Christian terrorism#History

The literal use of the phrase Christian terrorism is disputed.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ekm2dmSDF_cC&q=Terrorism+Studies+A+Reader|title=Terrorism Studies: A Reader|last1=Horgan|first1=John|last2=Braddock|first2=Kurt|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415455046|language=en}}{{cite news |last=Camacho |first=Daniel José |title=Why Mark Anthony Conditt – a white Christian – isn't called a terrorist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/23/mark-anthony-conditt-terrorism-christianity |work=The Guardian |date=23 March 2018 }}{{Cite web|url=https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/02/17/pope-tells-us-summit-no-people-criminal-no-religion-terrorist/|title=Pope tells U.S. summit "No people is criminal, no religion is terrorist"|date=17 February 2017|website=Crux|language=en-CA|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-date=20 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920131038/https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/02/17/pope-tells-us-summit-no-people-criminal-no-religion-terrorist/|url-status=dead}} It appears in the academic literature to describe a large range of actions and beliefs.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1_SxOuUHmIC&pg=PR8|title=Terrorism: The fourth or religious wave|last=Rapoport|first=David C.|date=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415316545|pages=17|language=en}}

Religion can be cited as the motivation for terrorism in conflicts that have a variety of ethnic, economic and political causes, such as the one in Bosnia. In cases such as the Lord's Resistance Army or the Taiping Rebellion the beliefs of the founders differ significantly from what is recognizably Christian.{{Cite web|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-worlds-bloodiest-civil-war/|title=The World's Bloodiest Civil War|last=Thompson|first=John B.|website=Los Angeles Review of Books|date=16 May 2013|access-date=23 January 2019}} In such cases the term Christian terrorism is problematic despite the claim that they are motivated by their religious beliefs.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The intimidation of minority communities along with sporadic acts of violence do not typically get referred to as terrorism.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/942255.stm|title=Murder charge for gay-bar gunman|date=25 September 2000|access-date=9 April 2010|work=BBC News}}{{Cite web |date=15 December 2015 |title=Ekklesia {{!}} Evangelical leader criticises failure to condemn violence against gays |url=http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/7382 |access-date=24 January 2019 |website=ekklesia.co.uk |language=en}} However, in 2015 a majority of Americans from the Democratic and Republican political parties thought that "attacks on abortion providers [should] be considered domestic terrorism".{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/12/2/9835690/poll-abortion-domestic-terrorism|title=Poll: Most Americans think attacks on abortion clinics are "domestic terrorism"|last=Crockett|first=Emily|date=2 December 2015|website=Vox|access-date=24 January 2019}}

{{See|Christianity and violence|History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance}}

Christianity came to prominence in the Roman Empire during and directly after the rule of Constantine the Great (324–337 AD).Wendy Doniger (ed.), "Constantine I", in Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006), p. 262. By this time, it had spread throughout western Asia as a minority belief, and it had become the state religion of Armenia.{{cite journal |last=van Lint |first=Theo Maarten |title=The Formation of Armenian Identity in the First Millenium |journal=Church History and Religious Culture |date=2009 |volume=89 |issue=1 |pages=251–278 |doi=10.1163/187124109X407925 |url=http://www.brill.nl/chrc }}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/losthistoryofchr00jenk|url-access=registration|quote=the lost history of christianity.|title=The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died|last=Jenkins|first=John Philip|date=28 October 2008|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=9780061472800|language=en}} In early Christianity, there were many rival sects, which were collectively persecuted by some rulers. There is, however, generally no record of these early Christian groups attempting to use acts of terrorism or indiscriminate acts of violence as religious weapons,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URdACxKubDIC&q=Bart+D.+Ehrman+early+christine|title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195182491|language=en}} though the Donatists fought a guerilla war against the mainstream church and the state, blinding Catholic priests to make their point.{{Cite book |last=Gaddis |first=Michael |title=There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire: 39 (Transformation of the Classical Heritage) |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |publication-date=2005}}

