Editing Matthew F. Hale (section)

==Early life==
Hale was born in 1971 and raised in [[East Peoria, Illinois]], a city on the [[Illinois River]]. After his parents divorced when he was nine years old, Hale was raised solely by his father, a police officer. By the age of 12, Matt<!-- to distinguish from his father --> Hale was reading books about [[Nazism]], including [[Adolf Hitler]]'s ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', and had formed a Nazi-themed group at his school.<ref name="adl-ext-hale">{{cite web | url = http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Hale.asp?xpicked=2 | title = Matt Hale | work = Extremism in America | publisher = [[Anti-Defamation League]] | location = [[New York City]] | date = April 6, 2005 | access-date = February 23, 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629094856/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Hale.asp?xpicked=2 | archive-date = June 29, 2011}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Bibo |first=Terry |date=1999 |title=Matt Hale: This central Illinoisan says he's on a quest to preserve the 'white race.' And that mission is garnering attention from the media and the legal community |url=https://www.lib.niu.edu/1999/ii990730.html |access-date=November 10, 2023 |website=www.lib.niu.edu}}</ref>

In August 1989,<ref name="adl-ext-hale" /> Hale entered [[Bradley University]], studying [[political science]].<ref name="adl-ext-hale" /><ref name=":0" /> After failing to form a "White Student Union" at Bradley, Hale attempted to lead a series of political organizations in a short period: He founded the American White Supremacist Party, but it failed to attract many members;<ref name="adl-ext-hale"/> he then dissolved the AWSP in 1990<ref name="splc-matt-hale"/> and attempted to form a chapter of the [[David Duke]] incarnation of the [[National Association for the Advancement of White People]], but the chapter was not recognized by the national organization. In 1992 he declared himself the National Leader of the National Socialist White Americans' Party, without having any local members;<ref name="splc-matt-hale"/><ref name=":0" /> he disbanded that organization in 1995.<ref name="adl-ext-hale"/>

Around 1990, Hale burned an [[Flag of Israel|Israeli flag]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/matt-hale | title=Matt Hale}}</ref> at a demonstration, leading to a fine from East Peoria for open burning. The next year, he passed out racist pamphlets to patrons {{citation needed span|at a shopping mall|date=May 2019 <!-- SPLC source says "in East Peoria" again -->}} and was fined for littering. In {{citation needed span|date=May 2019|May}} 1991, Hale and his brother allegedly threatened three [[African Americans|African-American]]s with a gun. Hale was arrested {{citation needed span|date=May 2019|for mob action,}} and because he lied to police about his brother's whereabouts, he was also charged with felony [[obstruction of justice]].<ref name=":0" /> Hale was convicted of obstruction, but won a reversal on [[appeal]]. In 1992, Hale attacked a security guard at a mall and was charged with [[criminal trespass]], [[resisting arrest]], [[battery (crime)|aggravated battery]] and carrying a concealed weapon. For this attack, Hale was sentenced to six months of [[house arrest]] and 30 months of [[probation]].<ref name="splc-matt-hale">{{cite web | url = https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/matt-hale | title = Matt Hale | publisher = [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] | date = July 20, 2012 | access-date = September 17, 2015}}</ref>

Meanwhile, by 1992, Hale had become involved with an organization called the [[World Church of the Creator|Church of the Creator]].<ref name="adl-ext-hale"/> The church believed, and its successors believe, that a "racial holy war" is necessary to attain a "white world" without [[Jew]]s and non-whites. To this end, it encourages its members to "populate the lands of this earth with [[white people]] exclusively."<ref name="splc-creator-timeline">{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1999/church-creator-timeline |title=Church of the Creator Timeline | work=Intelligence Report |date=September 15, 1999 | publisher = Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=September 4, 2016}}</ref> The COTC's founder, [[Ben Klassen]], committed suicide on August 7, 1993,<ref name="splc-creator-timeline"/> leaving the organization listless<ref name="splc-matt-hale"/> and owing a [[default judgment]] of $1 million to the family of a murder victim.<ref name="splc-creator-timeline"/> Though this was the first such organization Hale had been involved in without appointing himself as leader, he soon achieved the same effect:<ref name="splc-matt-hale"/> switching his leadership identity from a political party to religious, Hale dissolved his NSWAP and formed a "New" Church of the Creator in 1995 and told followers of Klassen's organization that Hale was the type of leader Klassen had wished for;<ref name="splc-creator-timeline"/> and in Montana on July 27, 1996, the COTC's Guardians of the Faith Committee renamed the organization to the "[[World Church of the Creator]]" and anointed Hale as "[[pontifex maximus|Pontifex Maximus]]".<ref name="adl-ext-hale"/>