Christian Identity

The Christian Identity movement, which is made up of small separatist organizations whose leaders preach intolerance and hate through religion, exists on the far religious fringes of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and various western European countries. It is arguably an ideological movement first and a religious movement second; nevertheless, religious themes are central to its teachings and motivations.

Adherents of the Christian Identity movement admire Nazism and display hostility toward non-Whites, gay men and lesbians, and members of faiths outside Christianity. They embrace an extreme form of the doctrine of British-Israelism, asserting that the true inheritors of biblical Israel are in Britain and that God's chosen people were not the present-day people known as Jews but an imagined race of Israelis consisting of those of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, and Scandinavian heritage. They believe that people known as Jews and persons of color lack souls and are thus somehow less than human. Jews, in particular, are perceived as mortal enemies of White people and are said to harbor elaborate plans to take over the world. Christian Identity leaders preach that the end times are imminent and will involve a large-scale race war. As such, Christian Identity adherents arm themselves heavily in preparation for Armageddon, living together in remote compounds, spinning conspiracy theories, and often resisting taxation by government.

Organizations, congregations, and even loose clusters of individuals affiliated with the Christian Identity movement in the United States are commonly thought of as hate groups and are thus tracked closely by the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose mission is to encourage tolerance and combat discrimination in all forms. The best known American Christian Identity organizations are the Ku Klux Klan, which was revitalized in the 20th century by a Christian minister, William Simmons, and Aryan Nations, also founded by a Christian minister, Wesley Swift, in the mid-20th century. Swift in particular was known for interweaving anti-Semitism and pushing the limits of British-Israelism in his California congregation, the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, and on his daily radio program. By the 1970s, Swift's combination of Christianity and hate had gained influence not only in the Ku Klux Klan but also in traditionally secular right-wing hate groups, including neo-Nazis and racist skinheads. The Christian Identity movement also has links to militia movements and other manifestations of right-wing antigovernment activism in the United States and abroad.

Despite having relatively few affiliates (most estimates place its size at no more than 50,000 people), the Christian Identity movement in the United States has attracted publicity due to some of the more violent actions taken by its followers. The 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Christian Identity follower Randy Weaver made headlines across the world. Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh—who specifically mentioned the Ruby Ridge incident as a prime motivation for his 1995 crime—had links to Christian Identity, as did Eric Robert Rudolph, who pled guilty to bombing abortion clinics, a lesbian bar, and a public gathering at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In 1999, another adherent of the Christian Identity movement, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana, wounding several Orthodox Jews and Asian Americans and killing two people, including Northwestern University's men's basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, who was African American.

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