Aryan Nations

Aryan Nations (AN, aka Church of Jesus Christ Christian) was one of the most prominent Christian Identity–based hate groups active in the 1980s. During that decade, AN developed a strong network comprising neo-Nazi, skinhead, Ku Klux Klan (KKK), white supremacist, and militia groups, many of which congregated and networked at the AN compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

The roots of the AN date back to the 1940s and the increased popularity of the Christian Identity movement in the United States. Christian Identity adherents believe that white Aryans are the “chosen people,” that blacks are subhuman, that Jews are descendents of the devil, and that the world is moving toward race war. In 1970, Richard Girnt Butler, newly ordained by the American Institute of Theology (AIT), which reflects Christian Identity beliefs, took over a large Christian Identity congregation in Lancaster, California, after its leader, Wesley Swift, died. In 1973 Butler moved the congregation to a compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho, and created the Church of Jesus Christ Christian. In 1978 Butler founded the church's political arm, the Aryan Nations.

Over the following years, Butler often referred to Hayden Lake as the “international headquarters of the White race.” In 1979 he began holding annual conferences that attracted members of various white supremacist groups, especially neo-Nazis and the KKK. AN even offered courses in guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism. By 1989 Butler had added Aryan Youth festivals as well, held on the weekend nearest to Hitler's birthday (April 20).

The AN gained significant public attention in the 1980s because of the actions of a splinter group called The Order (comprising several members of AN, including The Order's leader, Robert Jay Mathews, as well as members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance and some KKK groups). In a series of dramatic bank robberies, The Order stole over $4 million to fund the overthrow of the U.S. government and a race war, borrowing ideas from William Pierce's 1978 novel, The Turner Diaries. The Order collapsed in 1985 when 25 of its members were sent to prison.

In 1987, with many of its former members in jail, Aryan Nations began to publish a prison [Page 67]newsletter called The Way. The newsletter was used to spread Christian Identity beliefs and to connect AN with its prison faction, a prison gang known as the Aryan Brotherhood. It was also used to recruit new members, a growing concern for the organization because AN membership had begun to decline. In the early 1990s, several key members left AN. After clashing with Butler in 1993, Carl Franklin, then chief of staff and seen as the next leader of the group, left and took the security chief, Wayne Jones, with him. Others, such as Charles and Betty Tate, left to join groups elsewhere. At that time, AN had only three chapters in the United States. Despite infighting, AN began to actively recruit neo-Nazis and skinheads in an effort to increase membership. By 1994, AN had chapters in 15 states; by 1996, the organization was active in 27 states.

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