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Christian Identity: a Christian Response

Radical racist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and White Aryan Resistance, live on the fringes of society, inhabiting a dark underworld that few know about and fewer still understand. Those that do not know anything about them tend to equate these groups with violent political action connected to outdated ideologies.

What few know, however, is that these groups are increasingly motivated to action by the religious and theological teachings of a movement called Christian Identity. This movement, which purports to reveal the "true" identity of the white race as the chosen people of God, remains largely unstudied and misunderstood; this has left any systemized attempt to refute its teachings ill-prepared and under-equipped.

This paper will trace Christian Identity's roots, outline its basic theology, and show the potential for danger the group poses to the world. It will end with a few general guidelines on how the Christian Church can respond to this threat in the spirit of the Gospel.

History

The roots of the Identity movement reach back into the late 18th century to an obscure ideology call British-Israelism. The central tenant of this movement began with Richard Brothers, a retired British naval officer who claimed to be receiving millenarian visions in 1791.

By 1793 he was convinced that it was his divine mission to lead the Jewish people back to the Holy Land. Claiming to be a descendant of the house of David, Brothers also claimed that the vast majority of the world's Jews were, in fact, dispersed and hidden through the European peoples, ignorant of their biblical identity (Barkun 1994, 6).

This idea of a "hidden" Israel, dispersed among the people of Europe, becomes the founding principle of British-Israelism, setting it apart from many of its contemporary occult theologies. Brothers felt that the British people were especially connected to the biblical Israel and that God had special designs for them.

He gathered a small following, but was unable to organize a structured group. His behavior becoming increasingly erratic and eccentric, Brothers was declared legally insane and institutionalized from 1795 until 1806, dying some 18 years later a destitute man (Barkun 1994, 6).

It was not until 1840, with the release of John Wilson's Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin, that the British-Israelism movement began to gain momentum. Bringing British- Israelism to a large middle-class audience, Wilson attempted to provide some empirical evidence for his claims of English succession to Israel.

One of his favorite techniques was to search for English and Hebrew words that sound the same (Barkun 1994, 7). Thus, British- Israelists (and later, Identity preachers) claim that the word "English" is a corruption of the Hebrew an ("one"), gael ("stammer"), and ish ("man"); an Englishman is thus "a stammering man.¹"

They also argue that the name Britannia comes from the Phoenician water god, Barati, and that "Scot" is a corruption of Gad². Such arguments disregard the opinions of linguists, who argue that the English language derives from the Germanic family and has no Semitic influence to speak of (Aho 1990, 107-108).

Wilson, and British-Israelism in general, never denied that the modern-day Jews were not descendants of the biblical people. However, he did not think that they held as high a status because they were descendant from the southern kingdom of Judah, inheriting only those divine promises given to Judah.

The European peoples, on the other hand, were descended from the scattered tribes of Israel, the northern kingdom which was destroyed by the Assyrian conquest of 721 BCE, and to which the majority of biblical promises had been made (Barkun 1994, 7).

According to Identity beliefs, after the Assyrian conquest the ten tribes were scattered, gradually making their way north and settling in what is now Britain (see appendix one). They became the Anglo-Saxon people and the progenitors of all white peoples.

The truth, of course, is that the ten tribes of the northern kingdom were overrun by the Assyrian army, the religious leaders and the wealthy deported. National and ethnic identities were blurred as the Assyrians resettled the area, and the Israelites were absorbed into the Assyrian empire (Alstr�m 1993, 670, 676-677).

Wilson was also skeptical about the modern Jew's claims to pure descent from the biblical people. Wilson believed that centuries of intermarriage had diluted the biblical bloodline, eroding the spiritual center of the Jewish people (though he never made such claims for European peoples). Because of this impure lineage, modern Jews are no longer a part of God's covenant; they have inherited the "curse of the Gentiles," which may only be lifted with the acceptance of Jesus Christ (Barkun 1994, 7-8).