Gaining state backing by a particular Christian sect or creed led to an increase in religious violence. This violence took the form of persecution of adherents of rival Christian beliefs and persecution of adherents of other religions.R. MacMullen, "Christianizing The Roman Empire A.D.100–400, Yale University Press, 1984, {{ISBN|0-300-03642-6}} In Europe during the Middle Ages, Christian antisemitism increased, and both the Reformation and Counter-Reformation led to an increase in interdenominational violence.{{cite book|title=Anti-Semitism|publisher=Keter Books|year=1974|isbn=9780706513271|location=Jerusalem}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/catholics-lutherans-beg-forgiveness-for-violence-on-500th-anniversary-of-protestant|title=Catholics, Lutherans 'beg forgiveness' for violence on 500th anniversary of Protestant Reformation|last=hermesauto|date=31 October 2017|website=The Straits Times|language=en|access-date=23 January 2019}} As with modern examples, it is debated as to what extent these acts were religious as opposed to ethnic or political in nature.

{{Main|Gunpowder Plot}}

File:The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators, 1605 from NPG.jpg

The early modern period in Britain saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the recusancy that emerged in opposition to it.{{cite book |last1=Holmes |first1=Peter |last2=McCoog |first2=Thomas M. |last3=Crosignani |first3=Ginevra |last4=Questier |first4=Michael C. |title=Recusancy and Conformity in Early Modern England: Manuscript and Printed Sources in Translation |date=2010 |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies |isbn=978-0-88844-170-6 }}{{pn|date=November 2022}} The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed attempt by a group of English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I, and to blow up the Palace of Westminster, the English seat of government. Although the modern concept of religious terrorism, or indeed terrorism at all, had not yet come into use in the seventeenth century, David C. Rapoport and Lindsay Clutterbuck point out that the Plot, with its use of explosives, was an early precursor of nineteenth century anarchist terrorism.{{Cite book|first=David C.|last=Rapoport|page=309|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjSjAUcH0vsC&pg=PA317|title=Terrorism: The first or anarchist wave|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-31651-4}} Sue Mahan and Pamala L. Griset classify the plot as an act of religious terrorism, writing that "Fawkes and his colleagues justified their actions in terms of religion."{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-xyAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42|title=Terrorism in Perspective|edition=3rd|first1=Sue|last1=Mahan|first2=Pamala L.|last2=Griset|publisher=Sage Publications|date=2013|isbn=9781452225456|pages=42–44|chapter=Religious Terrorism: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot|quote=Like many terrorists throughout history, Fawkes and his colleagues justified their actions in terms of religion. Like other instances of 'holy terror', the Gunpowder Plot was deeply rooted in events that had occurred long before.}} Peter Steinfels also characterizes this plot as a notable case of religious terrorism.{{cite news |last=Steinfels |first=Peter |title=A Day to Think About a Case of Faith-Based Terrorism |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/05/us/a-day-to-think-about-a-case-of-faithbased-terrorism.html |work=The New York Times |date=5 November 2005 }}

