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Respond to Christopher:

Hello Class,

This week, we move on to another right-wing group by evaluating Christian Extremism. The Christian Identity movement consists of multiple organizations of radicals that use the bible as justification of hate, and this week’s forum we look to evaluate and identify examples of hate crime from these organizations.

The original Christian Identity started in England in the middle of the nineteenth century by a Scottish Minister named John Wilson (Michael, 2013). Wilson’s theology behind the Christian Identity is that in the Old Testament, a bow and arrow belong to a distant ancestor of Jesus, and since English bowman of the middle ages were the best, the English were true descendants of Jesus (Michael, 2013). Following this theology, rose British Israelism which defended the status quo and migrated to America during the late nineteenth century and turned into the Christian Identity in the 1950’s. In the Joseph Baker (2018) article, Baker states that there are three types of fundamentalist in the Christian Identity: Passive, assertive, and impositional. Passive fundamentalists have three features: Sacred texts are given rather than interpreted, authoritative texts are perceived as unambiguous, and they attempt to live out the authoritative edicts given from authoritative texts, while developing defenses against condemnations of the outside world (Baker, 2018). Assertive fundamentalists live out the “Truths” given and all others are false, but also tie the individual identity with the perception of the group. The Impositional fundamentalism condemn outsider views and people and find them problematic, so they seek out violence against other groups.

The two seeds doctrine is based on the theory that Satan seduced Eve and Eve was impregnated with two seeds. The one seed produced Cain, believed to be Satan’s seed and resembled the Jewish and non-white race. The other seed produced Able, which is considered to be an ancestor of the Caucasian race, is believed to be pure offspring (Michael, 2013). This theory believed that the all white race was pure and that all others are imposters and started to create radicals to carry out the beliefs. This theory spawned throughout history into separate organizations; most popular were the Aryan Nations. Even though the Christian Identity is believed to be the “Old Man’s Religion,” it still holds traction on the far right due to the expansion of the internet to share ideas, information, recruit new members and to take action.

An example of a hate crime is by a Phineas Priesthood member, Larry McQuilliams, in November 2014. McQuilliams fired shots on Austin, Tx Police Department, Mexican Consulate and federal Courthouse. He also attempted to set the Mexican consulate on fire, and a map found in his home identified a total of 34 intended targets (Bazzle, 2019). Friends said that McQuilliams had blamed immigrants for his inability to obtain employment (Bazzle, 2019). Other areas of hate crime that Christian Identity Extremist were bombings of abortion clinics. There have been numerous bombings of Abortion clinics in the past, and there still could be more in the future with more Abortion Laws being enacted.

References:

Baker, J. O. (2017). Christian Sectarianism, Fundamentalism, and Extremism. Routledge Handbook on Deviance, 187–198. doi: 10.4324/9781315648057-23

Bazzle, S. (2019, March 26). 20 Examples of Christian Terrorism In Modern Times. Retrieved from https://hillreporter.com/20-examples-of-christian-terrorism-in-modern-times-25537.

Michael, G. (2013). The Christian Identity Movement. Extremism in America, 188–217. doi: 10.5744/florida/9780813044972.003.0008