The beginning of the Identity movement in the United States is often traced to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a series of articles published under the eye of Henry Ford in his hometown newspaper. Collected under the title The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem in the 1920s, the Protocols purported to expose a series of Jewish plots such as the Russian Revolution and Communism, Freemasonry, control of the world's banks and the usury system, and trade unions.

The author of the articles, William Cameron, founded the Anglo- Saxon Federation of American in 1928, publishing Destiny magazine as a British-Israelist publication. This became the premier British-Israelist periodical in the country, with a readership comprised of some of the top racist and anti-Semitic figures of the time (Zeskind 1986, 12-13).

Figures such as Wesley Swift and Bertram Comparet systematized the emerging Identity theology and introduced it to the rising white supremacist movement, founding such organizations as the Church of Jesus Christ--Christian and the Christian Defense League in the middle of the 20th century.

The Identity movement has since spread, producing such notable preachers as Richard Butler of the Aryan Nations, Bill Gale and Jim Wickstrom of Posse Comitatus, and Pete Peters, one of Identity's "rising stars" (Zeskind 1986, 10, 12-13).

Theology

Since the first attempts at a systematic Identity theology, the movement has elaborated on British-Israelism and allowed new theories to take root. However, the most distinctive feature of Identity theology remains its decidedly racial character; indeed, race is the normative feature of Identity theology. Every theological category employed by Identity preachers passes through their racial theories.

For instance, early Identity members struggled with traditional Christian anthropology; specifically, they wondered how both blacks and whites could be descendants of the same original human.

Drawing upon Victorian science, it seemed clear that, for instance, blacks and whites display different physical characteristics, making the idea of a common ancestor unlikely. Drawing on the work of Isaac de la Peyr�re, a 17th century Calvinist who advocated the idea of two creations (one for Gentiles.

The second for the creation of Adam) and of Dominick M'Causland, a 19th century Englishman who wrote Adam and the Adamite, British-Israelism had developed a historical theology of creation based upon the presupposition that all nonwhites were descendant from a sub-human, pre-Adamic species.

Such a development in theological thought also clears up certain questions that arise from the biblical text. For instance, when faced with the dilemma of where Cain's wife came from, Identity theology asserts that she was of one of the pre-Adamic races (Barkun 1994, 154).

The corollary to this belief, of course, is that Adam represents the creation of the white race. As evidence of this, Identity preachers trace the etymology of the Hebrew word adam back to a stem meaning "ruddy" or "flush." Their logic is that, because only white people are capable of blushing, the meaning of adam clearly links Adam with only the white race³ (Christian... 7).

Identity theology bolsters this dualistic view of human origin by claiming that God wishes the two races to be kept separate; Identity thought clearly promotes segregation as a divine command. For proof, Identity churches look to the sixth chapter of Genesis and the legend of the "sons of God" marrying the "daughters of man."

In Identity interpretations of this story, the sons of God are alternately painted as either the nonwhite pre-Adamites or as pure- blooded whites, with the daughters of men corresponding to either Adamite women or women of mixed race who marry the Adamite men illicitly (Barkun 1994, 158-159).

In either case, it is the sin of race-mixing which leads directly to the Flood. Noah alone is spared, for he was "blameless in his generation" (Gen 6:10). In Identity thought, however, this means not that Noah was a moral or upstanding person, but that he alone could trace his lineage back to the first white man, Adam.

The race-mixing of the other Adamic descendants condemned them to death, necessitating that God "purify" the bloodline. Many Identity theorists also propose that the Flood was a localized, not a universal, event; in this way the pre-Adamic races continued upon the earth to the present day (Barkun 1994, 158-159, 164).

Following this logic through, Identity theology develops a soteriology which regards race as the determining factor of salvation.

Re-interpreting the biblical text, the struggle of the ancient Hebrews is not seen as an attempt to cling to a religious identity, but a racial identity. Religion and race become inseparable, and similarities in religion become the basis on which to assume similarities in race.