{{Main|Pogrom}}

{{See also|Ethnic cleansing|Religious persecution}}

Eastern Orthodox Christian-influenced movements in Romania, such as the Iron Guard and Lăncieri, which have been characterized by Yad Vashem and Stanley G. Payne as antisemitic and fascist, respectively, were involved in the Bucharest pogrom and committed numerous politically motivated murders during the 1930s.{{cite web |last=Tinichigiu |first=Paul |date=January 2004 |title=Sami Fiul (interview) |url=http://www.centropa.org/index.php?id=91&page=rdetails&rtype=bio&table=biografien |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222037/http://www.centropa.org/index.php?id=91&page=rdetails&rtype=bio&table=biografien |archive-date=2 December 2013 |access-date=26 November 2013 |publisher=The Central Europe Center for Research and Documentation}}{{cite journal |last=Ioanid |first=Radu |title=The sacralised politics of the Romanian Iron Guard |journal=Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions |date=January 2004 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=419–453 |doi=10.1080/1469076042000312203 |s2cid=145585057 }}{{cite book |author=Leon Volovici |title=Nationalist Ideology and Antisemitism |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalistideol00volo |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/nationalistideol00volo/page/n108 98] |quote=citing N. Cainic, Ortodoxie şi etnocraţie, pp. 162–4 |isbn=978-0-08-041024-1|year=1991 |publisher=Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem }}{{cite journal|title=Roots of Romanian Antisemitism: The League of National Christian Defense and Iron Guard Antisemitism|url=http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/events/pdf/report/english/1.1_Roots_of_Romanian_Antisemitism.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Background and Precursors to the Holocaust|publisher=Wayback Machine|page=37|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231002707/http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/events/pdf/report/english/1.1_Roots_of_Romanian_Antisemitism.pdf|archive-date=2013-12-31|access-date=2022-01-06}}Payne, Stanley G. (1995). A History of Fascism 1914–1945. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press (pp. 277–289) {{ISBN|0-299-14874-2}}{{or|date=June 2024}}

{{Main|Ku Klux Klan}}

File:Ku Klux Klan members and a burning cross, Denver, Colorado, 1921.jpg members conduct a cross burning in Colorado, 1921.]]

After the American Civil War of 1861–1865, former Confederate soldiers founded the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization. Originally, the Ku Klux Klan was a social club, but a year after it was founded, it was taken over by "night rider" elements. It then began to commit acts of violence which included arson, beatings, the destruction of property, lynchings, murder, rape, tarring and feathering, whipping, and voter intimidation. The Klan targeted newly freed slaves, carpetbaggers, scalawags, and the occupying Union Army. That iteration of the Klan disappeared by the 1870s, but in 1915 a new Protestant-led{{cite book|last=Al-Khattar|first=Aref M.|title=Religion and terrorism: an interfaith perspective |year=2003 |publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, CT|pages=21, 30}} iteration of the Klan was formed in Georgia, during a period when racism, xenophobia, nativism and anti-Catholicism were all widespread. This version of the Klan vastly expanded its geographical reach and its list of targets over those of the original Klan.

File:theendkkk.jpg's illustration in the 1926 book Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty portrays the Klan as slaying Catholic influence in the US.]]

Vehemently anti-Catholic, the 1915 Klan espoused an explicitly Protestant Christian terrorist ideology, partially basing its beliefs on a "religious foundation" in Protestant Christianity and targeting Jews, Catholics, and other social, ethnic and religious minorities,{{cite book |last=Al-Khattar |first=Aref M. |title=Religion and terrorism: an interfaith perspective |year=2003 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, CT |pages=21, 30, 55, 91}} as well as people who engaged in "immoral" practices such as adulterers, bad debtors, gamblers, and alcohol abusers. From an early time onward, the goals of the KKK included an intent to "reestablish Protestant Christian values in America by any means possible", and it believed that "Jesus was the first Klansman".Michael, Robert and Rosen, Philip. Dictionary of antisemitism from the earliest times to the present. Lanham, Maryland, US: Scarecrow Press, 1997 p. 267. Although members of the KKK swear to uphold Christian morality, virtually every Christian denomination has officially denounced the KKK.{{cite book |last=Perlmutter |first=Philip |url=https://archive.org/details/legacyofhateshor00perl/page/170 |title=Legacy of Hate: A Short History of Ethnic, Religious, and Racial Prejudice in America |date=1 January 1999 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-0406-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/legacyofhateshor00perl/page/170 170] |quote=Kenneth T. Jackson, in his The Ku Klux Klan in the City 1915-1930, reminds us that "virtually every" Protestant denomination denounced the KKK, but most KKK members were not "innately depraved or anxious enough to subvert American institutions"; rather, they believed that their membership was in keeping with "one hundred percent Americanism" and Christian morality.}}

