Christian Identity

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{{christianity}}
'''Christian identity''' is a [[racist]] [[religious]] [[philosophy]] and a way of translating [[Christianity]] within the racist framework understood by some [[white supremacists]], [[Ku Klux Klan|Klansmen]], [[Neo-Confederate|neo-Confederates]], [[Antisemitism|anti-Semites]], and [[Neo-Nazis]].

The movement largely peaked in the 1980s and 1990s, but remains a virulent threat for mobilizing violence among the far-right, through its use of social media platforms such as [[Telegram]].<ref name=middlebury />

==Tenets==
In a nutshell, here is all you will ever need to know about these [[Crank|loony-tune whackjobs]]. They believe the following:

# The nation of [[Israel]] and the [[Ten Lost Tribes]] in the [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]] is the [[Celt]]ic, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Slavic, Scandinavian peoples and their descendants.<ref name=Barkun>{{Cite book |last=Barkun |first=Michael |title=Religion and the racist right: the origins of the Christian Identity movement |date=1997 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2328-6 |edition=Rev. ed |location=Chapel Hill}}</ref>{{rp|x-xi}}
# [[Jews]] are not the true Israelites of the Bible, but [[Evil Jew|impostors to the claim]].<ref name=Barkun/>{{rp|xi}} Some versions of Christian Identity [[Serpent seed doctrine|teach]] that the Jews are literally the offspring of [[Cain]], the result of the [[devil]] having [[sex|sexual intercourse]] with [[Eve]] in the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref name=Barkun/>{{rp|150}}  Others regard Jews merely as impostors who aren't real Israelites, but [[Khazar myth|converts from the Khazar tribe]] during the [[Middle Ages]]<ref name=Barkun/>{{rp|122}} (some Khazars converted to Judaism, but they left few traces in modern Jewish genetics). Both versions are still pure whackjob [[wingnut]]tery, regardless. Also, the Jews cannot be descended from Cain according to the bible, because the Bible says that all of Cain's descendants were killed in the flood (since they were not on the ark).
# Some versions of Identity follow a strict chronological reading of the creation story in the book of [[Genesis]], resulting in the bizarre (even for [[creationism]]) belief that there were two different creations of humans. Non-white people were created out of mud along with the animals on the sixth day in {{bible|Genesis|1|26}}. [[Adam and Eve]], the "first white people" according to Identity, were created out of clay ''after'' the original 7 days of the "creation" in {{bible|Genesis|2|7|22}}.<ref name=Barkun/>{{rp|151-69}} Thus Identity types often refer to non-whites as "mud people", claiming that they have no [[soul]]s and that it's okay for the pure ones to rule over them. This usage of "mud people" is not exclusive to Identity, and has spread to other white supremacists. Compare racial polyphyletism.
# Some versions of Identity see the [[United States]] as the promised land that [[YHWH|God]] promised to his people in Bible [[prophecy]]. However, the current U.S. government is ungodly and [[International Jewish Conspiracy|controlled by the Jews]], so the U.S. government is called the [[Zionist Occupation Government]], or simply "ZOG"<ref name="middlebury" /><ref name=Barkun/>{{rp|228}} — another term that has passed from Identity into broader white-supremacist usage.
# Racial integration and [[homosexuality]] are [[Capital punishment|crimes worthy of death]].

=="Evidence"==
Identity believers, when they try to make a case for their wingnuttery at all, rely heavily on [[British Israelism]], a long-discredited 19<sup>th</sup> century [[Pseudoscience|quack]] [[archaeology|archaeological]] [[hypothesis]] pushed by people trying to make a connection between the [[lost tribes of Israel]] and the people of the [[British Isles]].<ref name=middlebury /> More often, they don't even go that far and just string a few Bible verses together out of context to back up their claims. One of their favorites is to use a phony etymology of the name Adam, claiming it means "one who can show blood in the face" (i.e. a white person), to "prove" Adam and Eve were pure white [[Aryan]] types. Instead, as any Biblical scholar will know, 'Adam' is a [[Hebrew]] pun — 'Adam' (which is also the word for 'man') was made from 'ha adamah' — the earth. In other words, ''all'' humans come from "mud races", whites and blacks alike.

==Debunked==
The very notions of Christian Identity are easily debunked by the very book they (claim to) read: the [[Bible]], ironically. The truth is the Bible pretty much rejects the concept of race and the Jews are considered to be "god's chosen people" (at least not by name) in these verses:
*{{bible|Galatians|3|28}}: Which explicitly states "There is neither Jew nor Greek"
*{{bible|Romans|10|12}}: It states that "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile" (or Greek depending on some versions)
*{{bible|Colossians|3|11}}: The verse reaffirms the statement in Galatians 3:28 that there's no racial difference between a Jew and Gentile.
*{{bible|Romans|1|16}}: The verse states that the power of God's salvation goes to "first to the Jew, then to the Gentile"
*{{bible|1 Corinthians|12|13}}: "For we are all [[Baptism|baptized]] by one spirit so as to form one body — whether Jews or Gentiles, [[slave]] or free — and we were given the one spirit to drink". In other words, anyone regardless of race is baptized under one God.
*{{bible|Deuteronomy|7|6}}: While the verse does not explicitly mention the Jews, it does at least make reference to them as God's chosen people out of the other tribes and their experiences as slaves in [[Egypt]] by the [[Pharaoh]].
*{{bible|John|1|47}}: Even if they were the Israelites, Jesus only considers those without deceit to be the "true Israelites".

