CHRISTIAN IDENTITY MOVEMENT
Topics included: Anglo-Israelism, British-Israelism, Christian Identity,
White Supremacists.
History
The Christian Identity movement is a grouping of many extreme
conservative Christian churches and religious organizations, extreme right
wing political groups and survival groups. Some are independent; others are
loosely interconnected.
The largest Christian Identity movement has traditionally been the Ku Klux
Klan which was reorganized in 1915 by William Simmons, a Christian pastor.
He had been inspired by the film The Birth of a Nation which portrayed
the KKK as a champion of white civilization. The KKK slid into obscurity by
the second World War, but was revitalized in the mid 1950's in response to
enforced racial integration in the southern US.
Other current organizations which follow Christian Identity beliefs are:
American Nazi Party; Aryan Nations; Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan
Nations; Confederate Hammerskins; National Association for the Advancement of
White People; The Order; Posse Comitatus; White Aryan Resistance (WAR) and
White Separatist Banner. Many small groups fade in and out of existence
frequently.
Christian Identity Beliefs:
Such groups have adopted the benign religious concept of
Anglo-Israelism, (also known as
British-Israelism). They believe that the white race (or the "Aryan
peoples" or "White Anglo Saxon Protestants", or the "British Peoples", or
"White Americans") represent God's chosen people, as mentioned in the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament). They have taken these beliefs in an extreme
direction to justify their hatred of Blacks, Jews, homosexuals and
communists.
Some beliefs held in common by many Christian Identity (CI) groups are:
- a very conservative interpretation of the Christian Bible. This leads
naturally to a hatred of homosexuals and a rejection of followers of other
religions.
- a view of the white race, the "Adamic race" or "True
Israelites" as superior. Other races are the "Satanic spawn" of
Cain. This leads naturally to a hatred of Blacks, Native Americans, and
immigrants from "non-Aryan" lands
- that Adam and Eve were White. Many other "pre-Adamic" and non-White
people were already in existence when Adam was created. This leads to the
belief that Anglo-Saxon Protestants are the "true identity" of the chosen
people of the Hebrew Scriptures. This confirms their concept of White racial
superiority.
- that the 7th Commandment which forbids adultery does not refer to
extra-marital sexual relationships. Rather, it forbids "racial adultery";
i.e. inter-racial marriages. Their reasoning is that the 10th Commandment
which forbids coveting one's neighbor's possessions already bans adultery;
one of those "possessions" is the neighbor's wife. And, God would not have
repeated Himself.
- since they consider White Americans to be the direct descendants of the
chosen people, they have developed an extreme anti-Semitism
They frequently promote complex conspiracy theories. For example, (1)
- "Mainstream Christianity is acting in concert with the Jews through
a group called "Cult Awareness Network" which is a front for the ADL [Jewish
Anti-Defamation League] to destroy 'The Family'". (The latter is an
international group of small intentional Fundamentalist Christian
communities which has been called a cult by the
Counter-cult Movement).
- The "New Age movement can best be described as a 'Counterfeit
Identity'. It is being raised up by Jews to provide a substitute for the
real truth."
- "..all that is commonly known as modern Christianity is the creation
of the Jews."
Christian Identity groups often place great stress on their expectations of
Armageddon, which they view as a great racial/religious war of extermination.
The more radical "CI" groups promote violence against Jews, Blacks,
and Homosexuals now, rather than waiting for Armageddon to begin.
Return to the OCRT home page, or
return to the Descriptions of religions and ethical
systems page.
Useful References
- Mark Thomas, Editor, The Watchman 1993-OCT
- W.L. Ingram, "God and Race: British-Israelism and Christian Identity"
, P. 119 - 126 of T. Miller, Ed., "America's Alternative Religions"
, SUNY Press, Albany NY, 1995
- Michael Barkun, "Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the
Christian Identity Movement", University of North Carolina Press, Chapel
Hill NC (1994), ISBN 0807844519
"CI" Sites on the Internet
- We were able to locate two Christian Identity home pages:
- We were only able to find one anti-Christian Identity site on the WWW.
Return to the OCRT home page, or
return to the Descriptions of religions and ethical systems page.