For instance, C.G. Campbell argued that Christianity and Zoroastrianism were similar because they were developed by similar racial groups (Zesking 1996, 18-19).

This racial theory serves to connect present day Anglo-Saxons to biblical prophecies. Appealing to the Hebrew prophets, Identity theology claims that the centuries between the fall of the northern kingdom and the time that Christianity spread across Europe were pre-ordained as a time of "lost identity."

The "re-discovery" of the true nature of the ancient Israelites, and their modern descendants, is seen as the key to understanding biblical prophesy and current events. This people will necessarily play a vital role in establishing God's kingdom on earth (Zeskind 1984, 17-19).

Because of its fervent belief in Anglo-Saxons as the only descendants of biblical Israel, Identity theology has had to account for the modern-day Jews and their heritage. The Christian Identity Church of Harrison, Arkansas, explains the common Identity belief in terse and vivid language in its Doctrinal Statement of Beliefs:

We believe in an existing being knows as the Devil or Satan and called the Serpent, who has a literal "seed" or posterity in the earth commonly called Jews today. These children of Satan through Cain are a race of vipers, anti-Christs who have throughout history always been a curse to true Israel, the Church of God, because of a natural enmity between the two races, because they do the works of their father the Devil... The ultimate end of this evil race whose hands bear the blood of our Savior and all the righteous slain upon the earth, is Divine judgement (Christian... 6-7).

The development of this "seedline" theory began with the pre-Adamic theory of creation held by British-Israelism. However, by the 1960s, a distinctive history of the Jewish bloodline had emerged, first systematized by Conrod Gaard. Gaard believed that the biblical serpent was a member of one of the pre-Adamic races, a race in eternal struggle with the "pure seed" of Adam. Gaard was less interested in Cain's actual parentage (since he took a pre-Adamic wife and in that way betrayed his race) that his is in Cain's relationship with Satan.

According to Gaard, Cain founded the first world government, a kingdom devoted to carrying out the work of the Devil on earth. This kingdom continues into the modern day and includes Communist Russia and China, the Illuminati, as well as all attempts at a one world government (Barkun 1994, 178).

Identity thinkers extrapolated this idea over the years, attempting to provide biblical foundations to the seedline theory based on the belief that the sin of Eve was sexual union with the serpent.

Jarah B. Crawford, a former minister in the Assembly of God church and often considered the foremost Identity interpreter of the Bible, believes that all but five books of the Bible have a decidedly racial character to them and provide the basis for segregation and the seedline theory.

In truth, however, much of Crawford's writing is merely a rehashing of previous Identity materials on the subject; Crawford simply lifts Scriptural passages to bolster his position (Barkun 1994, 190).

The belief of the special place of the Anglo-Saxons in the coming kingdom is also tied to Identity theology's regard for the United States and Great Britain. Equating these two nations with Manasseh and Ephraim, Identity theology holds that each nation has inherited the blessings of the two sons of Joseph to be "a nation" and "a company of nations" (Gen 48: 19)⁴.

Together, the birthright of these two nations is to be "the wealthiest, most powerful nations on earth," to "colonize the world." The United States is often equated with the new Promised Land, where God "will assemble the outcasts of Israel" (Isa 11: 12), the prosperity of the United States seen as proof of Identity's convictions (Zeskind 1986, 19).

Christian Identity adherents believe that America was divinely established as a Christian Republic. This is a nuanced but important component to Identity political theory, because in a republic, it is the individual who is sovereign, not the majority as in a democracy.

Many of Identity's political agendas, such as tax rebellion, common law, the role of the judicial branch, and the role of law enforcement, stem directly from this belief in the rights of the individual (Zeskind 1986, 36-37).

Pointing to various anti-Semitic writings, Identity adherents also point out that the Founding Fathers took the "Jewish threat" very seriously (Eastern...).

However, they also believe that this divinely founded government has been compromised by the Jewish conspiracy; the ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government) is responsible for the decline of American society because it has fallen into non-Christian hands.