==Followers==
*{{wpl|Louis Beam||,}} [[Vietnam War]] veteran and Grand Dragon of the Knights of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and later activist for [[Aryan Nations]]
*Lawrence Blanchard, author of the racist "Covenant Heritage" screeds<ref>Lawrence Blanchard, ''Discover the Story of Your Biblical Heritage: Laying the Foundation'', 2012. {{isbn|9780971432826}}.</ref><ref>Lawrence Blanchard, ''Identifying Biblical Israel Today: The Evidence'', 2013. {{isbn|9780971432840}}.</ref><ref>Lawrence Blanchard, ''The Foundation and Fulfillment of The Old and New Covenant Scriptures: One Book – One People'', 2013. {{isbn|9780971432857}}.</ref><ref>Lawrence Blanchard, ''God’s Covenant Creation: Adam’s Race and Mandate'', 2014. {{isbn|9780971432864}}.</ref>
*[[Mark Downey]], [[Kinsman Redeemer Ministries]]
*[[Don Elmore]], [[Fellowship of God's Covenant People]]
*William Finck, Christogenea [[webshite]]<ref>[https://extremismterms.adl.org/glossary/william-finck William Fink], Glossary of Extremism and Hate, Anti-Defamation League.</ref><ref name=middlebury>[https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/christian-identitys-new-role-extreme-right Christian Identity's New Role On The Extreme Right]. Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, 6 August 2021.</ref>
*Mike Hallimore, Kingdom Identity Ministries<ref>[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/kingdom-identity-ministries Kingdom Identify Ministries] at the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]]. ''"Kingdom Identity Ministries is the largest supplier in existence of materials related to Christian Identity, a radical-right theology that generally identifies people of color as soulless sub-humans and Jews as satanic or cursed by God."'' Retrieved on 7 January 2018.</ref>
*[[Peter J. Peters]], founder of La Porte Church of Christ and Scriptures for America, a somewhat notorious extremist who shared their beliefs but tried to distance himself from the Identity label
*[[Eric Robert Rudolph]], convicted [[terrorist]] responsible for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park bombing and the bombing of an [[abortion]] clinic
*{{wpl|James Wickstrom||,}} American radio talk show host, minister, white supremacist and staunch antisemite based in Linwood, Michigan<ref>[http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2015/01/1251-james-p-wickstrom.html James P. Wickstrom], [[Encyclopedia of American Loons]].</ref>

==See also==
*[[Aryan Nations]], the largest Christian Identity movement that existed
*[[Creativity Movement|Creativity]], another white centric religious movement
*[[Black Hebrew Israelites]], not a racist religious movement per se but its more extreme elements essentially come off as a black version of Christian Identity
*[[Henry Ford]], the man most responsible for redpilling [[British Israelism]] into this.
*[[Nazism]], literally the only difference between Christian Identity and Nazism is that the former has swastikas and Germanic rune imagery in place of Christian imagery.
*[[Neo-Confederate]], some happen to follow Christian Identity
*[[Positive Christianity]], the version of Christianity promoted by the original Nazis
*[[Matthew Heimbach|Traditionalist Worker Party]], a [[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazi]], [[Third Position|Third Positionist]] political party led by Matthew Heimbach that follows Christianity in a white nationalist, anti-Semitic sense like Christian Identity.
*[[Vigrid]], its Nordic neo-pagan version
*[[White supremacism]], the main facet of Christian Identity
*[[White nationalism]], the other main facet of Christianity Identity
*[[White extinction scenario]]

==External links==
*[http://vault.fbi.gov/Christian%20Identity%20Movement%20/Christian%20Identity%20Movement%20Part%201%20of%201/view FBI primer]
*[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/christian-identity SPLC overview of Christian Identity]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20000530012237/http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/american/christian-identity/religion-white-racists.html Nizkor Project on Christian Identity]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140727191343/http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/christianidentity_pop_up.html ADL: Selected Christian Identity Organizations]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Bible woo]]
[[Category:Christian denominations]]
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[[Category:Cults]]
[[Category:Cultural appropriation]]
[[Category:Fascism]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazism]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:Terrorism]]
[[Category:We're on a mission from God]]
[[Category:White supremacy]]

Categories: Alt-right, Antisemitism, Bible woo, Christian denominations, Conspiracy theorists, Cults, Cultural appropriation, Fascism, Homophobia, Neo-Nazism, Pseudoscience, Racism, Sexism, Terrorism, We're on a mission from God, White supremacy