From 1915 onward, "second era" Klansmen initiated cross burnings (adapted from scenes in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation), not only to intimidate targets, but also to demonstrate their respect and reverence for Jesus Christ. The ritual of lighting crosses was steeped in Christian symbolism, including prayer and hymn singing.{{cite book |title = The fiery cross: the Ku Klux Klan in America | last = Wade | first = Wyn Craig | year = 1998 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = US | pages = 146, 185 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6O_XYBMhNYAC&pg=PA185|isbn=978-0-19-512357-9}} Modern Klan organizations remain associated with acts of domestic terrorism in the United States.{{cite web|website =ADL |url = http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.html?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |title = About the Ku Klux Klan|url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131212044831/http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.html?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk|archive-date = 12 December 2013}}

Mark Juergensmeyer, a former president of the American Academy of Religion, has argued that there has been a global rise in religious nationalism after the Cold War due to the post-colonial collapse of confidence in Western models of nationalism and the rise of globalization.{{cite book |last1=Juergensmeyer |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UsYuiIkZXoC |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence |last2=Kitts |first2=Margo |last3=Jerryson |first3=Michael |date=14 February 2013 |publisher=OUP |isbn=978-0-19-975999-6}}{{cite book |last=Juergensmeyer |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBJmeM6DiBAC |title=The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State |date=10 May 1993 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91501-5}} Juergensmeyer categorizes contemporary Christian terrorists as being a part of "religious activists from Algeria to Idaho, who have come to hate secular governments with an almost transcendent passion and dream of revolutionary changes that will establish a godly social order in the rubble of what the citizens of most secular societies regard as modern, egalitarian democracies".{{Cite journal|title = Christian Violence in America|last = Juergensmeyer|first = Mark|date = 1998|journal = Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume = 558|pages = 88–100|doi = 10.1177/0002716298558001008|s2cid = 143966054}}

According to terrorism expert David C. Rapoport, a "religious wave", or a cycle, of terrorism, dates from approximately 1979 to the present. According to Rapoport, this wave most prominently features Islamic terrorism, but it also includes terrorism by Christians and other religious groups that may have been influenced by Islamic terrorism.{{Cite book|first=David C.|last=Rapoport|url=http://international.ucla.edu/media/files/Rapoport-Four-Waves-of-Modern-Terrorism.pdf|title=The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism|page=47|access-date=22 October 2014}}

Numerous individuals and groups have cited their Christianity or Christian beliefs as the motivation for their terrorist acts.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1xukwRq2cUC&pg=PA58|title=Religion and Terrorism: An Interfaith Perspective|last=Al-Khattar|first=Aref M.|date=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780275969233|language=en}} This can mean that they see Christianity as their identity and the main reason for their existence, partially in contrast to the identities and existence of other groups which they consider threatening and non-Christian. Terrorists can also cite their interpretation of the Bible or Christian beliefs as their motivation. All types of terrorism have a complex interrelationship with psychology and mental health; however, only a minority of terrorists have diagnosable medical illnesses.{{cite journal |last1=Gill |first1=Paul |last2=Horgan |first2=John |last3=Deckert |first3=Paige |title=Bombing Alone: Tracing the Motivations and Antecedent Behaviors of Lone-Actor Terrorists |journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences |date=March 2014 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=425–435 |doi=10.1111/1556-4029.12312 |pmc=4217375 |pmid=24313297 }} Christianity can also be claimed as a motive to inspire followers or curry political favor or protection. All these motivations are not independent and often complexly interwoven.{{cite journal |last=Sharpe |first=Tanya Telfair |title=The Identity Christian Movement: Ideology of Domestic Terrorism |journal=Journal of Black Studies |date=March 2000 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=604–623 |doi=10.1177/002193470003000407 |s2cid=146343390 }}