They are especially concerned about the separation of Church and state, which they describe as a Jewish plot intended to undermine Christian values. They believe that the proper place of the government is under the auspices of the Church. As Bill Gale, a noted Identity preacher, wrote,

the 'Church' is comprised of the many membered body of Jesus Christ... Is our Christian Constitutional Republic a government "of the people by the people for the people [sic]." If so, then are not the people the government. Government is then the business of the Church, since the Church and the People are synonymous... The government is nothing but an expansion of the Christian Church" (quoted in Zeskind 1986 25, 36).

Because of these dual views of the American government, two contradictory tendencies then arise in Identity theory concerning the exact relationship between God, government, and "the people" (identified solely as Anglo-Saxon Christians). First, Identity theology states that the people cannot serve both God and human beings.

Because the government is the province of humans, it must be subjugated to obedience of God. On the other hand, Identity theology also claims that there should be no conflict between obedience to God and obedience to the government.

The laws of the country should reflect God's law; therefore, as the country has slowly shifted toward democratic, rather than republican form of government, it has erred against God's law and must be corrected (Zeskind 1986, 36-37).

Modern Christian Identity ideology is often associated with Protestant Fundamentalism because of their shared interest in eschatology and End-Time scenarios; this is not always far from the truth. Both promote a dispensationalist view of history.

That is, they believe in a specific ordering of time decreed by divine will. Each of these periods in history begins with a divine revelation and ends with a divine judgement.

Both the Christian Right and the Identity movement also tend to be Pre-millennialists. They believe that, before the Second Coming, there will be a period of Tribulation in which the world will be overtaken by evil, after which Christ will return to rule in peace for a thousand years (Zeskind 1986, 22).

However, there are sharp distinctions between Identity beliefs and those of the traditional Christian Right. For instance, Identity churches hold no belief in the Rapture, the gathering of the elect before the Tribulation. The Identity movement holds that the Rapture is a satanic plot meant to lull Christians into a sense of complacency and false security by claiming that the elect will have no part to play in--indeed, will be totally removed from--the Tribulation (Minges 1995, 92).

Instead, Identity members claim that the elect will remain on Earth during the Tribulation to fight the agents of Satan and the sin they bring into the world. Chosen on the basis of race, these elect will be the front line soldiers of the End Times, charged by God to warn their fellow Christians of the coming trials and to act swiftly to "overcome" evil (Zeskind 1984, 24).

Identity thought sees the signs of this coming apocalyptic conflict everywhere. One tract from the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord describes witches "sexually mutilating people," "sodomite homosexuals waiting in their lusts to rape," "negro beasts who eat the flesh of men," and "seed of Satan Jews sacrificing people in darkness" (quoted in Minges 1995, 93).

Another common theme in Identity literature is that the End Times are upon us because of Israel's (that is, the white race's) disobedience to the covenant. The sins committed by God's race include miscegenation, homosexuality, abortion, promiscuity, and fornication.

The divine punishments enacted upon Israel for these sins include "the plague of AIDS," sometimes called Acquired Immoral Deadly Sin, "sickness, disease, loss of jobs, drought, floods, venereal disease, farm foreclosures, business bankruptcies, government regulations, licenses, [and] excessive taxation" (Gayman).

Regardless, Identity believers see in current events the unfolding of the End Times, the fulfillment of biblical prophesy. Social security numbers and diver's licenses are seen as the "Mark of the Beast" (Rev 4:19). Members have begun to stockpile food, water, and supplies for the coming Armageddon.

Many groups, such as the Aryan nations, believe that Satan is attacking them directly through the government. Conflicts arise, and Identity believers are forced to translate their beliefs into action (Zeskind 1986, 24-25).

Action

Though not always in the public eye, this action does arise, often in violent ways. One Identity group which has risen into the public eye because of its initiatives is the Order (known to its members as Bruders Schweigen, or the Silent Brotherhood).

