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{{Short description|White supremacist interpretation of Christianity}}
'''Christian Identity''' is a label applied to a wide variety of militant pro-[[Europe]]an and [[neo-Nazi]] Pseudo[[Christian]] groups. Their key commonality is [[British Israelism]] theology, which teaches that white Europeans are the literal descendants of the [[Israelites]], and that the Israelites are still God's "elect". There are estimated to be about 50,000 adherents of these groups in the [[United States of America]].
{{about|the white supremacist ideology|people who identify as Christian|Christians|and|Christendom}}
<!--Reword if needed, but please see [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2019 January 8#Christian identity]] if you're considering removing this-->
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Christian Identity sidebar}}
{{Antisemitism|Manifestations}}
{{Neo-Fascism|Varieties}}
'''Christian Identity''' (also known as '''Identity Christianity'''{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=52, 105}}) is an interpretation of [[Christianity]] which advocates the belief that only [[Celt]]ic and [[Germanic peoples]], such as the [[Anglo-Saxon]], [[Nordic race|Nordic]] nations, or people of the [[Aryan race]] and people of kindred blood, are the descendants of the ancient [[Israelites]] and are therefore God's "[[chosen people]]". It is a racial interpretation of Christianity and is not an [[organized religion]], nor is it affiliated with specific [[Christian denomination]]s. It emerged from [[British Israelism]] in the 1920s and began to take shape during the 1940s-1970s. Today it is independently practiced by individuals, independent congregations, and some [[prison gang]]s.


No single document expresses the Christian Identity belief system, and some beliefs may vary by group. However, all Identity adherents believe that Adam and his offspring were exclusively White. They also believe in [[Two House theology]], which makes a distinction between the Tribe of Judah and the Ten Lost Tribes, and that ultimately, European people represent the Ten Lost Tribes. This racialist view advocates racial segregation and opposes interracial marriage. Other commonly held beliefs are that usury and [[Bank|banking systems]] are controlled by Jews, leading to opposition to the Federal Reserve System and use of fiat currency, believing it to be part of "[[The Beast (Revelation)|the beast]]" system. Christian Identity's eschatology is [[Millennialism|millennialist]].
== Ideology ==


Christian Identity is characterized as [[Racism|racist]], [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]], and [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] by the [[Anti-Defamation League]] and the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]].{{sfn|ADL|2017}}{{sfn|Southern Poverty Law Center}}
Christian Identity asserts that the white [[Aryan race]] is God's chosen race and that whites comprise the ten lost tribes of [[Israelites|Israel]]. There is no single document that expresses this belief system. Adherents refer to the [[Bible]] to justify their ideas.


{{As of|2014}}, estimates of the number of adherents in the United States range from two thousand to fifty thousand.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=x}}
== Groups ==


==Origins==
Christian Identity groups include the [[Aryan Nations]]; [[Church of Jesus Christ Christian| Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations]]; [[Confederate Hammerskins]]; Jubilee; [[LaPorte Church of Christ]]; [[Kingdom Identity Ministries]]; [[National Association for the Advancement of White People]] and [[White Separatist Banner]]. Many members of these groups freely mix with other white supremacist and white separatist, but more politically-oriented, groups such as the [[National Alliance]] and the [[American Nazi Party]].


===Relationship to British Israelism===
The radical right encompasses a vast number and variety of groups, such as [[survivalism|survivalists]], [[militia movement of the 1990s|militias]], the [[Ku Klux Klan]], [[neo-Nazi]]s, Christian Identity churches, the Aryan Nations and [[skinhead]]s. These groups are not mutually exclusive and within the subculture individuals easily migrate from one group to another. This intermixing of organizations makes it difficult to discern a singular religious ideology or belief system that encompasses the right-wing. Nevertheless, Christian Identity is the most unifying theology for a number of these diverse groups and one widely adhered to by [[white supremacists]]. It is a belief system that provides its members with a religious basis for racism and an ideology that condones violence against non-Aryans. This doctrine allows believers to fuse religion with hate, [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] and apocalyptic fear of the future.
{{Main|British Israelism}}
The Christian Identity movement emerged in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s as an offshoot of [[British Israelism]].{{sfn|ADL|2017}}{{sfn|Barkun|2014|pages=xii–xiii}} While early British Israelites such as [[Edward Hine]] and [[John Wilson (historian)|John Wilson]] were [[Philo-Semitism|philo-Semites]], Christian Identity emerged in sharp contrast to British Israelism as a strongly [[Antisemitism in Christianity|antisemitic theology]].{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=xii}} British Israelism originally viewed modern Jews as descendants of the ancient Israelites; but in the United States, British Israelism began to evolve as anti-Semitism began to permeate the movement.{{sfn|ADL|2017}} Traditional British Israelites were advocates of philo-Semitism which paradoxically changed to [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitism]] and [[racism]] under Christian Identity.{{sfn|Quarles|2004|p=13}} In fact, British Israelism had several Jewish adherents, and it also received support from [[rabbi]]s throughout the 19th century. Within British politics it supported [[Benjamin Disraeli]], who was descended from [[Sephardic Jews]].{{sfn|Quarles|2004|pages=13–19}} The typical form of the British Israelite belief held that modern-day Jews were only descended from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, while the British and other related Northern European peoples were descended from the other ten tribes. However, as Christian Identity took shape during the 1940s to 1970s, it began to turn antisemitic by teaching that contemporary Jews were either descendants of [[Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry|Eurasian Khazars]] or literal descendants of [[Satan]].{{sfn|Gardell|2002|p=165}}
===Early influences===
British Israelism can be traced back to Great Britain in the 1600s, but in terms of its relationship to Christian Identity, a key text was ''Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin'' by John Wilson (1840).{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=11}} Wilson was the first to formalize a distinction between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. Although Wilson's views were not originally antisemitic, they came to have great significance for modern Christian Identity adherents who believe that the northern tribes were carried off by the Assyrians and remained racially pure as they migrated into modern Europe, while the southern kingdom eventually became allied with Satan.{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=11}}


In the 1920s, the writings of [[Howard Rand]] (1889–1991) began to have an influence.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=27}} Considered a transitional figure from British Israelism to Christian Identity rather than its actual founder,{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=30}} Rand is known for coining the term "Christian Identity".{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=18}} Raised as a British Israelite, his father introduced him to [[J. H. Allen]]'s work ''Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright'' (1902) at an early age by offering him five dollars if he would read it and write a report on it.{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=29}} Around 1924, Rand began to claim that the Jews are descended from [[Esau]] or the [[Canaanites]] rather than the tribe of Judah, although not going so far as to advocate the "serpent seed" doctrine.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|pages=45–54}}
Christian Identity groups have been investigated by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]; their October [[1999]] ''[[Project Megiddo]]'' is the basis of much of this article.


During the late 1920s, Anglo-Saxon writers began to compile research from 19th century writers [[Dominick McCausland]], [[Alexander Winchell]], and [[Ethel Bristowe]], using them to develop five basic beliefs that would become the core tenets of Christian Identity doctrine. These were that Adamites represented Aryans as the chosen, that nonwhites were tainted through race-mixing, that the serpent in the story of the Fall was not a reptile, but the Devil himself, that the [[Serpent seed|seedline of Cain]] came through a union of Satan (the serpent) and Eve, and that the Jews were descended from this unholy line and thus had a natural propensity for evil.{{sfn|Davis|2010|pages=17–18}}
=== Iconoclastic Biblical fundamentalism ===


In 1933, Rand founded the [[Anglo-Saxon Federation of America]], an organization which began to promote the view that the Jews are not descended from Judah. Beginning in May 1937, there were key meetings of British Israelites in the United States who were attracted to this theory, and these meetings provided the catalyst for the eventual emergence of Christian Identity. By the late 1930s, the group's members considered Jews to be the offspring of Satan and [[Demonization|demonized]] them, and they also demonized non-Caucasian races.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=140}} Rand, however, rejected the satanic origin theories. This doctrine came to confirm the explicit separation between British-Israelism and Christian Identity.{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=174}}
Interpreting the Book of [[Genesis]], Christian Identity followers assert that [[Adam and Eve|Adam]] was preceded by other, lesser races, identified as "the beasts of the field" (Gen. 1:25). [[Adam and Eve|Eve]] was seduced by the snake (Satan) and gave birth to two seed lines: [[Cain]], the direct descendant of Satan and Eve, and [[Abel]], who was of good [[Aryan]] stock through Adam. Cain then became the progenitor of the Jews in his subsequent matings with the non-Adamic races. This is referred to as the two-seedline doctrine.