Religion is often closely tied to ethnic identity, economic standing and self image.{{cite journal |last1=Kozlowska |first1=Iga |last2=Béland |first2=Daniel |last3=Lecours |first3=André |title=Nationalism, religion, and abortion policy in four Catholic societies: Nationalism, religion, and abortion policy |journal=Nations and Nationalism |date=October 2016 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=824–844 |doi=10.1111/nana.12157 }} Should a group of Christians feel threatened, religion is a verifiable, culturally important label to use in creating a "them-and-us" mentality. This is particularly the case where both groups share membership in a broadly similar cultural group, for example the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.{{cite journal |last=Chatlani |first=Hema |title=Uganda: A Nation in Crisis |journal=California Western International Law Journal |date=2007 |volume=37 |issue=2 |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwilj/vol37/iss2/4/ }}{{cite book |last=Judah |first=Tim |title=The Serbs: History, Myth, and the Destruction of Yugoslavia |date=2000 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-08507-5 }}{{pn|date=November 2022}} In situations where the opposing ethnicities are more diverse, different skin colors and/or cultural practices are sometimes used as identifiers of the other.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|235699136}} |last=Sajid |first=Abduljalil |title=Islamophobia: A New Word for an Old Fear |journal=Palestine |volume=12 |issue=2–3 |date=December 2005 |pages=31–40 }}{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9780203841730-14 |chapter=Islamophobia in Spain? Political rhetoric rather than a social fact |title=Islamophobia in the West |year=2013 |pages=97–112 |isbn=978-0-203-84173-0 |first1=Ricard |last1=Zapata-Barrero |first2=Juan |last2=Díez-Nicolás |editor1-first=Marc |editor1-last=Helbling |s2cid=159204252 }} In these cases terrorists may call themselves Christians, but they may not be motivated by any particular interpretation of Christian beliefs. In such cases Christianity is a label which reflects cultural, rather than directly ideological, influences.

This cultural Christian identity is often reinforced in the mind of the terrorist by media and governmental sources that vilify the other group or amplify its threat. This politicizing of ethno-religious tensions is a key contributor to the violence in the Central African Republic.{{cite news |last=Debos |first=Marielle |title='Hate' and 'Security Vacuum': How Not to Ask the Right Questions about a Confusing Crisis |url=https://culanth.org/fieldsights/hate-and-security-vacuum-how-not-to-ask-the-right-questions-about-a-confusing-crisis |work=Society for Cultural Anthropology |date=11 June 2014 }} The targets of this kind of terrorist motivation include other religions or denominations, but they can also include those who the perpetrator believes are threatening to him or her in any way, such as LGBT people or members of any group which does not conform to the perpetrator's view of who they are.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

When the opposing group is also Christian but belongs to a different denomination, it is often denounced as non-Christian or anti-Christian. For example, the leader of the Orange Volunteers, who described themselves as Protestant fundamentalists, defended their attacks on Catholic churches on the basis that they were "bastions of the Antichrist".{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Claire |title=Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7546-4155-1 |page=51}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1209673.stm|title=Self-styled loyalist pastor jailed|date=8 March 2001|work=BBC News}}

Perpetrators have frequently cited Christianity as both a justification and a motivation for their actions. Typically, as with attacks on abortion clinics as well as with attacks on LGBT people, the perpetrators use doctrine{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christianethics/abortion_1.shtml|title=BBC – Religions – Christianity: Abortion|website=bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=26 January 2019}}{{Cite web|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – The fifth commandment|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020906003554/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm|archive-date=2002-09-06|access-date=2022-01-06|website=vatican.va|publisher=Wayback Machine}} from an established Church as a justification for unsanctioned acts of violence.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSzyEx4do48C&pg=PA116|title=Inside Terrorism|last=Hoffman|first=Bruce|date=6 June 2006|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231510462|language=en}} However, they may also have a wholly individual theology that deviates from established Christian dogma.{{Cite book |last=Juergensmeyer |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpb1mbaHjGQC&pg=PA19 |title=Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520240117 |language=en}}