Founded by Robert Matthews in the fall of 1983, the Order embarked on a series of robberies, counterfeiting schemes and murder until Matthews was killed in a shootout with police in December of 1984 (Barkun 1994, 228).

The Order was patterned after a paramilitary group in the novel The Turner Diaries. First published in serial form between 1975 and 1978, The Turner Diaries recounts the seizure of southern California by a white power group calling itself the Organization.

The novel's hero, Earl Turner, joins the group by expelling nonwhites from their area of control and fighting "the System" with nuclear arms stolen from Air Force bases.

Though not an Identity text per se, the novel does depict Turner's initiation in the Order, the Organization's inner circle, during which Turner describes a feeling of being "born again," and of realizing that "we are truly instruments of God in the fulfillment of His Grand Design," thus appealing to a wide audience of Identity sympathizers (quoted in Barkun 1994, 226-227).

The Order was finally brought to the public's attention during a wave of violent crime in 1984. In July of that year members of the Order pulled off a daring hijacking of an armored car, recovering $3.8 million. This money was contributed to various right-wing causes and used to fund the Order. However, the Order's most notorious act of violence was the murder of radio talk-show host Alan Berg in December of 1984.

Known for baiting extremists on his Denver program, the Jewish Berg may have been a last-minute substitution for Morris Dee, the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The murder led to a massive manhunt, ending in Matthews' death and the apprehension of other Order members (Barkun 1994 228).

Identity theology potential for violence is not only direct to those outside of Identity's grasp. Because of their cult-like structure, often centered around a single charismatic individual, as well as its emphatic commitment to End Time theories, Identity groups have a large potential for internal violence.

In some Identity churches, members of Identity groups are encouraged to see themselves as "the chosen few," the perfect specimens of humanity against the "other." When members fail to live up to these idealized expectations, they must be purified of their sin or expelled from the group (Young 1990, 156-157).

In at least one instance the leaders of an Identity church actually murdered a fellow Identity member for allegedly having "bad thoughts" and poisoning a turkey. Over the course of three days the victim was, among other atrocities, sodomized with a shovel handle, whipped, and had his fingertips shot off.

On the third day he was kicked and beaten to death by the church' elder and his brother. He dead body was again shot and placed in a grave. The two church leaders were later convicted of murder (Young 1990, 150-151, 155-156).

Not all Identity groups promote such violence. Indeed, following Robert Matthew's death, Dan Gayman, pastor of the Church of Israel in Schell City, Missouri, issued a strong dissent against the tactics of groups such as the Order, saying,

This body of Christian believers [does] not believe in and would not condone crimes including counterfeiting, armed robbery, murder of law officers, and a variety of other crimes spawned by the ORDER and openly condoned and sometimes encouraged by a variety of militant organizations... No single group in post World War II history has done so much to discredit, malign, and retard the growth of the Gospel of the Kingdom in North America (quoted in Barkun 1994, 232)⁵.

Many of these more peaceful Identity groups are content to remain isolated from society, providing services for its members. Working out of what H. Richard Niebuhr calls a stance of "Christ against culture," such groups remove themselves from the context of the larger society to insulate themselves from the "satanic" influences that have corrupted the world (Niebuhr 1956, 45). Consequently, they must develop ways of remaining at least partially self-sufficient.

For instance, the Church of Israel in Schell City provides a wide variety of services for its members, including a home schooling ministry, health ministry, home birthing assistance, and seminars on "building the Christian family" (Gayman 1988, 2). However, these do groups to retain their racist theologies, even if they are not among the more radical Identity groups.

Despite this tendency to eschew society, an increasing number of groups associated with Identity theology have begun to branch out, actively recruiting new members. Ironically, one of their greatest tools in evangelism is their eschatological views.

