Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

IDENTITY CHRISTIANITY • 267The Identity Christian movement seems tailor-made to providea unifying religious and political worldview for such groups as thevarious Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and rightwingsurvivalist groups as well as a theological justification for theirpropagation of racial hatred. Among those groups that were foundedon variations of the Identity Christianity doctrine, or else that haveadopted that doctrine, are the Aryan Nations, The Order, and theChristian-Patriots Defense League. These groups have eitherdirectly participated in terrorist actions or condoned such actionsby their members. Such terrorism usually involves attacks on Jewsand other members of minority groups or attacks on officials of theU.S. federal government, which Identity Christians refer to as theZionist Occupation Government, or simply as ZOG. The Covenant,the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord was another such group thatceased to exist with the arrest and recantation of its leader.Not all white supremacists or extreme rightists necessarily professIdentity Christianity. The World Church of the Creator, run by MattHale, a white supremacist, and headquartered in East Peoria, Illinois,is an explicitly anti-Christian as well as anti-Jewish white supremacistgroup operating under cover of religion that disdains open associationwith Identity Christian theology. Following Hale’s conviction on25 April 2004 for solicitation of murder against a U.S. district courtjudge and his subsequent imprisonment, his organization has goneinto decline. Robert dePugh, founder of the Minutemen, was actuallyan avowed atheist. The leader of The Order, Robert Mathews,who once professed Identity Christianity, later secretly became aworshiper of the Norse gods. Nonetheless, such leaders have cynicallyused Identity Christianity as a means for attracting the supportof disaffected white Christians who might otherwise be uninterestedin the white supremacist political message. Viewed as a religiousphenomenon, Identity Christianity recalls the Marcionist doctrineof the early Christian era, an anti-Semitic interpretation of the NewTestament that denied the validity of the Old Testament but that wasrejected as heresy by orthodox Christian theologians. Viewed simplyas a political phenomenon, the Identity Christian movement is theclosest thing to an indigenous American Fascist ideology, havingwidespread appeal among politically disenchanted white populists.According to the Anti-Defamation League, the total adherentsof Identity Christianity by 2005 numbered at least 25,000 and were