On 12 December 2022, a fundamentalist Christian terror attack that resulted in the deaths of six people occurred in Wieambilla, Queensland, Australia.{{Cite news |last=Hinchliffe |first=Joe |date=2023-02-16 |title=Wieambilla shootings labelled Australia's first Christian terrorist attack |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/16/wieambilla-shootings-australia-christian-terrorist-attack-queensland-police |access-date=2023-02-28 |issn=0261-3077}} Premillennialism was cited by police as the terrorists' motivation.{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Ciara |date=2023-02-16 |title=Queensland police say the Wieambilla shooting is a terrorist attack motivated by premillennialism. Here's what that means |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-16/qld-police-trains-shooting-premillennialism-christian-ideology/101985762 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216195931/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-16/qld-police-trains-shooting-premillennialism-christian-ideology/101985762 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |access-date=2023-02-16 |newspaper=ABC News (Australia) |quote= |agency=}}{{cite news |last=Houlahan |first=Anna |date=2023-02-16 |title=What is premillennialism? Wieambilla shooters religion revealed |url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8088500/police-shooting-was-religiously-motivated-terrorist-attack-what-is-premillennialism/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216233110/https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8088500/police-shooting-was-religiously-motivated-terrorist-attack-what-is-premillennialism/ |archive-date=16 February 2023 |access-date=2023-02-16 |newspaper=Canberra Times |quote= |agency=}}

There are a wide variety of mental health conditions and illness, and it is quite rare for them to lead to violence.{{cite journal |last1=Varshney |first1=Mohit |last2=Mahapatra |first2=Ananya |last3=Krishnan |first3=Vijay |last4=Gupta |first4=Rishab |last5=Deb |first5=Koushik Sinha |title=Violence and mental illness: what is the true story? |journal=Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health |date=March 2016 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=223–225 |doi=10.1136/jech-2015-205546 |pmid=26320232 |pmc=4789812 }}{{cite journal |last1=Glied |first1=Sherry |last2=Frank |first2=Richard G. |title=Mental Illness and Violence: Lessons From the Evidence |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=February 2014 |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=e5–e6 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2013.301710 |pmc=3935671 |pmid=24328636 }} Objectively determining the mental health of a terrorist is often complicated by a number of factors.{{cite journal |last1=Corner |first1=Emily |last2=Gill |first2=Paul |last3=Mason |first3=Oliver |title=Mental Health Disorders and the Terrorist: A Research Note Probing Selection Effects and Disorder Prevalence |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |date=2 June 2016 |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=560–568 |doi=10.1080/1057610X.2015.1120099 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Corner |first1=Emily |last2=Gill |first2=Paul |title=A false dichotomy? Mental illness and lone-actor terrorism. |journal=Law and Human Behavior |date=February 2015 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=23–34 |doi=10.1037/lhb0000102 |pmid=25133916 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1437776/ }} There is minimal statistically robust information specifically on terrorists who claim Christian motivation. However, Gill says that about 30% of right wing, 52% of single issue, and 8% of those in a terrorist group have a mental illness. Another study found that about 53% of individual terrorists could have been characterized as socially isolated before their attacks. People in some terrorist groups are less likely to have a mental illness than the general population, due to the selection criteria of such groups. Mental illness does not seem to unduly prevent terrorists from performing successful complex attacks.{{cite journal |last1=Fein |first1=Robert A. |last2=Vossekuil |first2=Bryan |title=Assassination in the United States: An Operational Study of Recent Assassins, Attackers, and Near-Lethal Approachers |journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences |date=1 March 1999 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=321–333 |doi=10.1520/JFS14457J |pmid=10097356 }}

{{See also|Tactics of terrorism}}

Terrorists who claim to have a Christian motivation can act alone or in groups. It is often difficult to determine if the perpetrator acted completely alone or was inspired by a religious or political group. The same problem exists with Islamic terrorism or any allegedly religiously or politically motivated act of terror.{{cite news |last=Callimachi |first=Rukmini |title=Not 'Lone Wolves' After All: How ISIS Guides World's Terror Plots From Afar |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/04/world/asia/isis-messaging-app-terror-plot.html |work=The New York Times |date=4 February 2017 }}{{Cite journal|last1=Gartenstein-Ross|first1=Daveed|last2=Barr|first2=Nathaniel|date=26 July 2016|title=The Myth of Lone-Wolf Terrorism|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/western-europe/2016-07-26/myth-lone-wolf-terrorism|journal=Foreign Affairs|access-date=4 February 2017}}