Links between Christian Identity and the [[Ku Klux Klan]] were also forged in the late 1930s, but by then, the KKK was past the peak of its early twentieth-century revival.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|pages=60–85}}
Christian Identity adherents believe the Jews are predisposed to carry on a conspiracy against the Adamic seed line and today have achieved almost complete control of the earth. (Kaplan, ''Radical Religion in America'')


===Emergence as a separate movement===
=== Justifying violence ===
Christian Identity began to emerge as a separate movement in the 1940s, primarily over issues of racism and anti-semitism rather than over issues of [[Christian theology]].{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=59}} [[Wesley A. Swift|Wesley Swift]] (1913–1970) is considered the father of the movement; so much so that every Anti-Defamation League publication which addresses Christian Identity mentions him.{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=296}} Swift was a minister in the [[Angelus Temple]] [[Foursquare Church]] during the 1930s and 1940s before he founded his own church in [[Lancaster, California|Lancaster]], California and named it the Anglo-Saxon Christian Congregation, reflecting the influence of Howard Rand.{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=296}}{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=61}} In the 1950s, he was [[Gerald L. K. Smith]]'s West Coast representative of the [[Christian Nationalist Crusade]]. In addition, he hosted a daily radio broadcast in California during the 1950s and 1960s, through which he was able to proclaim his ideology to a large audience. Due to Swift's efforts, the message of his church spread, leading to the founding of similar churches throughout the country.


Eventually, the name of his church was changed to the [[Church of Jesus Christ–Christian]], today this name is used by [[Aryan Nations]].{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=59}} One of Swift's associates was retired Col. [[William Potter Gale]] (1917–1988). Gale became a leading figure in the [[Tax protester (United States)|anti-tax]] and [[paramilitary]] movements of the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the California Rangers and the [[Posse Comitatus (organization)|Posse Comitatus]], and he also helped found the [[American militia movement]].{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|pages=115–116}}
A relatively new tenet gaining popularity among Christian Identity believers justifies the use of violence if it is perpetrated in order to punish violators of God's law, as found in the Bible and interpreted by Christian Identity ministers and adherents. This includes killing interracial couples, [[abortion]]ists, [[prostitution|prostitutes]] and [[homosexual]]s, burning [[pornography]] stores, and robbing banks and perpetrating frauds to undermine the "[[usury]] system."; Christian Identity adherents engaging in such behavior are referred to as [[Phineas]] Priests or members of the Phineas Priesthood. This is an appealing concept to Christian Identity's extremist members who believe they are being persecuted by the Jewish-controlled US government and society and/or are eagerly preparing for Armageddon. Among adherents today, the Phineas Priesthood is viewed as a call to action or a badge of honor.


The future Aryan Nations founder [[Richard Butler (white supremacist)|Richard Girnt Butler]], who was an admirer of [[Adolf Hitler]] and Wisconsin Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]], was introduced to Wesley Swift by William Potter Gale in 1962.{{sfn|Levitas|2002|p=110}} Swift quickly converted Butler to Christian Identity. When Swift died in 1971, Butler fought against Gale, James Warner, and Swift's widow for control of the church. Butler eventually gained control of the organization and moved it from California to [[Hayden Lake, Idaho|Hayden Lake]], Idaho in 1973.{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=298}}
=== The end of the world and armageddon ===


Lesser figures participated as Christian Identity theology took shape in the 1940s and 1950s, such as [[San Jacinto Capt]], a [[Baptist]] minister and California Klansman, who claimed that he had introduced Wesley Swift to Christian Identity;{{Sfn|Seymour|1991|p=85}} and [[Bertrand Comparet]] (1901–1983), a one-time [[San Diego]] Deputy City Attorney and associate of Gerald L. K. Smith.{{Sfn|Levitas|2002|p=27}} Later Identity figures of the 1970s and 1980s include Sheldon Emry and [[LaPorte Church of Christ|Peter J. Peters]].{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=13, 240}}
Christian Identity believes in the inevitability of the end of the world and the [[Second Coming]] of Christ. It is believed that these events are part of a cleansing process that is needed before [[Christ]]'s kingdom can be established on earth. During this time, Jews and their allies will attempt to destroy the white race using any means available. The result will be a violent and bloody struggle - a war, in effect - between God's forces, the white race, and the forces of evil, the Jews and nonwhites. Significantly, many adherents believe that this will be tied into the coming of the new [[millennium]].


While most of the Identity groups of the 1960s and 1970s relied on mailing lists, publications, and cassette recordings to disseminate their teachings, later figures promoted their ministries using radio and television.{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=52}}
The view of what [[Armageddon]] will be varies among Christian Identity believers. Some contend there will be a [[race war]] in which millions will die; others believe that the [[United Nations]], backed by Jewish representatives of the [[Antichrist|anti-Christ]], will take over the country and promote a [[New World Order (conspiracy)|New World Order]]. One Christian Identity interpretation is that white Christians have been chosen to watch for signs of the impending war in order to warn others. They are to then physically struggle with the forces of evil against sin and other violations of God's law (i.e., race-mixing and internationalism); many will perish, and some of God's chosen will be forced to wear the [[Mark of the Beast]] to participate in business and commerce. After the final battle is ended and God's kingdom is established on earth, only then will the Aryan people be recognized as the one and true Israel.


The Christian Identity movement first received widespread attention from the mainstream media in 1984, when [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]], a [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] terrorist group, embarked on a murderous crime spree before it was suppressed by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]. The movement returned to public attention in 1992 and 1993, in the wake of the deadly [[Ruby Ridge]] confrontation, when newspapers discovered that former [[United States Army Special Forces|Green Beret]] and [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] separatist [[Randy Weaver]] had a loose association with Christian Identity believers.{{sfn|Bock|1993}}
Christian Identity adherents believe that God will use his chosen race as his weapons to battle the forces of evil. Christian Identity followers believe they are among those chosen by God to wage this battle during Armageddon and they will be the last line of defense for the white race and Christian America. To prepare for these events, they engage in [[survivalism|survivalist]] and [[paramilitary]] training, storing foodstuffs and supplies, and caching weapons and ammunition. They often reside on compounds located in remote areas.


These groups are estimated to have two thousand members in the United States and an unknown number of members in Canada and the rest of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]. Due to the promotion of Christian Identity doctrines through radio and later through the Internet, an additional fifty thousand unaffiliated individuals are thought to hold Christian Identity beliefs.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=x}}
== Origin ==


==Beliefs==
The roots of the Christian Identity movement can be traced back to [[British Israelism]], the conviction that the British are the lineal descendants of the "ten lost tribes" of Israel. It is a belief that existed for some time before it became a movement in the second half of the [[19th century]]. The writings of John Wilson helped to extend the idea of British-Israelism to Anglo-Israelism, which included other [[Teuton]]ic peoples - mostly northern European peoples from [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[France]] and [[Switzerland]]. British Israelism was brought to [[United States|America]] in the early part of the [[1920s]], where it remained decentralized until the [[1930s]]. At that time, the movement underwent the final transformation to become what we know as Christian Identity, at which time its ties to the original English movement were cut and it became distinctly American.
Christian Identity is a theology that promotes a [[racial]] interpretation of [[Christianity]].{{sfn|Eck|2001|p=347}}{{sfn|Buck|2009|pages=107-108, 213}} Some Christian Identity churches preach with more violent rhetoric than others, but all of them believe that Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, and other European peoples are the true Israelites and that modern Jews have dispossessed them of their identity as [[God in Christianity|God]]'s [[chosen people|chosen race]].{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=50-51, 53}} Identity beliefs are conspiratorial, believing that all of history represents a great cosmic war between the forces of good and evil. It is all part of a Satanic plot to take control of creation.{{Sfn|Aho|1990|p=88}}


Christian Identity beliefs were primarily developed and promoted by two authors who considered Europeans to be the chosen people and considered [[Jews]] to be the cursed offspring of Cain, the "[[Serpents in the Bible|serpent hybrid]]" (or the [[Serpent seed]]) (a belief which is known as the dual-seedline or two-seedline doctrine). Wesley Swift formulated the doctrine which states that non-Caucasian<!-- Do not wikilink this. It is already linked elsewhere (see WP:DUPLINK), and links to "Caucasian race" is the opposite of what it meant (i.e. "non-"). See MOS:LINKCLARITY. --> peoples have no [[Soul (spirit)|souls]] and therefore they can never earn God's favor or be [[Salvation in Christianity|saved]].{{sfn|Quarles|2004|p=68}}{{sfn|Mason|2002}}
[[Wesley Swift]] is considered the single most significant figure in the early years of the Christian Identity movement in the United States. He popularized it in the right-wing by "combining British-Israelism, a demonic anti-Semitism, and political extremism." (Michael Barkun, Religion and the Racist Right, Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997, p. 60)


No single document expresses the Christian Identity belief system; there is much disagreement over the doctrines which are taught by those who ascribe to Identity beliefs, since there is no central organization or headquarters for the Identity sect. However, all Identity adherents believe that Adam and his offspring were exclusively White and they also believe that all [[Person of color|non-white races]] are [[pre-Adamite]] races because they belong to separate [[species]], a doctrinal position which implies that they cannot be equated with or derived from the [[Adamites]].{{sfn|James|2012}} Identity adherents cite passages from the [[Old Testament]], including {{bibleverse|Ezra|9:2|KJV}}, {{bibleverse|Ezra|9:12|KJV}}, and {{bibleverse|Nehemiah|13:27|KJV}}, which they claim contain [[Yahweh]]'s injunctions against [[interracial marriage]]s.
Swift founded his own church in [[California]] in the mid [[1940s]] where he could preach this ideology. In addition, he had a daily radio broadcast in California during the [[1950s]] and [[1960s|60s]], through which he was able to proclaim his ideology to a large audience. With Swift's efforts, the message of his church spread, leading to the creation of similar churches throughout the country. In [[1957]], the name of his church was changed to The Church of Jesus Christ Christian, which is used today by Aryan Nations (AN) churches.


