Matthew Hale, who goes by the title of pontifex maximus of the World Church of the Creator, first came to national attention in late 1998 when a panel of the Illinois Bar Association's Committee on Character and Fitness voted to deny him a license to practice law in the state of Illinois. This action was taken by the panel despite the fact that Hale had received a law degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Law at Carbondale, had recently passed the Illinois Bar Exam, and had complied with most of the requirements usually associated with character and fitness. In denying Hale a license, the panel based its judgment on Hale's active advocacy of overtly racist and anti-Semitic views. “While Matthew Hale has not yet threatened to exterminate anyone,” the panel wrote, “history tells us that extermination is not far behind when government power is held by persons of his racial views.” Those seeking to deny Hale a law license became even more determined after Benjamin Smith, a friend of Hale's and former member of Hale's church, went on a racially motivated shooting rampage in July of 1999 that before it ended with Smith's suicide left nine people wounded and two dead. In the following interview, Hale explains some of the basic principles of the Creativity religion that are propagated by his organization. Creativity, Hale explains, is a religion that is not based on supernatural revelation as Christianity is but draws its inspiration from the eternal laws of nature itself.