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Extremists Latch on to "The Passion of the Christ"
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Posted: March 04, 2004
White supremacists and anti-Semitic extremists are expressing delight over the controversy surrounding "The Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson's film which depicts the last hours and crucifixion of Jesus. Christian white supremacists have traditionally believed that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus; indeed, the term "Christ killers" is a common anti-Semitic epithet. Although non-Christian white supremacists may not focus on the death of Jesus, they still hope that anti-Semitic sentiments will be inflamed by the film. Christian and non-Christian anti-Semites alike have eagerly anticipated the opening of "The Passion of the Christ" and are planning ways to use the movie and the controversy surrounding it to promote their anti-Semitic messages.
Some, such as the Arizona anti-Semitic group We Hold These Truths, have welcomed Gibson's movie because they think it will incite anti-Israeli sentiments: "It should remind us that the brutality of 1st Century Judea is little different from 21st Century Israel."
However, most white supremacists have looked forward to the release of "The Passion of the Christ" for one or more of three reasons:
1) they believe the movie itself will foster anti-Semitism;
2) they believe they can use the movie to help spread their own anti-Semitic views; and
3) they simply are pleased that many Jews are upset about the movie.
Anti-Semites have not been reticent about expressing their opinions:
- "Just imagine the Jews in power shaking in their boots at the prospect of being accurately portrayed as Christ-killers," proclaims the Angry White Female Web page (operated by Elisha Strom, wife of Virginia neo-Nazi Kevin Strom), "rather than their usual arrogant churning out of anti-White and anti-Christian movies designed to promote self-loathing and hatred of White western culture, people and history."
- Alex Linder of the Missouri-based Vanguard News Network (VNN) encouraged his readers to go see the movie: "I'm going to the first showing tomorrow I can get into, just to f--- the jews [sic]. All loyal VNN readers will see this movie in the theater - make an outing of it. Jews kill Jesus, business as usual. Someone makes movie about it, 'anti-Semitism!'"
- "Make sure you go see Mel Gibson's new movie," urges Michigan-based white supremacist and Christian Identity adherent James Wickstrom on his Web site. "This movie is going to expose the jew [sic] to the world as the devious, sinister, sons and daughters of Satan they truly are! I am certain we shall see an increase of widespread repercussions against this evil, parasitic menace that lives among us."
Anti-Semites are also actively making plans for exploiting the controversy:
- James Wickstrom, a vicious anti-Semite and Christian identity adherent, not only urged followers to watch "The Passion of the Christ," but also promised to create fliers to distribute during and after the release of the movie, to "further educate those that have had their eyes opened to the REAL murderers of Christ." He urged all Identity adherents to prepare a literature drive to coincide with the opening of the film. "This anti-Christ non-human scum MUST be identified and purged from our White Christian society by ANY means necessary," he emphasized. As the release of "The Passion" neared, white supremacists began to think of ways they could capitalize on the film and its controversy.
- Anti-Semites on the discussion forum of Stormfront, the most popular neo-Nazi Web site in the U.S., shared ideas on how to exploit the film's preview. "The opening at theatres would be [a] good time for the NA [the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group] to get some flyers out about Jewish media control," suggested one member in February. "No one would doubt it after the flap that has been caused…"
- A southern California member was delighted at the suggestion: "What a grand idea! I just had a mental vision about people seeing the death of their Savior, instigated by the juden [sic], being appalled and upset, and coming out to their cars after the theater and finding flyers on their windshield…talking about control from the media by the jews. One would have to be living in a cave in this country not to know the mess and the persecution of Christianity and Mel over this movie. What a grand idea!"
- One Nebraska Stormfront member claimed to have printed 100 fliers and promised to distribute them on cars and in the bathroom stalls of the movie theater. His Southern California counterpart promised to do the same: "I hope I do not get arrested either, but at this point, I do not care. Please my fellow white brothers and sisters be careful."
The National Alliance, the largest neo-Nazi group in the U.S., is one of several racist groups now attempting to take advantage of "The Passion" controversy by creating special fliers just for this purpose:
- The National Alliance flier, which members have been urged to "get as many…out as possible," concentrates on the controversy over the movie, rather than its contents (presumably because the National Alliance is non-Christian and does not care about the Crucifixion). It claims that "Jewish pressure groups" have "gone to great lengths to keep you from seeing 'The Passion of the Christ.'" It asks, in large letters, "Are you tired of minority groups telling Whites what we can see, read, publish, and enjoy? YOU ARE NOT ALONE." To date, such fliers have already been distributed in Connecticut, Los Angeles, and San Diego, among other places.
- The Louisiana-based Church of the Sons of Yahweh, a racist and anti-Semitic group, created a flier for its followers to distribute, which one that claimed that "Jews Killed the Christ," that "they would kill him again were it in their power," and that they are "attempting to stop you from seeing" Gibson's movie. It ends by concluding that Jews are "the synagogue of Satan."
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Aryan Nations, an Idaho-based Christian Identity neo-Nazi group, came up with its own “Passion”-related hate fliers for followers to distribute. Referring to Jewish critics of “The Passion,” the flier claims “over 2,000 years ago, these same devils used the exact same tactics to silence their critics.” Jews, the flier proclaims, have waged a centuries-long “unseen war against White Christian civilization,” such that the “mere questioning” of their “disproportionate influence over White Christian society” will bring about “hysterical cries” of hate and anti-Semitism. Jews will not stop, the flier alleges, “until they have sucked the lifes [sic] blood out of our great heritage and culture.” It then uses a quotation from the Gospel of Luke to make a not-too-subtle point about killing Jews: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”
In the past, extremists have attempted to use Mel Gibson films to increase anti-government sentiments ("The Patriot") or white supremacist beliefs ("Braveheart"). They have, however exhibited substantially more enthusiasm for "The Passion of the Christ" than Gibson's earlier films. Anti-Semites may attempt to exploit the film for years to come.