Christian Identity adherents assert that the white people of Europe in particular or [[Caucasian race|Caucasians]] in general are God's servant people, according to the promises that were given to [[Abraham]], [[Isaac]], and [[Jacob]]. It further asserts that the early European tribes were really the [[Ten Lost Tribes]] of Israel and therefore the rightful heirs to God's promises, and God's chosen people. [[Colin Kidd]] wrote that in the United States, Christian Identity exploited "the puzzle of the Ten Lost Tribes to justify an openly anti-Semitic and virulently racist agenda."{{sfn|Kidd|2006|p=44}} According to Michael McFarland and Glenn Gottfried, they developed their racist interpretation of Christianity because of its status as a [[Christianity in the United States|traditional religion of the United States]], which allowed them to advocate the belief that [[white Americans]] have a common identity, and because of the variety of possible [[Biblical hermeneutics|interpretations of the Bible]] in the field of [[hermeneutics]].{{sfn|McFarland|Gottfried|2002}}
One of Swift's associates, William Potter Gale, was far more militant than Swift and brought a new element to Christian Identity churches. He became a leading figure in the anti-tax and paramilitary movements of the [[1970s]] and [[1980s|80s]]. There are numerous Christian Identity churches that preach similar messages and some espouse more violent rhetoric than others, but all hold fast to the belief that Aryans are [[God]]'s chosen race.


While they seek to introduce a state of [[Racial hygiene|racial purity]] in the US, Christian Identitarians do not trust the [[United States Congress|Congress]] or the [[Federal government of the United States|government]], [[Zionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory|allegedly controlled by Jews]], to support their agenda. In their view, this means that political changes can only be made through the use of force. However, the failed experience of the terrorist group The Order has forced them to acknowledge the fact that they are currently unable to overthrow the government by staging an armed insurrection against it. Thus, the Christian Identity movement seeks an alternative to violence and government change with the creation of a "White Aryan Bastion" or a [[White ethnostate]], such as the [[Northwest Territorial Imperative]].{{sfn|McFarland|Gottfried|2002}}
== Organization ==


=== Two House theology ===
Christian Identity does not have a national organizational structure. Rather, it is a grouping of churches throughout the country which follows its basic ideology. Some of these churches can be as small as a dozen people, and some as large as the Aryan Nation church, which claims membership in the thousands.
{{Main article|Two House theology}}
Like British Israelites, Christian Identity adherents believe in Two House theology, which makes a distinction between the Tribe of Judah and the [[Ten Lost Tribes]]. "Israel" was the name given to Jacob after he [[Jacob wrestling with the angel|wrestled with the angel]] at [[Penuel]] as described in Genesis 32:26–32. Israel then had twelve sons which began the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]]. Around 931 BC the unified kingdom was split into the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] in the north and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] in the south. After northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by [[Assyria]] at {{circa|721&nbsp;BC}}, the ten tribes disappeared from the Biblical record.{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=101}}


According to British-Israel doctrine, [http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+esdras+13:39-13:46&version=nrsvae 2 Esdras 13:39–46] then records the history of the nation of Israel journeying over the [[Caucasus mountains]], along the [[Black Sea]], to the [[Siret River|Ar Sereth]] tributary of the [[Danube]] in [[Romania]] ("But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where no human beings had ever lived. ... Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth"). The tribes prospered, and eventually colonised other European countries. Israel's leading tribe, the [[Tribe of Dan]], is attributed with settling and naming many areas which are today distinguished by place names derived from its name – written ancient Hebrew contains no vowels, and hence "Dan" would be written as DN, but would be pronounced with an intermediate vowel dependent on the local dialect, meaning that ''Dan'', ''Den'', ''Din'', ''Don'', and ''Dun'' all have the same meaning. Various modern place names are said to derive from the name of this tribe:{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=101}}
There are many factions of the right-wing, from Christian Identity to militias, all of which are intermingled in ideology and members. In some cases it is easy for a person to be a member of more than one group or to move from one to another. Often, if a member of one group believes the group is lax in its convictions, he or she will gravitate to a group that is more radical.
* [[Macedonia (terminology)|Macedonia]] – Mace''don''ia – derived from Moeshe-don-ia (Moeshe being "the land of Moses")
* [[Danube]] – ''Dan''-ube, [[Dniester]] – ''Dn''-{{not a typo|iester}}, [[Dnieper]] – ''Dn''-ieper, [[Donetz]] – ''Don''-etz, [[Danzig]] – ''Dan''-zig, [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] – ''Don''


The following peoples and their analogous tribes are believed to be as follows:{{sfn|Jessup|2006|p=170}}
In recent years there has been increased level of cooperation between the different groups. This trend can be seen throughout the right-wing. Christian Identity followers are pairing up with militias to receive paramilitary training and have also joined with members of the Ku Klux Klan and other right-wing groups. This cohesiveness creates an environment in which ideology can easily spread and branch out.


{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
== Aryan Nation ==
* [[Tribe of Dan|Dan]] – Denmark
* [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]] – Italy
* [[Tribe of Asher|Asher]] – Sweden
* [[Tribe of Issachar|Issachar]] – Finland
* [[Tribe of Simeon|Simeon]] – Spain
* [[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulun]] – France
* [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]] – Norway
* [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]] – Iceland
* [[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]] – Netherlands
* [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]] – Germany
* [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]] – Great Britain
* [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]] – United States
}}


While British Israelites believe that modern Jews are descended from the tribe of Judah, Christian Identitarians believe that the true lineal descendants of Judah are ''not'' contemporary Jews, but are instead the modern-day Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Nordic, and kindred peoples.{{sfn|Balleck|2018|p=68}}
The [[Aryan Nation]] (AN) is a large group that adheres to the Christian Identity belief system. The group espouses hatred toward Jews, the United States federal government, blacks and other minorities. The ultimate goal of the AN is to forcibly take five northwestern states - [[Oregon]], [[Idaho]], [[Wyoming]], [[Washington]] and [[Montana]] - from the [[United States government ]]in order to establish an Aryan homeland. The AN was headquartered at Hayden Lake from the late 1970s until February 2001. Its annual World Congress attracted a number of different factions from the far right wing, including members and leaders of various right-wing groups. The World Congress was a sort of round table to discuss far-right issues.


Some followers claim that the Identity genealogy of the [[Davidic line]] can be traced to the royal rulers of Britain and [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]].{{sfn|Aho|1990|pages=102–104}} Thus, Anglo-Saxons are the true [[Israelites]], God's chosen people who were given the divine right to rule the world until the [[Second Coming of Christ]].{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=101}}
=== The Order ===


Identity adherents reject the label "antisemitic" by stating that they cannot be antisemitic because the true [[Semitic people|Semites]] "today are the great White Christian nations of the [[western world]]", with modern Jews being considered the descendants of the [[Canaan#Canaanites|Canaanites]].{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=100}}
[[Robert Jay Mathews]] formed a subgroup of the AN called [[The Order (group)|The Order]] which committed a number of violent crimes, including murder. Their mission was to bring about a race war and there are several groups that currently exist which hold these same beliefs. Dennis McGiffen, who also had ties to the AN, formed a cell called The New Order, based on Mathews' group. The members were arrested before they could follow through on their plans to try to start a race war. Chevie Kehoe, who was convicted of three homicides, conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property also spent some time at the AN compound. Most recently, Buford O. Furrow, Jr., the man accused of the [[August 10]], [[1999]], shooting at the Jewish Community Center in [[Los Angeles, California]], also spent some time at the AN compound working as a security guard.

