Thread by @MsEntropy

Y’all do know this discourse is Christian Identity Movement, right?

As in: literal Jesus Nazi white supremacists, right?

No? You need to get up to speed, QUICK.

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1365388005775712258

Goddammit. I’ve been under the weather and don’t feel like doing anything but sleeping - especially not Twitter.

But this is worth dragging myself to a keyboard over.

Why is it concerning that a State Department official (in charge of Afghan visas, no less) is spouting CI talking points?

Here are some explainers for you on what Nazi Jesus followers (Christian Identity Movement - NOT conservative evangelicals) are all about:

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1360673612387082240

Let me re-up these explainer threads for you.

https://twitter.com/MsEntropy/status/1360679766404210689

Christian Identity is race war theology. CI is NOT conservative evangelical Christianity.

Don’t mix them up - it’s dangerous.

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1350555462568083456

It’s bad when a State Department official shares the exact same political theology as:

- 2001 anthrax letters guy
- George Tiller’s assassin
- 1996 Atlanta Olympics bomber
- Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord
- The Order

Christian Identity Movement - call it by its name.

The State Department should really look into what Christian Identity Movement really teaches.

[obligatory and inevitably ignored disclaimer: CI is race war theology, not (even) extreme far right christian nationalism]

https://twitter.com/MsEntropy/status/1350151471887597568

The article never mentions CI, and it links to this guy's actual website. That's SO DANGEROUS, @nahaltoosi.

Experts to consult on CI include:

@wexlerwriting, @KerryNoble_CSA, @nezumi_ningen, and @mort713.

Christian Identity Movement (read: Nazi Jesus, quite literally) extremists and terrorists get away with A LOT, simply because:

The masses hear "Christian" and discard anything but images of far-right evangelicalism.

Start learning and STOP helping them!

I'll go even further and say ANYONE working on a Christianity & extremism story needs to consult @wexlerwriting, @KerryNoble_CSA, @nezumi_ningen, @mort713.

It's a small group, but y'all need us more than ever.

Christian Identity is dangerous in no small part due to the name.

I'll say it again - Christian Identity Movement is dangerous in no small part due to the name.

If you don't believe me, read through the @'s to any one of these explainer threads.

Obsess over "Christian," and you completely miss the entire Nazi heart.

https://twitter.com/MsEntropy/status/1360673612387082240

Going back to sleep. Wake me up when my @‘s aren’t full of “see Christianity is bad.” Or don’t wake me up - y’all can just correct them for me.

Popped on, and see I need to do this again (of course):

Christian Identity Movement isn’t Dominionist.
CI isn’t Christian Nationalism.
CI is straight up race war, Nazi theology.

...
...
...

(And now back to bed I go.)

Is it Christian Identity or right-wing Christianity?
Does it teach:

1. Only white people go to heaven
2. Jews are the children of Satan
3. Brown and Black folks are literal beasts
4. Jesus wants race war

- if “yes,” then: CI
- if “no,” then: some other Christianity

There’s really no way to simplify this more.

If you’re still confusing Christian Nazi Identity with far-right extremist Christianity or any theological stripe:

I can’t help you (5000 times per day).

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1365490576712298496

I swear to God, you guys are going to force me to make a Christian Identity infographic.

https://twitter.com/MsEntropy/status/1365490576712298496

I really can’t make this any simpler. Believe me. I tried.

“Christian Identity” or “Not Christian Identity”: a flowchart

I hope this helps.

Dude, just click the profile first.

Just in case.

Just to be sure.

https://twitter.com/MsEntropy/status/1357523544494673920

Back to bed with me. Don’t wake me up for the @‘s. Just pass on the handy flowchart.

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1365497630600486914

I want to add a couple key points about Christian Identity (deeeep breath “not synonymous with even far right extremist evangelicals but literally Nazi Jesus race war theology please stop making me explain this a billion tiiiiimes).

If you’re new to the topic of Christian Identity Movement (CI), skim the thread linked here (tons more where that came from):

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1350493865275322368

Like I’ve said many times (and repeated way up in the above thread), Christian Identity Nazis often fly under the radar because of the movement’s seemingly innocuous name.