Because they are so similar to the views of many Christian Fundamentalists, and do not reveal any of Identity's racist or anti- Semitic teachings, they have been an easy point of entry for Identity preachers seeking a larger audience. Quoting chapter and verse, their arguments tend to resonant within the biblically- minded Fundamentalists (Zeskind 1986, 33).

Another tool that is rapidly becoming a standard component of Identity's evangelical outreach is the Internet. A simple search of any Internet search engine reveals the wide variety of racist and anti-Semitic sites available. Sites such as Kingdom Identity Ministries, Scriptures for America Worldwide, and Christian Defense League are devoted to spreading their ideology across the country--and, potentially, across the world.

Reflection

Given the Identity movement's potential for violence, the question arises as to what the Church's response should be. What steps can be taken to combat racism and bigotry in the name of God, and ensure that the members of the Body of Christ do not fall into Identity's snare? Though a detailed, systematic answer to these questions are beyond the bounds of this paper, a few general principles may prove helpful.

Firstly, the Church should not shy away from talking about race and ethnicity. In recent years there has been a disturbing reluctance in society to discuss matters of race as a present or future problem. The overwhelming impetus has been one in which race is presented as a problem of the past, such as the treatment of minorities in Nazi Germany or slaves in colonial America.

Consequently, fear arises when individuals are confronted with race; because race is perceived as a problem of the past, it should not need to be brought up in today's world (Musulin 1968, 94-95).

This is patently false. One need only read the daily paper to see that race continues to be a factor which challenges our preconceived notions of "progress" and "forward momentum."

While the roots of racism, contained in the past, must be understood, the absence of a serious understanding of current race problems will only make it more difficult to separate conflicting points of view--even those within the Christian tradition. This confusion can only lead to greater apprehension and misunderstanding (Musulin 1968, 98-100).

To combat this trend, new understanding about personal and societal relationships must emerge; the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18; par. Mt 19:19) must be interpreted in news ways. In a society in which communication is virtually instantaneous and events impact the most remote parts of the world, "neighbor" can no longer be seen in the same light as it was even 50 years ago. Rather, the commandment must be interpreted in a broader sense, encompassing broader duties.

For instance, when information on important moral issues is as readily available as the nearest library, television, or computer terminal, ignorance can no longer be tolerated as an excuse for being ill-informed of current crises.

Indeed, some have argued that it is the moral duty of Christians to educate themselves and face new moral situations as they arise in the world (Musulin 1968, 94).

This includes being aware of, and taking seriously, the threat represented by Christian Identity groups, as well as other extremist ideologies. Dismissing such groups as being driven by "ignorance, or stupidity, or intolerance" ignores the foundations of such ideologies and does a disservice to efforts to neutralize them (Novick 1995, 323).

The brief outline of Identity theology presented here should make it painfully obvious that these groups have moved beyond mere ignorance of the Christian tradition and into an alternate theology opposed to the authentic spirit of the Gospel message.

In addition to facing problems of race in the world, the Church and its members must recognize and promote biblical views which promote healthy pluralism and diversity.

For instance, the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) has long been interpreted as a story of divine punishment inflicted upon humanity, a corollary to the Fall. However, there may be other ways of looking at this story.

The narrative itself is vague and full of gaps: no specific sin is stated that leads to the divine judgement, nor is any reason given for God's direct intervention, except for a concern that "this is only the beginning of what they will do" (vs. 6).

Consequently, a "maximum" interpretation has prevailed in Christian theology, stating that humans wished to "storm the heavens" and take the place of God (Anderson 1977, 66).

However, many Jewish and Christian interpreters, beginning with Josephus, present a tamer view: humans, wary of the wilderness and searching for a safe place, congregate in a large city, rebelling against God's command to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen 1:28).

The workers of Babel do not wish to storm heaven, but to stay close together on the earth; the tower, in this interpretation, is nothing more than impressively high building.

Working together, the humans in Babel represent a homogeneous people, one which speaks the same language. God, to compel humanity to obey the divine command, scatters people to the corners of the earth and confuses their language, ensuring that they will not be able to come together in such a way again.