===Adamites and pre-Adamites===
{{main|Pre-Adamite}}
Much of the racism in Christian Identity is the result of the pre-Adamite hypothesis,{{Sfn|Kaplan|1997|p=2}} which is a cornerstone of Identity theology.{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=51-52}} Christian Identity adherents believe that [[Adam and Eve]] were only the ancestors of [[white people]].{{Sfn|Balleck|2018|p=68}} In this view, Adam and Eve were preceded by [[Untermensch|lesser]], non-Caucasian races which are often (although not always) identified as "beasts of the field" ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|1:25|KJV}}, {{Bibleverse|Genesis|2:19–20|KJV}}) who took human form as a result of mating with Adamites.{{Sfn|Kaplan|1997|p=2}}{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=51-52}}

To support their theory on the racial identity of Adam, Christian Identity proponents point out that the Hebrew etymology of the word 'Adam' translates as 'be ruddy, red, to show blood (in the face)' often quoting from [[James Strong (theologian)|James Strong]]'s ''Hebrew Dictionary'' and from this they conclude that only Caucasians or people with light white skin can blush or turn rosy in the face (because [[hemoglobin]] is only visible under pale skin).<ref>{{cite web|last=Marion|first=Samuel|date=2008|title=Basics for Understanding Yahweh's Kingdom|url=http://www.anglo-saxonisrael.com/docBibStudies/KingdomBasics.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723113840/http://www.anglo-saxonisrael.com/docBibStudies/KingdomBasics.html|archive-date=July 23, 2011|access-date=February 1, 2021|website=Anglo-Saxon Israel|publisher=}}</ref>{{Non-primary source needed|date=July 2024}}

An influence on the Christian Identity movement's views on pre-Adamism was [[Charles Carroll (author)|Charles Carroll]]'s 1900 book ''The Negro a Beast or In the Image of God?''{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=194}}{{Sfn|Balleck|2018|p=68}} In his book, Carroll sought to revive the ideas which were previously presented by [[Buckner H. Payne]], he described the Negro as a literal ape rather than a human being.{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=39-43}} He claimed the pre-Adamite races such as blacks did not have souls and that race mixing was an insult to God because it spoiled his racial plan of creation. According to Carroll, the mixing of races had also led to the errors of [[atheism]] and [[evolutionary biology|evolutionism]].{{sfn|Kidd|2006|p=150}}{{Sfn|Balleck|2018|p=68}}
===Serpent seed===
{{main|Serpent seed}}
Dual Seedline Christian Identity proponents –those who believe that Eve bore children with Satan as well as with Adam – believe that Eve was seduced by the Serpent (Satan), shared her fallen state with Adam by having sex with him, and gave birth to [[Superfecundation|twins with different fathers]]: Satan's son Cain and Adam's son Abel. This belief is referred to as the serpent seed doctrine. According to the "dual seedline" form of Christian Identity, Cain then became the progenitor of the Jews in his subsequent matings with members of the non-Adamic races.{{sfn|ADL|2017}}

=== Scientific racism===
{{see also|Curse of Ham|Curse and mark of Cain}}

[[Scientific racism]], sometimes termed biological racism or racialism, the [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific belief]] that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism, is the core tenet of Christian Identity, and most CI adherents are white nationalists who advocate [[racial segregation]] and the imposition of [[anti-miscegenation laws]].{{Cn|date=July 2024}} Some CI adherents also believe that Jews are genetically compelled to carry on a [[White genocide conspiracy theory|conspiracy against the Adamic seedline]] by their Satanic or Edomite ancestry and they also believe that the Jews of today have achieved almost complete control of the Earth through their claim to hold the white race's status as God's chosen people.<ref>{{cite web|last=Comparet|first=Bertrand|title=Who are the Jews?|url=http://www.churchoftrueisrael.com/comparet/who-are-jews.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225125047/http://www.churchoftrueisrael.com/comparet/who-are-jews.html|archive-date=February 25, 2007|access-date=February 1, 2021|website=Church of True Israel}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=July 2024}}

Identity adherents also assert that [[disease]], [[addiction]], [[cancer]], and [[sexually transmitted infection]]s ([[herpes]] and [[HIV/AIDS]]) are spread by human "rodents" via contact with "unclean" persons, such as "race-mixers". The [[apocrypha]], particularly [[Book of Enoch|the first book of Enoch]], is used to justify these social theories; the fallen angels of Heaven sexually desired Earth maidens and took them as wives, resulting in the birth of [[Abomination (Bible)|abominations]], which God ordered [[Michael the Archangel]] to destroy, thus beginning a cosmic war between Light and Darkness. The mixing of separate things (e.g., [[Race (human categorization)|people of different races]]) is seen as defiling all of them, and it is also considered a violation of God's law.{{sfn|Aho|1990|pages=85–86}}

===Views on homosexuality===
{{see also|Christianity and homosexuality}}
Identity preachers proclaim that, according to the Bible, "the penalties for race-mixing, [[Homosexuality|homo-sexuality]], and [[usury]] are [[Capital punishment|death]]."{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=86}}

===Views on racial politics and economics===
The first documents which advocated Christian Identity's views on [[Identity politics|racial politics]] and [[economics]] were written by Howard Rand and [[William J. Cameron]] after the [[Great Depression]]. In 1943, Rand published the article "Digest of the Divine Law" which discussed the political and economic challenges which existed at that time. An excerpt from the article states: "We shall not be able to continue in accord with the old order. Certain groups are already planning an economy of regimentation for our nation; but it will only intensify the suffering and want of the past and bring to our peoples all the evils that will result from such planning by a group of men who are failing to take into consideration the fundamental principles underlying the law of the Lord."{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=202}}

While Rand never formally named the groups which he was specifically referring to, his hatred of Jews, [[racial integration]], and the country's economic state at that time made the direction of his comments obvious. Identifying specific economic problems was not the only goal which Rand had in mind. He began to analyze how these changes could be made to happen through legal changes; thus, making strategic plans to integrate the Bible into [[Law of the United States|American law]] and [[Economy of the United States|economics]]. The first goal was to denounce all man-made laws and replace them with [[Biblical law|laws from the Bible]]. The second goal was to create an economic state which would reflect the teachings of the Bible.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=203}}

While William Cameron agreed with Rand's initial argument, he specifically focused his writings on changing American economics. One of Cameron's articles, "Divine System of Taxation", spoke of the Bible supporting [[individualism]] and [[social justice]] with regard to economics. He also believed that the government had no right to tax land or other forms of property. In accordance with this doctrine, tax refunds should be applied to family vacation trips or they should be applied to national festivals which are observed by adherents of Christian Identity. Also, for the betterment of the United States' economic future, no interest should be charged on debts which are paid with credit, and no taxes should be collected during the traveling time of goods from a manufacturer to a consumer.{{sfn|Barkun|2014|pages=205–206}}

The mutual point which Rand and Cameron both agreed upon, was that while they may have disagreed with how the government was operating, neither of them resisted the government's current tax policies. Gordon Kahl was the first CI believer to study the founding principles of Rand and Cameron, and apply them in order to take action against the government. Kahl believed that they were on the right track with regard to what needed to be accomplished in order to change public policies. However, he felt that if no actions were taken against violators, no real changes would be made. In 1967, he stopped paying taxes because he felt he was paying "[[tithe]]s to the [[Synagogue of Satan]]". Kahl killed two federal marshals in 1983. Before he was caught for the murders, Kahl wrote a note in which he said "our nation has fallen into the hands of alien people. ... These enemies of Christ have taken their Jewish [[Communist Manifesto]] and incorporated it into the Statutory Laws of our country and thrown our [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] and our [[Common law|Christian Common Law]] into the garbage can."{{sfn|Barkun|2014|p=206}}

===Opposition to the banking system===
{{main|Economic antisemitism}}
Identity doctrine asserts that the "root of all evil" is [[Fiat money|paper money]] (particularly [[Federal Reserve Note]]s), and that both usury and [[Bank|banking systems]] are controlled by Jews.{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=87}} Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35–37 and [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]] explicitly condemn usury.{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=92}} Ezekiel 18:13 states "He who hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him" and it is quoted as a justification for killing Jews.