Background Information
White supremacists, who specialize in blaming Jews for the world's current ills, readily condemn them for past events such as the Crucifixion. "Jews are the eternal Enemies of all mankind," wrote one member of the white supremacist Vanguard News Network's (VNN) Web discussion forum in early 2004. "Deicide, that is a kind of ultra-crime deserving ultra punishment."
Such sentiments have been popular among adherents of VNN, run by the Missouri-based Alex Linder. "Are we to forgive the Jews and the descendants of the Jews then, for this most notorious of their sins against humanity?" asked one supporter. "I say," the correspondent continued, "do not forgive the Jews. Not for Killing Christ, and not for destroying our land and our people…Do not forgive the Jews because they do not wish to be forgiven and they do not repent. They jeered as Christ died, and they laugh as our civilization withers and dies under their dominion." Such comments have appeared on VNN for years; in 2001, for example, Linder reprinted an article about a controversy between the Vatican and Jewish scholars and urged, "Heap it on the guilty Christ-killers, Christians. They are your enemy. And your enemy too, White man."
VNN is hardly alone. References to Jews as "Christ killers" can be found in a variety of white supremacist Web pages. Michael A. Hoffman II, the white supremacist and Holocaust denier, even created a page on his Web site titled "Finally, the Truth About Who Killed Christ;" he also peddles a pamphlet that he claims provides "documentary proof of Judaic responsibility for the Crucifixion of Christ." On white supremacist David Duke's Web site, Duke suggests that it would be wrong to "hate or persecute present day Jews because of the role of Jewish leaders in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ," but suggests that the Jewish leaders of the time "guided their faith in the opposite ideological direction" and "Jewry became [Christianity's] chief persecutor."
Christian Identity
Among the most vociferous proponents of the "Christ killing" libel are adherents of Christian Identity , the racist and anti-Semitic religious sect whose members believe that white Europeans are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel and are thus God's chosen people. Many Identity adherents also believe that Jews are descended from Satan and that non-whites arose from a different, inferior "creation" than that which created the "white" Adam and Eve.
Believing that they alone know how to correctly interpret scripture, Identity adherents hold forth on a variety of biblical topics, including the Crucifixion. "Those of us who know Christian Identity," commented VNN supporter and Identity adherent Lee Luttrell to some of his comrades in December 2003, "realize the power we have to extract all support for these Christ Killers with nothing more than the truth of the scriptures."
For decades, Christian Identity proponents have taught that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. One of the most prominent among them was Sheldon Emry, founder of America's Promise Ministries (currently located in Sandpoint, Idaho), who died in 1985. Emry's sermon "Who Killed Christ," published originally in the 1970s, is still sold in pamphlet form by Identity adherents around the country.
In the pamphlet, Emry claims that "Judaism in its ancient form was so opposed to Jesus Christ that its leaders admit it was necessary that He be killed in order to establish Jewish authority!" One Identity group's advertisement for the anti-Semitic tract proclaims that "it wasn't the Romans, and it wasn't 'you and me' (collective guilt fostered by today's 'churches'). The actual crucifixion was carried out by a people in whom carnal reasoning was deified."
Other Identity preachers agreed. Gordon "Jack" Mohr, a retired Army officer and virulent Identity adherent from Arkansas (until his death in 2003), wrote in The Enemy Within that the Jews insisted that Jesus be executed, but now they "would have Christians re-write their Bible, because they cannot stand the bright beams of its truth."
Not all Identity believers believe Jews killed Jesus. Nebraska Identity preacher Ted Weiland, for example, has argued on his Mission to Israel Web site that the "Israelites" at the time of the Crucifixion were not Jews. "If Mel Gibson knew his identity," Weiland explains (meaning that if Mel Gibson knew he was actually an "Israelite"), "he could simply tell today's Jews that the story he's telling isn't about them, but instead about the true Israelites who were responsible for murdering Yahshua the Christ. I assure you if he were to respond in this fashion, they wouldn't dare attack him for fear of exposing their false claims to being Israelites." However, Weiland appears to be in a minority.
Spreading the Word
White supremacists not only believe that Jews killed Jesus, but seek to convince others, hoping to instill anti-Semitic beliefs in Christians who might otherwise reject them. "I was telling someone the other day," proclaimed one member of the White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on the front page of their Web site, "about how the jew [sic] plotted and planned the death of Jesus Christ and this individual became enraged…So I asked him if I could see his bible, so I could explain what I had said…First, I showed him John 7:1 where Christ tells us that the jews wanted to kill him…and again in John 11:53…the jews tried to entrap Jesus in a conspiracy against the government, just as they do to Christian Klansmen today."
When New Jersey-based white supremacist radio broadcaster Hal Turner examined polls that suggested many Americans still believe Jews were responsible for the Crucifixion, he was elated. "With that as a base," he proclaimed on his Web site, "our pro-white movement has vast resources we must cultivate." Turner argued that white supremacists must "tap into this resource very fast," suggesting that "with numbers like these, we can become a very powerful movement; powerful enough to effect real change."
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