Don’t tell me Christian Identity’s literal Jesus Nazis “cherry picked! They aren’t REAL Christians; Christianity preaches love.”
Do you think ISIS doesn’t cherry-pick the Quran, my guy (by the way, the Bible is a hell of a lot more violent)?
Mind the double standards.
Fun ‘assumptions and religious literacy’ test I like to give my intro Islamic Studies students:
What religious leader said “I came not to bring peace but the sword”?
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Jesus, homie. That’d be Jesus.
Hey new followers,
I know about fun, interesting things too, I promise!
And I can’t wait to talk about that stuff again.
If you guys are interested, I’ll happily bang out a quick thread on parallels between ISIS / takfiri interpretations of Islam and Christian Identity.
A lot of contrasting contextual factors account for so many people’s disproportionate perception of Islam as the ‘real’ threat.
If you want me to tackle ISIS-Christian Identity parallels, tell me and I’ll hop on it tomorrow. I’ve got to finish these apps, so here is the updated running thread list for now:
Don't have time to flesh out the Christian Identity / ISIS legacy of non-state armed groups perpetrating violence in the name of religion here, but I did dig up a few old threads I've done on CI & the anti-abortion movement.
One of the biggest gaps in Americans' assessment of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist threat before the Capitol insurrection:
It's not Timothy McVeigh. It's the discourse around anti-abortion terrorism.
That was pioneered by Christian Identity affiliated group Army of God.
Two of the biggest "terrorism" events in contemporary history beyond September 11 - and everyone still thinks the anthrax letters were al-Qaeda and the Atlanta Olympics bombing was "just" anti-abortionists.
Nope. Guess again.
Christian Identity: white supremacists.
Now let's talk about why and how Christian Identity neo-Nazis are directly implicated in the Capitol insurrection...
And why those misconceptions about anthrax and anti-abortion attacks are SO. PROFOUNDLY. DANGEROUS.
Sit down for this one, y'all.
For one thing, you want to talk "organizing on the Internet?" How about "recruiting on the Internet?"
So... y'all know who the Boogaloo Boys are by now - right?
Remember those Reopen COVID protests? You know, the ones that coalesced in the plot to take over the Michigan Capitol - and execute the governor on camera?
Guess. Who. Else. Was. There?
Don't forget:
The seizure of Michigan's Capitol was a dress rehearsal for January 6. If you missed that, you were not paying attention.
And it should scare you that it also happened to be a multi-generational neo-Nazi networking event.
If you’re interested in the Capitol events, you might want to read up on the sedition / conspiracy case against the Order in 1988.
Reagan’s DOJ was wholly uninterested in prosecuting white supremacist attacks until they started killing cops.
Just may be instructive.
The Order had ties to other white supremacist groups and leaders, including Louis Beam - who pioneered “leaderless resistance,” as well as “Tom Metzger,” who started advocating infiltration of establishments like police, law, and government in the early 1980s.
Ignored history.
This period in American history is forgotten, downplayed, and ignored - when it’s much more influential than you know.
David Duke, for example, of the Third Klan, is the Richard Spencer / alt-right’s predecessor in leveraging “articulateness” and charm for media.
[Feel free to incorporate any ^^ info in your own work, analysts, media people & academic followers
I don't need credit, but if you're employed - I'm not.
It might help me get paid for the warnings I'm prescient about. I'd like to eat while doing this.]
[To be crystal clear, I don't mean patreon.
I meant I'm currently on the job market.
I care way more about the ideas circulating and people taking heed than credit, but I'm job hunting - so passing my name along for opportunities you see would be great.]