Christian Identity advocates the belief that the creation of the [[Federal Reserve System]] in 1913 shifted the control of money from Congress to private institutions and violated the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]] and the monetary system encourages the Federal Reserve to take out loans, creating trillions of dollars in government debt, and allowing international bankers to control the United States. Credit/debit cards and computerised bills are seen as the fulfillment of the Biblical scripture which warns against "[[The Beast (Revelation)|the beast]]" (i.e., banking) as quoted in Revelation 13:15–18.{{Sfn|Aho|1990|p=91}}

Identity preacher Sheldon Emry stated that "Most of the owners of the largest banks in America are of [[Eastern Europe]]an (Jewish) ancestry and connected with the (Jewish) [[N M Rothschild & Sons|Rothschild European banks]]", thus, according to Identity doctrine, the global banking conspiracy is led and controlled by Jewish interests.{{sfn|Aho|1990|p=91}} Emry used the radio airwaves to promote his Christian Identity message and his book ''Billions for the Bankers, Debts for the People''. Emry promoted abolishing the banks, which he suggested would solve most of society's ills, including unemployment, divorce, and women working outside the home.{{sfn|Levitas|2002|p=181}}

===Eschatology===
{{Further|Christian eschatology}}
Christian Identity eschatology is [[Dispensationalism|dispensational]] [[Premillennialism|premillennialist]], including a [[Second Coming|physical return of Christ to earth]] and the final battle of [[Armageddon]].{{Sfn|Aho|1990|p=53-54}} However, in contrast with [[dispensationalism]] and some other [[Millennialism|millennialist]] forms of [[fundamentalist Christianity]], Christian Identity adherents reject the notion of a [[rapture]].{{Sfn|Aho|1990|p=272}} Their predictions vary, and some include a [[Ethnic conflict|race war]] or a Jewish-backed [[United Nations]] takeover of the US, and that they should wage a physical struggle against individuals and groups which serve the forces of evil.{{sfn|Kaplan|2002|p=38}}{{sfn|Ingram|1995|p=123}} While the [[Soviet Union]] has disappeared as a vital threat in their rhetoric, many Christian Identity adherents believe that [[Communism|Communists]] are secretly involved in international organizations like the United Nations, or the so-called "[[New World Order (conspiracy theory)|New World Order]]", in order to destroy the United States.{{sfn|McFarland|Gottfried|2002}}

== Organizations ==
Rather than being an organized religion, Christian Identity is diverse and decentralized.{{sfn|Kaplan|1997|p=5}} It is an ideology adhered to by a variety of groups. Some of these groups are churches and congregations, such as the [[Church of Jesus Christ–Christian]],{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=63}} [[Church of Israel]],{{sfn|The Joplin Globe|2001}} [[LaPorte Church of Christ]],{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=203}} [[Elohim City, Oklahoma|Elohim City]],{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=269}} [[Kingdom Identity Ministries]],{{Sfn|Quarles|2004|p=60}} and [[The Shepherd's Chapel]]. Others are activist groups and paramilitary organizations such as [[Aryan Nations]],{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=70}} [[Aryan Republican Army]],{{Sfn|Balleck|2018|p=69}} [[Assembly of Christian Soldiers]], [[Christian Defense League]],{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=66}} [[The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord]],{{Sfn|Barkun|2014|p=192}} and [[White Patriot Party]].{{Sfn|Balleck|2018|p=226}} The prison gang [[Aryan Brotherhood]] was adheres to Identity, although it prioritizes criminal enterprise over ideology.{{Sfn|Atkins|2011|p=155}} Other organizations that are not strictly Identity based, but have members who are or affiliations with Identity are [[Aryan Freedom Network]] and [[Posse Comitatus (organization)|Posse Comitatus]].{{Sfn|Quarles|2004|p=78}}

== Revolutionary violence ==
While most Identitarians have lived within the dominant culture, some Christian Identity groups on the fringe of the movement have been associated with revolutionary violence.{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=53}}

[[Tax evasion|Tax resister]] and militia movement organizer [[Gordon Kahl]] had connections to the Christian Identity movement. His death in a 1983 shootout with federal authorities inspired the founders of [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]].{{sfn|The New York Times|2021}} [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]], whose main objective was to start a white supremacist revolution against the United States, was almost entirely made up of individuals who were associated with various Christian Identity groups.

[[Robert G. Millar|Robert Millar]]'s Elohim City, a [[White nationalism|white separatist]] community in [[Oklahoma]] which is associated with Christian Identity, is also associated with several violent acts. [[Chevie Kehoe]] spent time there following the Mueller family murders.{{sfn|The New York Times|1998}} [[Timothy McVeigh]] called the compound prior to the [[Oklahoma City bombing]] and he is linked to community resident [[Andreas Strassmeir]]. [[Richard Snell (criminal)|Richard Wayne Snell]] is buried there. [[Aryan Republican Army|Midwest Bank bandit]] Kevin McCarthy was a resident.{{sfn|Time|1997}}

The [[Ozarks]]-based compound of [[The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord]] was the site of an FBI raid, which ultimately ended without shots fired as the result of CSA member Kerry Noble negotiating a surrender by CSA leader [[James Ellison (white supremacist)|James Ellison]].{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=107-108}}

Within Christian Identity circles, the [[Phineas Priesthood]] is made up of individuals who have committed a "Phineas action"; a term which is broadly used in reference to murders of [[Interracial marriage in the United States|interracial couples]], murders of [[Same-sex marriage in the United States|same-sex couples]], antisemitic acts, and violent acts against members of other non-white ethnic groups.<ref name="splc">{{cite web |title=Phineas Priesthood |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/phineas-priesthood |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221010016/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/phineas-priesthood |archive-date=2016-02-21 |access-date=2016-01-06}}</ref> According to Houston-area writer John Craig, mass shooter [[Larry Gene Ashbrook]] had ties to the Phineas Priesthood.{{sfn|The Los Angeles Times|1999}} [[Byron De La Beckwith]], the assassin of [[NAACP]] and [[Civil rights movement]] leader [[Medgar Evers]], was linked to the Phineas Priesthood.{{sfn|The News and Advance|1991}} Just before he entered prison to serve his sentence, De La Beckwith was [[Ordination|ordained]] as a minister in the Temple Memorial Baptist Church, a Christian Identity congregation in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]] by Reverend [[Buddy Tucker|Dewey "Buddy" Tucker]].{{sfn|Lloyd|1995}}

[[James Mason (neo-Nazi)|James Mason]], an advisor to the [[Atomwaffen Division]], an international [[Far-right politics|far-right]] and [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] terrorist network which is responsible for at least 8 murders and the inspirational leader of the neo-Nazi [[accelerationist]] "[[Siege (Mason book)|siege culture]]", adheres to Christian Identity and he has also written multiple books about it, including ''Revisiting Revelation'' and ''One-Verse Charlies,'' among others.{{sfn|Sunshine|2024|pages=15, 306–309}}


==See also==
==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Religion|United States}}
*[[Anti-Semitism]]
*[[Racism]]
*[[Right wing]]


* [[19th-century Anglo-Saxonism]]
== External Links ==
* [[Aryanism]]
* [[Christian fascism]]
* [[Christian nationalism]]
* [[Christian Patriot movement]]
* [[Fascism in North America]]
* [[Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites]]
* [[Kinism]]
* {{section link|List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups#Christian Identity}}
* [[Nordicism]]
* [[Radical right (United States)]]
* [[Sovereign citizen movement]]
* [[Zionism]]


==References==
*[http://www.cesnur.org/testi/FBI_004.htm Federal Bureau of Investigation Project Megiddo: Assessment of the potential for domestic terrorism in the United States]
===Notes===
*[http://www.rickross.com/groups/christian_identity.html Articles on the Christian Identity movement]
{{reflist}}
*[http://www.carm.org/list/christian_identity.htm CARM.org Website]
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* * {{Cite book |last=Seymour |first=Cheri |title=Committee of the States: Inside the Radical Right |date=1991 |publisher=Camden Place Communications |isbn=0-9628772-0-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDnLAAAACAAJ}}
* {{cite web|title=Christian Identity|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/christian-identity|url-status=live|access-date=January 26, 2021|website=splcenter.org|publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908001022/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/christian-identity |archive-date=2015-09-08 | ref={{harvid|Southern Poverty Law Center}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Sunshine|first=Spencer|title=Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Manson's Siege|date=2024|publisher=Routledge|location=New York, NY |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jcz8EAAAQBAJ}}
* {{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Jo |date=1998-03-29 |title=Killings Illuminate Culture of White Supremacists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/29/us/killings-illuminate-culture-of-white-supremacists.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527090539/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/29/us/killings-illuminate-culture-of-white-supremacists.html?pagewanted=1 |archive-date=2015-05-27 |access-date=2024-07-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331|ref={{harvid|The New York Times|1998}}}}
* {{Cite news |last=Woodrum |first=Robert |date=November 1, 1991 |title=City man's extremist writings crop up in civil rights case |work=The News and Advance |location=Lynchburg, Virginia |pages=1 |ref={{harvid|The News and Advance|1991}}}}
==External links==
* [https://vault.fbi.gov/Christian%20Identity%20Movement%20/Christian%20Identity%20Movement%20Part%201%20of%201/view FBI backgrounder on Christian Identity]


{{Cain and Abel}}
== References ==
{{White people}}
{{Neo-Nazism}}
{{Alt-right footer}}


{{Authority control}}
*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
*W.L. Ingram, ''God and Race: British-Israelism and Christian Identity'' , P. 119 - 126 in T. Miller, Ed., ''America's Alternative Religions'' , SUNY Press, Albany NY, 1995
*Jeffrey Kaplan, ''Radical Religion in America'', Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1997, p. 47-48)


[[Category:Neo-Nazi topics]]
[[Category:Christian Identity| ]]
[[Category:British Israelism]]
[[Category:Groups claiming Israelite descent]]
[[Category:Nordicism]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:White supremacist groups in the United States]]

Revision as of 08:43, 22 August 2024

Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity[1]) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or people of the Aryan race and people of kindred blood, are the descendants of the ancient Israelites and are therefore God's "chosen people". It is a racial interpretation of Christianity and is not an organized religion, nor is it affiliated with specific Christian denominations. It emerged from British Israelism in the 1920s and began to take shape during the 1940s-1970s. Today it is independently practiced by individuals, independent congregations, and some prison gangs.