The story of Babel is placed after the Table of Nations (Gen 10) to explain the ethnic and linguistic differences among the descendants of Noah, giving us a biblical view which portrays pluralism as normative, at least when it comes to language and ethnicity (Anderson 1977, 66-67).

However, the Bible also goes beyond merely condoning plurality to admonishing the believer to respect the "other." From the story of the exodus to Christ's parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37), it is the alien, the "other," who is seen as in need of compassion and care.

In the Hebrew Scriptures this is portrayed as a direct result of the Exodus experience, a call to remember the origins of the Hebrew people: "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt" (Ex 22:21).

The story of the Good Samaritan solidifies this view by presenting vivid illustrations of behavior (Musulin 1968, 106).

Masking racism as religion and espousing religious dogmas that few care to discuss, Christian Identity has laid quietly for years, slowly evolving a sophisticated and systematic theology of hate.

Only when violence erupts in their wake do people come to realize the danger such theologies pose. However, with a better understanding of Identity's beliefs and aware of the Gospel's imperative to "love your neighbor," the Christian Church can better prepare itself to resist Christian Identity groups and refute their racist teachings.

Notes

1. Linguists, on the other hand, believe that "English" is a contraction of the Old English angul ("angle") and isc ("having the nationality of"). The English are thus the "nation of the angle," the shape of the original homeland of the Anguls (Aho 1990, 107).

2. Though not within the scope of this paper, it would be interesting to see what Identity proponents make of the word abba.

3. Of course, they ignore other possible etymologies, such as a play of words on adama, which means "earth"; it is from adama that adam is fashioned (Wallace 1992, 62-62).

4. All biblical quotations are from The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha - New Revised Standard Version, edited by Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy.

5. This is ironic, considering that it is rumored that Roberts Matthews gave $10,000 to Gayman after the Order's armored car heist (Barkun 1994, 228).

References

Ahlstr�m, G�sta W. 1993. The History of Ancient Palestine. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Aho, James A. 1990. The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Anderson, Bernhard. 1977. "The Babel Story: Paradigm of Human Unity and Diversity." Ethnicity. Concilium: Religion in the Seventies. New York: Seabury Press, 63-70.

Barkun, Michael. 1994. Religion and the Racist Right. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

Christian Identity Church. "Doctrinal Statement o Beliefs." Undated tract. Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, Spencer Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Eastern Patriots Association. "Acknowledgment of our Founding Fathers." Undated tract. Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, Spencer Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Gayman, Daniel. Undated letter to the "Christian Israelite Remnant." Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, Spencer Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

--------. 1988. Annual newsletter. Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, Spencer Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Metzger, Bruce M., and Roland E. Murphy, ed.. 1991. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha - New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.

Minges, Patrick. 1995. "Apocalypse Now! The Realized Eschatology of the 'Christian Identity' Movement." Union Seminary Quarterly Review. 49 no. 1-2: 83-107.

Musulin, Janko. 1968. "Races and Minorities: A Matter of Conscience." Moral Theology: The Social Message of the Gospels. Concilium: Theology in the Age of Renewal. New York: Paulist Press, 93-108.

Niebuhr, H. Richard. 1956. Christ and Culture. New York: Harper.

Novick, Michael. 1995. White Lies, White Power: The Fight Against White Supremacy and Reactionary Violence. Monroe: Common Courage Press.

Walace, Howard N. 1992. "Adam." The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 1, ed. David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 62-64.

Young, Thomas J. 1990. "Cult Violence and the Identity Movement." Cultic Studies Journal. 7 no. 2: 150-159.

Zeskind, Leonard. 1986. The "Christian Identity" Movement: Analyzing its Theological Rationalization for Racist and Anti-Semitic Violence. Atlanta: Center for Democratic Renewal.

Christian Identity was written as a senior seminar paper during my undergraduate work.
Text and title image � 1999, 2000 Jonathan F. Sullivan

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