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Christian terrorism is a form of militant extremism that attempts to spread fear and terror, to perpetrate ideological goals, through violent attacks against civilian populations.

Many frequently-cited examples of "Christian" terrorism are closely tied to racist ideology promoting white supremacy, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Other groups, such as the Christian Identity movement bridge the gap between racism and religious extremism targeting racial and religious minorities, immigrants, homosexuals and women.

Christian terrorism centered on anti-abortion

One of the most widely-reported Christian terrorists is Eric Robert Rudolph, an American who committed a series of bombings across the southern United States in the 1990s, killing three people and injuring at least 150 others, because he violently opposed abortion and homosexuality as contrary to Christian doctrine. While he may have been associated with the Christian Identity movement, Rudolph himself has rejected the claims, saying that he was born a Catholic, but that he "prefers Nietzsche to the Bible".

Clayton Waagner claimed to be on a "mission from God" when he set out with his family on a trip across the United States, intent on killing multiple abortion providers. Ultimately he mailed envelopes, falsely claiming they contained anthrax, to more than 500 abortion facilities, as part of the larger, and unconnected, anthrax attacks of 2001.

On 11 September, 2006 David McMenemy, who has pleaded guilty to second degree arson, allegedly attempted a suicide bombing, deliberately crashing his car into the Edgerton Women’s Health Center in Davenport, Iowa, falsely believing the clinic provided abortions.

According to the National Abortion Federation, between 1977 and 2006, anti-abortion terrorism was responsible for 7 murders, 17 attempted murders, 41 bombings, 173 arson attacks, 100 butyric acid attacks, 157 incidents of assault and battery, 4 kidnappings, and 385 death threats.

Army of God

Several Christian extremists who have targeted abortion providers have had close ties to the militant organization Army of God, including the excommunicated Presbyterian minister Paul Jennings Hill, Michael F. Griffin, and the Reverend Michael Bray. Eric Rudolph, Clayton Waagner and James Kopp all had links to the Army of God, though it is not clear whether Waagner or Kopp had formal links.

Christian terrorism centered on nationalism

• The National Liberation Front of Tripura is a Fundamentalist Christian militant group in India, demanding a separate Christian state. Allegedly funded by the Baptist Church of Tripura, it is accused of ethnic cleansing and bombings that have killed hundreds, as well as forcing gunpoint conversions. They were declared a terrorist organization under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002.
• Lord's Resistance Army (formerly known as the Uganda Peoples' Democratic Christian Army, it mixed several belief systems. It has recently downplayed its Christian roots, but still springs from a predominantly Christian support base)
• Freedomites (also Svobodniki or Sons of Freedom, Canada, 1902-present)
• The Christian Patriot movement is a loose association of people in the United States sharing common interests in racial and religious ideologies as well as asserting a modern paramilitary culture. The group opposes, among other things, government funded social assistance including many health, education, and welfare programs, but focuses mainly on anti-feminist and anti-immigration issues, portraying the growing economic advancements of women and ethnic minorities as hostile acts against United States citizens and white men in particular.

See also

• Anti-abortion violence
• Christian patriot
• Domestic terrorism in the United States
• Hate groups
• Islamist terrorism
• Religious terrorism

Notes

1. http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/whitsup.html
2. Barkun, Michael (1996). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. University of N. Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807846384.
3. Berlet, Chip (2004). "A New Face for Racism & Fascism". White Supremacist, Antisemitic, and Race Hate Groups in the U.S.: A Geneaology. Political Research Associates. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1196-2003Jun1?language=printer
5. Morrison, Blake (2005). "Special report: Eric Rudolph writes home". Nation. USA Today. Retrieved 2006-06-14.
6. Wyatt, Kristen (2005). "Eric Rudolph, proud killer". The Decatur Daily. Retrieved 2006-08-07.
7. http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6562645
8. http://www.qcwomenshealth.org/wic.html
9. Jennifer L. Posner, "The terrorists who aren't in the news", Newsday, 8 October 2006.Copy available here.
10. Statistics from theNational Abortion Federation.
11. Army of God page at the National Abortion Federation].
12. http://www.stephen-knapp.com/christian_terrorists_kill_44.htm
13. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/tripura/terrorist_outfits/nlft.htm
14. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842462-1,00.html
15. http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/sp.2002.49.4.497?cookieSet=1&journalCode=sp
16. Terrorism Trends and Prospects

References

• Barkun, Michael. 1994. Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement, revised. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press.
• Hedges, Chris. 2007. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. Free Press.
• Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2000. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley: University of California.
• Mason, Carol. 2002. Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

• Abortion-related violence in the United States
• Christianity-related controversies
• Religiously motivated violence in the United States
• Christianity
• Terrorism