No single document expresses the Christian Identity belief system, and some beliefs may vary by group. However, all Identity adherents believe that Adam and his offspring were exclusively White. They also believe in Two House theology, which makes a distinction between the Tribe of Judah and the Ten Lost Tribes, and that ultimately, European people represent the Ten Lost Tribes. This racialist view advocates racial segregation and opposes interracial marriage. Other commonly held beliefs are that usury and banking systems are controlled by Jews, leading to opposition to the Federal Reserve System and use of fiat currency, believing it to be part of "the beast" system. Christian Identity's eschatology is millennialist.

Christian Identity is characterized as racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.[2][3]

As of 2014, estimates of the number of adherents in the United States range from two thousand to fifty thousand.[4]

Origins

Relationship to British Israelism

The Christian Identity movement emerged in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s as an offshoot of British Israelism.[2][5] While early British Israelites such as Edward Hine and John Wilson were philo-Semites, Christian Identity emerged in sharp contrast to British Israelism as a strongly antisemitic theology.[6] British Israelism originally viewed modern Jews as descendants of the ancient Israelites; but in the United States, British Israelism began to evolve as anti-Semitism began to permeate the movement.[2] Traditional British Israelites were advocates of philo-Semitism which paradoxically changed to anti-Semitism and racism under Christian Identity.[7] In fact, British Israelism had several Jewish adherents, and it also received support from rabbis throughout the 19th century. Within British politics it supported Benjamin Disraeli, who was descended from Sephardic Jews.[8] The typical form of the British Israelite belief held that modern-day Jews were only descended from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, while the British and other related Northern European peoples were descended from the other ten tribes. However, as Christian Identity took shape during the 1940s to 1970s, it began to turn antisemitic by teaching that contemporary Jews were either descendants of Eurasian Khazars or literal descendants of Satan.[9]

Early influences

British Israelism can be traced back to Great Britain in the 1600s, but in terms of its relationship to Christian Identity, a key text was Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin by John Wilson (1840).[10] Wilson was the first to formalize a distinction between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. Although Wilson's views were not originally antisemitic, they came to have great significance for modern Christian Identity adherents who believe that the northern tribes were carried off by the Assyrians and remained racially pure as they migrated into modern Europe, while the southern kingdom eventually became allied with Satan.[10]

In the 1920s, the writings of Howard Rand (1889–1991) began to have an influence.[11] Considered a transitional figure from British Israelism to Christian Identity rather than its actual founder,[12] Rand is known for coining the term "Christian Identity".[13] Raised as a British Israelite, his father introduced him to J. H. Allen's work Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (1902) at an early age by offering him five dollars if he would read it and write a report on it.[14] Around 1924, Rand began to claim that the Jews are descended from Esau or the Canaanites rather than the tribe of Judah, although not going so far as to advocate the "serpent seed" doctrine.[15]

During the late 1920s, Anglo-Saxon writers began to compile research from 19th century writers Dominick McCausland, Alexander Winchell, and Ethel Bristowe, using them to develop five basic beliefs that would become the core tenets of Christian Identity doctrine. These were that Adamites represented Aryans as the chosen, that nonwhites were tainted through race-mixing, that the serpent in the story of the Fall was not a reptile, but the Devil himself, that the seedline of Cain came through a union of Satan (the serpent) and Eve, and that the Jews were descended from this unholy line and thus had a natural propensity for evil.[16]

In 1933, Rand founded the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America, an organization which began to promote the view that the Jews are not descended from Judah. Beginning in May 1937, there were key meetings of British Israelites in the United States who were attracted to this theory, and these meetings provided the catalyst for the eventual emergence of Christian Identity. By the late 1930s, the group's members considered Jews to be the offspring of Satan and demonized them, and they also demonized non-Caucasian races.[17] Rand, however, rejected the satanic origin theories. This doctrine came to confirm the explicit separation between British-Israelism and Christian Identity.[18]

Links between Christian Identity and the Ku Klux Klan were also forged in the late 1930s, but by then, the KKK was past the peak of its early twentieth-century revival.[19]

Emergence as a separate movement

Christian Identity began to emerge as a separate movement in the 1940s, primarily over issues of racism and anti-semitism rather than over issues of Christian theology.[20] Wesley Swift (1913–1970) is considered the father of the movement; so much so that every Anti-Defamation League publication which addresses Christian Identity mentions him.[21] Swift was a minister in the Angelus Temple Foursquare Church during the 1930s and 1940s before he founded his own church in Lancaster, California and named it the Anglo-Saxon Christian Congregation, reflecting the influence of Howard Rand.[21][22] In the 1950s, he was Gerald L. K. Smith's West Coast representative of the Christian Nationalist Crusade. In addition, he hosted a daily radio broadcast in California during the 1950s and 1960s, through which he was able to proclaim his ideology to a large audience. Due to Swift's efforts, the message of his church spread, leading to the founding of similar churches throughout the country.

Eventually, the name of his church was changed to the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, today this name is used by Aryan Nations.[20] One of Swift's associates was retired Col. William Potter Gale (1917–1988). Gale became a leading figure in the anti-tax and paramilitary movements of the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the California Rangers and the Posse Comitatus, and he also helped found the American militia movement.[23]

The future Aryan Nations founder Richard Girnt Butler, who was an admirer of Adolf Hitler and Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, was introduced to Wesley Swift by William Potter Gale in 1962.[24] Swift quickly converted Butler to Christian Identity. When Swift died in 1971, Butler fought against Gale, James Warner, and Swift's widow for control of the church. Butler eventually gained control of the organization and moved it from California to Hayden Lake, Idaho in 1973.[25]

Lesser figures participated as Christian Identity theology took shape in the 1940s and 1950s, such as San Jacinto Capt, a Baptist minister and California Klansman, who claimed that he had introduced Wesley Swift to Christian Identity;[26] and Bertrand Comparet (1901–1983), a one-time San Diego Deputy City Attorney and associate of Gerald L. K. Smith.[27] Later Identity figures of the 1970s and 1980s include Sheldon Emry and Peter J. Peters.[28]

While most of the Identity groups of the 1960s and 1970s relied on mailing lists, publications, and cassette recordings to disseminate their teachings, later figures promoted their ministries using radio and television.[29]

The Christian Identity movement first received widespread attention from the mainstream media in 1984, when The Order, a neo-Nazi terrorist group, embarked on a murderous crime spree before it was suppressed by the FBI. The movement returned to public attention in 1992 and 1993, in the wake of the deadly Ruby Ridge confrontation, when newspapers discovered that former Green Beret and right-wing separatist Randy Weaver had a loose association with Christian Identity believers.[30]

These groups are estimated to have two thousand members in the United States and an unknown number of members in Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth. Due to the promotion of Christian Identity doctrines through radio and later through the Internet, an additional fifty thousand unaffiliated individuals are thought to hold Christian Identity beliefs.[4]

Beliefs

Christian Identity is a theology that promotes a racial interpretation of Christianity.[31][32] Some Christian Identity churches preach with more violent rhetoric than others, but all of them believe that Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, and other European peoples are the true Israelites and that modern Jews have dispossessed them of their identity as God's chosen race.[33] Identity beliefs are conspiratorial, believing that all of history represents a great cosmic war between the forces of good and evil. It is all part of a Satanic plot to take control of creation.[34]

Christian Identity beliefs were primarily developed and promoted by two authors who considered Europeans to be the chosen people and considered Jews to be the cursed offspring of Cain, the "serpent hybrid" (or the Serpent seed) (a belief which is known as the dual-seedline or two-seedline doctrine). Wesley Swift formulated the doctrine which states that non-Caucasian peoples have no souls and therefore they can never earn God's favor or be saved.[35][36]

No single document expresses the Christian Identity belief system; there is much disagreement over the doctrines which are taught by those who ascribe to Identity beliefs, since there is no central organization or headquarters for the Identity sect. However, all Identity adherents believe that Adam and his offspring were exclusively White and they also believe that all non-white races are pre-Adamite races because they belong to separate species, a doctrinal position which implies that they cannot be equated with or derived from the Adamites.[37] Identity adherents cite passages from the Old Testament, including Ezra 9:2, Ezra 9:12, and Nehemiah 13:27, which they claim contain Yahweh's injunctions against interracial marriages.

