat. Prem Rawat speaks of the possibility of knowing inner peace through four techniques of Knowledge. Elan Vital exists in several countries with the purpose of organizing events in which Pre, an organization that supports the work of Prem RawatPrem Pal Singh Rawat (born December 10, 1957 in Dehradun near Haridwar, India) is a sometimes controversial figure whose teachings purport to promote inner peace through four meditative techniques or kriyas that he collectively calls the " Knowledge" and, considers its vocal critics that call themselves ex-premies a hate group because Elan Vital believes that their behavior and literature contains aforementioned elements and characterizations. [4]