Army of God

In the early 1980s, a shadowy group calling itself the Army of God emerged in the antiabortion movement. Often linked to threatening or violent acts, investigators believe that it does not necessarily represent an organized group but has become an umbrella label for some extremists. However, many prochoice advocates maintain that there is a conspiracy among the more violent factions of the antiabortion movement, arguing that if the Army of God did not start as an organized group, certainly the vast networking capability spurred by the World Wide Web has given it some cohesion.

The group first surfaced in 1982 after the Army of God claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of an Illinois doctor and his wife and for the firebombing of two Florida abortion clinics. Authorities eventually arrested three men in the case. Don Benny Anderson, the ringleader in the abduction and founder ...