Christian Identity adherents assert that the white people of Europe in particular or Caucasians in general are God's servant people, according to the promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It further asserts that the early European tribes were really the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and therefore the rightful heirs to God's promises, and God's chosen people. Colin Kidd wrote that in the United States, Christian Identity exploited "the puzzle of the Ten Lost Tribes to justify an openly anti-Semitic and virulently racist agenda."[38] According to Michael McFarland and Glenn Gottfried, they developed their racist interpretation of Christianity because of its status as a traditional religion of the United States, which allowed them to advocate the belief that white Americans have a common identity, and because of the variety of possible interpretations of the Bible in the field of hermeneutics.[39]

While they seek to introduce a state of racial purity in the US, Christian Identitarians do not trust the Congress or the government, allegedly controlled by Jews, to support their agenda. In their view, this means that political changes can only be made through the use of force. However, the failed experience of the terrorist group The Order has forced them to acknowledge the fact that they are currently unable to overthrow the government by staging an armed insurrection against it. Thus, the Christian Identity movement seeks an alternative to violence and government change with the creation of a "White Aryan Bastion" or a White ethnostate, such as the Northwest Territorial Imperative.[39]

Two House theology

Like British Israelites, Christian Identity adherents believe in Two House theology, which makes a distinction between the Tribe of Judah and the Ten Lost Tribes. "Israel" was the name given to Jacob after he wrestled with the angel at Penuel as described in Genesis 32:26–32. Israel then had twelve sons which began the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Around 931 BC the unified kingdom was split into the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. After northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria at c. 721 BC, the ten tribes disappeared from the Biblical record.[40]

According to British-Israel doctrine, 2 Esdras 13:39–46 then records the history of the nation of Israel journeying over the Caucasus mountains, along the Black Sea, to the Ar Sereth tributary of the Danube in Romania ("But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where no human beings had ever lived. ... Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth"). The tribes prospered, and eventually colonised other European countries. Israel's leading tribe, the Tribe of Dan, is attributed with settling and naming many areas which are today distinguished by place names derived from its name – written ancient Hebrew contains no vowels, and hence "Dan" would be written as DN, but would be pronounced with an intermediate vowel dependent on the local dialect, meaning that Dan, Den, Din, Don, and Dun all have the same meaning. Various modern place names are said to derive from the name of this tribe:[40]

The following peoples and their analogous tribes are believed to be as follows:[41]

While British Israelites believe that modern Jews are descended from the tribe of Judah, Christian Identitarians believe that the true lineal descendants of Judah are not contemporary Jews, but are instead the modern-day Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Nordic, and kindred peoples.[42]

Some followers claim that the Identity genealogy of the Davidic line can be traced to the royal rulers of Britain and Queen Elizabeth II.[43] Thus, Anglo-Saxons are the true Israelites, God's chosen people who were given the divine right to rule the world until the Second Coming of Christ.[40]

Identity adherents reject the label "antisemitic" by stating that they cannot be antisemitic because the true Semites "today are the great White Christian nations of the western world", with modern Jews being considered the descendants of the Canaanites.[44]

Adamites and pre-Adamites

Much of the racism in Christian Identity is the result of the pre-Adamite hypothesis,[45] which is a cornerstone of Identity theology.[46] Christian Identity adherents believe that Adam and Eve were only the ancestors of white people.[42] In this view, Adam and Eve were preceded by lesser, non-Caucasian races which are often (although not always) identified as "beasts of the field" (Genesis 1:25, Genesis 2:19–20) who took human form as a result of mating with Adamites.[45][46]

To support their theory on the racial identity of Adam, Christian Identity proponents point out that the Hebrew etymology of the word 'Adam' translates as 'be ruddy, red, to show blood (in the face)' often quoting from James Strong's Hebrew Dictionary and from this they conclude that only Caucasians or people with light white skin can blush or turn rosy in the face (because hemoglobin is only visible under pale skin).[47][non-primary source needed]

An influence on the Christian Identity movement's views on pre-Adamism was Charles Carroll's 1900 book The Negro a Beast or In the Image of God?[48][42] In his book, Carroll sought to revive the ideas which were previously presented by Buckner H. Payne, he described the Negro as a literal ape rather than a human being.[49] He claimed the pre-Adamite races such as blacks did not have souls and that race mixing was an insult to God because it spoiled his racial plan of creation. According to Carroll, the mixing of races had also led to the errors of atheism and evolutionism.[50][42]

Serpent seed

Dual Seedline Christian Identity proponents –those who believe that Eve bore children with Satan as well as with Adam – believe that Eve was seduced by the Serpent (Satan), shared her fallen state with Adam by having sex with him, and gave birth to twins with different fathers: Satan's son Cain and Adam's son Abel. This belief is referred to as the serpent seed doctrine. According to the "dual seedline" form of Christian Identity, Cain then became the progenitor of the Jews in his subsequent matings with members of the non-Adamic races.[2]

Scientific racism

Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism or racialism, the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism, is the core tenet of Christian Identity, and most CI adherents are white nationalists who advocate racial segregation and the imposition of anti-miscegenation laws.[citation needed] Some CI adherents also believe that Jews are genetically compelled to carry on a conspiracy against the Adamic seedline by their Satanic or Edomite ancestry and they also believe that the Jews of today have achieved almost complete control of the Earth through their claim to hold the white race's status as God's chosen people.[51][non-primary source needed]

Identity adherents also assert that disease, addiction, cancer, and sexually transmitted infections (herpes and HIV/AIDS) are spread by human "rodents" via contact with "unclean" persons, such as "race-mixers". The apocrypha, particularly the first book of Enoch, is used to justify these social theories; the fallen angels of Heaven sexually desired Earth maidens and took them as wives, resulting in the birth of abominations, which God ordered Michael the Archangel to destroy, thus beginning a cosmic war between Light and Darkness. The mixing of separate things (e.g., people of different races) is seen as defiling all of them, and it is also considered a violation of God's law.[52]

Views on homosexuality

Identity preachers proclaim that, according to the Bible, "the penalties for race-mixing, homo-sexuality, and usury are death."[53]

Views on racial politics and economics

The first documents which advocated Christian Identity's views on racial politics and economics were written by Howard Rand and William J. Cameron after the Great Depression. In 1943, Rand published the article "Digest of the Divine Law" which discussed the political and economic challenges which existed at that time. An excerpt from the article states: "We shall not be able to continue in accord with the old order. Certain groups are already planning an economy of regimentation for our nation; but it will only intensify the suffering and want of the past and bring to our peoples all the evils that will result from such planning by a group of men who are failing to take into consideration the fundamental principles underlying the law of the Lord."[54]

While Rand never formally named the groups which he was specifically referring to, his hatred of Jews, racial integration, and the country's economic state at that time made the direction of his comments obvious. Identifying specific economic problems was not the only goal which Rand had in mind. He began to analyze how these changes could be made to happen through legal changes; thus, making strategic plans to integrate the Bible into American law and economics. The first goal was to denounce all man-made laws and replace them with laws from the Bible. The second goal was to create an economic state which would reflect the teachings of the Bible.[55]

While William Cameron agreed with Rand's initial argument, he specifically focused his writings on changing American economics. One of Cameron's articles, "Divine System of Taxation", spoke of the Bible supporting individualism and social justice with regard to economics. He also believed that the government had no right to tax land or other forms of property. In accordance with this doctrine, tax refunds should be applied to family vacation trips or they should be applied to national festivals which are observed by adherents of Christian Identity. Also, for the betterment of the United States' economic future, no interest should be charged on debts which are paid with credit, and no taxes should be collected during the traveling time of goods from a manufacturer to a consumer.[56]

The mutual point which Rand and Cameron both agreed upon, was that while they may have disagreed with how the government was operating, neither of them resisted the government's current tax policies. Gordon Kahl was the first CI believer to study the founding principles of Rand and Cameron, and apply them in order to take action against the government. Kahl believed that they were on the right track with regard to what needed to be accomplished in order to change public policies. However, he felt that if no actions were taken against violators, no real changes would be made. In 1967, he stopped paying taxes because he felt he was paying "tithes to the Synagogue of Satan". Kahl killed two federal marshals in 1983. Before he was caught for the murders, Kahl wrote a note in which he said "our nation has fallen into the hands of alien people. ... These enemies of Christ have taken their Jewish Communist Manifesto and incorporated it into the Statutory Laws of our country and thrown our Constitution and our Christian Common Law into the garbage can."[57]

Opposition to the banking system

Identity doctrine asserts that the "root of all evil" is paper money (particularly Federal Reserve Notes), and that both usury and banking systems are controlled by Jews.[58] Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35–37 and Deuteronomy explicitly condemn usury.[59] Ezekiel 18:13 states "He who hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him" and it is quoted as a justification for killing Jews.