Most Americans dismiss, ASAP, “Christian” as a significant ideological driver behind political violence.

I don’t care how uncomfortable it makes you:

Nazi theological interpretations of Christianity are, and have been, the predominant (and powerful) religious strain influencing white supremacist violence in the US.

For almost 50 years.

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1351375486039937026

In addition to the dangerous inaccuracy of conflating Nazi theology “Christian Identity” with “<insert strain of> Christianity because of violence-laundering, let’s consider for a sec:

ISIS doesn’t represent Islam - not even close.

That’s CI’s relationship to Christianity.

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1349562994431197188

Americans, in particular, can’t seem to grasp organized hate, political violence, and religion aren’t foreign Muslim* threat.

Christian Identity is an all-American, aggressively Christian, white supremacist theology hell bent on race war.

CI violence LONG predates Al Qaeda.

Here’s something that might surprise a lot of you, and it’s something @wexlerwriting and I have talked about (follow him for anything and everything related to CI):

Jihadists didn’t influence white supremacists.

Neo Nazis influenced the jihadis.

When you hear “lone-wolf,” you think: Muslim.
When you hear “leaderless resistance,” you think: Muslim.
When you hear “Internet propaganda,” you think: Muslim.

And?
You’re wrong.

It’s Nazi Christian Identity - from the beginning, by DECADES.

I should also add that when you hear “transnational terrorist network,” you think: Muslim.

But again, you’re wrong.

The pioneers of international, ideologically/religiously inspired political violence?

Christian. American.

Decades before Al Qaeda existed.

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1366994576481742848

Let’s take “leaderless resistance / lone-wolf terrorists.”

1983.
Louis Beam.

Texas. Christian. White supremacist.

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1226590928833536000

“Oh, but how much damage did this ‘Louis Beam’ do? After all, I’ve heard of Osama Bin Laden, but not THAT guy.”

Read up on the Nazi organization “The Order.” ⬇️

[happens to be really relevant to January 6 at the Capitol]

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1349494892217581569

“Okay, but ‘Louis Beam’ - whoever he was - couldn’t have been that influential if I don’t know his name. I know ISIS pioneered the Internet propaganda game, though!”

WRONG.

“Computers and the American Patriot.”
- undated
- author: Christian white supremacist Louis Beam

Let me show you that early 1980s essay again — on the utility of the Internet for [Christian] [American] [white supremacist] terrorist groups.

Just one more time:

Now let’s talk:

“Who pioneered the international terrorist network, foreign Muslims or American Christians?”

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1366995483797848065

The first international terrorist network enabled by computer technology?

It’s even older than the worldwide web.

BBS.
1984, March.

George P. Dietz- ‘Liberty Bell Net,’ also known as ‘Info International Network.’

Also: Spring, 1984.

‘Aryan Liberty Net.’
Louis Beam - Yep. That Louis Beam.

Also:

BBS.
American.
Christian Identity.
Neo Nazi.
International Terrorist Network.

Late spring of 1984, another white supremacist, Christian, Neo Nazi international terrorist network popped up online:

White Aryan Resistance, BBS.

Tom Metzger.

(Then Christian Identity).

As a quick aside, even back in 1984 - when Christian, American Neo Nazis were pioneering Internet technologies to launch international terrorist networks (years before Al Qaeda even existed):

Anti-fascist (yes, antifa) anarchists started hacking them.

One of the very first online appearance of Christian Identity, all-American Neo Nazi theology.

Author: ‘Christian Patriot.’

Date: 1985.

Site: Aryan Liberty Net, BBS.

The very first public study of online hate groups, their desire and ability to commit politically violent attacks:

- @ADL, 1985. “Computerized Networks of Hate.”

And it was about American, Christian Neo Nazis.

Writing article on this now & will link here. But for now, remember:

American Nazi Christians (not Muslims) pioneered:

- leaderless resistance
- lone wolf terrorism
- Internet propaganda
- transnational terrorist networks

Years before Al Qaeda, or the worldwide web.

And, obligatory postscript: Don’t @ me with nonsense calling all Christians Nazis.

Read this flowchart on Nazi Christian Identity instead.

[goodnight]

https://twitter.com/msentropy/status/1365497630600486914