Christian Identity advocates the belief that the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 shifted the control of money from Congress to private institutions and violated the Constitution and the monetary system encourages the Federal Reserve to take out loans, creating trillions of dollars in government debt, and allowing international bankers to control the United States. Credit/debit cards and computerised bills are seen as the fulfillment of the Biblical scripture which warns against "the beast" (i.e., banking) as quoted in Revelation 13:15–18.[60]

Identity preacher Sheldon Emry stated that "Most of the owners of the largest banks in America are of Eastern European (Jewish) ancestry and connected with the (Jewish) Rothschild European banks", thus, according to Identity doctrine, the global banking conspiracy is led and controlled by Jewish interests.[60] Emry used the radio airwaves to promote his Christian Identity message and his book Billions for the Bankers, Debts for the People. Emry promoted abolishing the banks, which he suggested would solve most of society's ills, including unemployment, divorce, and women working outside the home.[61]

Eschatology

Christian Identity eschatology is dispensational premillennialist, including a physical return of Christ to earth and the final battle of Armageddon.[62] However, in contrast with dispensationalism and some other millennialist forms of fundamentalist Christianity, Christian Identity adherents reject the notion of a rapture.[63] Their predictions vary, and some include a race war or a Jewish-backed United Nations takeover of the US, and that they should wage a physical struggle against individuals and groups which serve the forces of evil.[64][65] While the Soviet Union has disappeared as a vital threat in their rhetoric, many Christian Identity adherents believe that Communists are secretly involved in international organizations like the United Nations, or the so-called "New World Order", in order to destroy the United States.[39]

Organizations

Rather than being an organized religion, Christian Identity is diverse and decentralized.[66] It is an ideology adhered to by a variety of groups. Some of these groups are churches and congregations, such as the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian,[67] Church of Israel,[68] LaPorte Church of Christ,[55] Elohim City,[69] Kingdom Identity Ministries,[70] and The Shepherd's Chapel. Others are activist groups and paramilitary organizations such as Aryan Nations,[71] Aryan Republican Army,[72] Assembly of Christian Soldiers, Christian Defense League,[73] The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord,[74] and White Patriot Party.[75] The prison gang Aryan Brotherhood was adheres to Identity, although it prioritizes criminal enterprise over ideology.[76] Other organizations that are not strictly Identity based, but have members who are or affiliations with Identity are Aryan Freedom Network and Posse Comitatus.[77]

Revolutionary violence

While most Identitarians have lived within the dominant culture, some Christian Identity groups on the fringe of the movement have been associated with revolutionary violence.[78]

Tax resister and militia movement organizer Gordon Kahl had connections to the Christian Identity movement. His death in a 1983 shootout with federal authorities inspired the founders of The Order.[79] The Order, whose main objective was to start a white supremacist revolution against the United States, was almost entirely made up of individuals who were associated with various Christian Identity groups.

Robert Millar's Elohim City, a white separatist community in Oklahoma which is associated with Christian Identity, is also associated with several violent acts. Chevie Kehoe spent time there following the Mueller family murders.[80] Timothy McVeigh called the compound prior to the Oklahoma City bombing and he is linked to community resident Andreas Strassmeir. Richard Wayne Snell is buried there. Midwest Bank bandit Kevin McCarthy was a resident.[81]

The Ozarks-based compound of The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord was the site of an FBI raid, which ultimately ended without shots fired as the result of CSA member Kerry Noble negotiating a surrender by CSA leader James Ellison.[82]

Within Christian Identity circles, the Phineas Priesthood is made up of individuals who have committed a "Phineas action"; a term which is broadly used in reference to murders of interracial couples, murders of same-sex couples, antisemitic acts, and violent acts against members of other non-white ethnic groups.[83] According to Houston-area writer John Craig, mass shooter Larry Gene Ashbrook had ties to the Phineas Priesthood.[84] Byron De La Beckwith, the assassin of NAACP and Civil rights movement leader Medgar Evers, was linked to the Phineas Priesthood.[85] Just before he entered prison to serve his sentence, De La Beckwith was ordained as a minister in the Temple Memorial Baptist Church, a Christian Identity congregation in Knoxville, Tennessee by Reverend Dewey "Buddy" Tucker.[86]

James Mason, an advisor to the Atomwaffen Division, an international far-right and neo-Nazi terrorist network which is responsible for at least 8 murders and the inspirational leader of the neo-Nazi accelerationist "siege culture", adheres to Christian Identity and he has also written multiple books about it, including Revisiting Revelation and One-Verse Charlies, among others.[87]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Aho 1990, p. 52, 105.
  2. ^ a b c d ADL 2017.
  3. ^ Southern Poverty Law Center.
  4. ^ a b Barkun 2014, p. x.
  5. ^ Barkun 2014, pp. xii–xiii.
  6. ^ Barkun 2014, p. xii.
  7. ^ Quarles 2004, p. 13.
  8. ^ Quarles 2004, pp. 13–19.
  9. ^ Gardell 2002, p. 165.
  10. ^ a b Davis 2010, p. 11.
  11. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 27.
  12. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 30.
  13. ^ Davis 2010, p. 18.
  14. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 29.
  15. ^ Barkun 2014, pp. 45–54.
  16. ^ Davis 2010, pp. 17–18.
  17. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 140.
  18. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 174.
  19. ^ Barkun 2014, pp. 60–85.
  20. ^ a b Kaplan 2000, p. 59.
  21. ^ a b Kaplan 2000, p. 296.
  22. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 61.
  23. ^ Kaplan 2000, pp. 115–116.
  24. ^ Levitas 2002, p. 110.
  25. ^ Kaplan 2000, p. 298.
  26. ^ Seymour 1991, p. 85.
  27. ^ Levitas 2002, p. 27.
  28. ^ Kaplan 2000, p. 13, 240.
  29. ^ Kaplan 2000, p. 52.
  30. ^ Bock 1993.
  31. ^ Eck 2001, p. 347.
  32. ^ Buck 2009, pp. 107–108, 213.
  33. ^ Kaplan 2000, p. 50-51, 53.
  34. ^ Aho 1990, p. 88.
  35. ^ Quarles 2004, p. 68.
  36. ^ Mason 2002.
  37. ^ James 2012.
  38. ^ Kidd 2006, p. 44.
  39. ^ a b c McFarland & Gottfried 2002.
  40. ^ a b c Aho 1990, p. 101.
  41. ^ Jessup 2006, p. 170.
  42. ^ a b c d Balleck 2018, p. 68.
  43. ^ Aho 1990, pp. 102–104.
  44. ^ Aho 1990, p. 100.
  45. ^ a b Kaplan 1997, p. 2.
  46. ^ a b Kaplan 2000, p. 51-52.
  47. ^ Marion, Samuel (2008). "Basics for Understanding Yahweh's Kingdom". Anglo-Saxon Israel. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  48. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 194.
  49. ^ Kim 2015, p. 39-43.
  50. ^ Kidd 2006, p. 150.
  51. ^ Comparet, Bertrand. "Who are the Jews?". Church of True Israel. Archived from the original on February 25, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  52. ^ Aho 1990, pp. 85–86.
  53. ^ Aho 1990, p. 86.
  54. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 202.
  55. ^ a b Barkun 2014, p. 203.
  56. ^ Barkun 2014, pp. 205–206.
  57. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 206.
  58. ^ Aho 1990, p. 87.
  59. ^ Aho 1990, p. 92.
  60. ^ a b Aho 1990, p. 91.
  61. ^ Levitas 2002, p. 181.
  62. ^ Aho 1990, p. 53-54.
  63. ^ Aho 1990, p. 272.
  64. ^ Kaplan 2002, p. 38.
  65. ^ Ingram 1995, p. 123.
  66. ^ Kaplan 1997, p. 5.
  67. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 63.
  68. ^ The Joplin Globe 2001.
  69. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 269.
  70. ^ Quarles 2004, p. 60.
  71. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 70.
  72. ^ Balleck 2018, p. 69.
  73. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 66.
  74. ^ Barkun 2014, p. 192.
  75. ^ Balleck 2018, p. 226.
  76. ^ Atkins 2011, p. 155.
  77. ^ Quarles 2004, p. 78.
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