{{See also|Anti-abortion violence}}

On 16 July 2001, Peter James Knight walked into the East Melbourne Fertility Clinic, a private abortion provider, carrying a rifle and other weapons{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s730342.htm|title=Abortion clinic guard killer jailed for life|date=19 November 2002|work=The World Today|access-date=5 May 2018|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|format=transcript}} including 16 litres of kerosene, three lighters, torches, 30 gags, and a handwritten note that read "We regret to advise that as a result of a fatal accident involving some members of staff, we have been forced to cancel all appointments today". Knight later stated that he intended to massacre everyone in the clinic, and attack all Melbourne abortion clinics. He developed homemade mouth gags and door jambs to restrain all patients and staff inside a clinic while he doused them with the kerosene.{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/deluded-prolife-crusader-peter-james-knight-kills-guard-but-wanted-more-dead-after-he-brought-his-gun-and-hatred-to-an-abortion-clinic-in-melbourne/news-story/c5a432d3036f9d745640a3c02810dab9|title=Deluded pro-life crusader Peter James Knight kills guard, but wanted more dead after he brought his gun and hatred to an abortion clinic in Melbourne|author=Anderson, Paul|date=11 March 2014|work=Herald Sun|access-date=5 May 2018}} He shot 44-year-old Stephen Gordon Rogers, a security guard, in the chest, killing him. Staff and clients overpowered him soon after. He intended to massacre the 15 staff and 26 patients at the clinic by burning them alive.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/19/1037697662403.html|title='Remorseless' recluse gets life|author1=Berry, Jamie|author2=Munro, Ian|date=19 November 2002|work=The Age|access-date=23 November 2012}}

According to psychiatrist Don Sendipathy, Knight interpreted the Bible in his own unique way and he also believed in his own brand of Christianity. He believed that he needed to wage an anti-abortion Crusade.

Eric Robert Rudolph (the perpetrator of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996) carried out bombing attacks on two abortion clinics and he also bombed a lesbian nightclub. Michael Barkun, a professor at Syracuse University, believes that Rudolph likely fits the definition of a Christian terrorist; however, James A. Aho, a professor at Idaho State University, is reluctant to use the phrase Christian terrorist, so he calls Rudolph "a religiously inspired terrorist".{{cite news |last=Cooperman |first=Alan |title=Is Terrorism Tied To Christian Sect? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/06/02/is-terrorism-tied-to-christian-sect/7510f762-4ac6-43b5-9b15-479a8cef16d4/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2 June 2003 |quote='Based on what we know of Rudolph so far, and admittedly it's fragmentary, there seems to be a fairly high likelihood that he can legitimately be called a Christian terrorist,' said Michael Barkun, a professor of political science at Syracuse University who has been a consultant to the FBI on Christian extremist groups. }}

Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the United States who performed abortions late in pregnancies, was a frequent target of anti-abortion violence and in 2009, he was killed by Scott Roeder as he stood in the foyer of his church. A witness who was serving as an usher alongside Tiller at the church that day told the court that Roeder entered the foyer, put a gun to the doctor's head and pulled the trigger. At trial, Roeder admitted to killing Tiller and he said that he did it in order to protect the lives of unborn babies. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. At his sentencing, he told the court that God "will avenge every drop of innocent blood," and he also stated that God’s judgment against the United States would "sweep over this land like a prairie wind."{{cite news |date=1 April 2010 |title=Kansas: Doctor's Killer Says God Will Judge U.S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/us/02brfs-DOCTORSKILLE_BRF.html |access-date=6 January 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times}}

Tiller was shot once before, in 1993, by Shelley Shannon, an anti-abortion activist who compared abortion providers to Hitler and said that she believed that "justifiable force" was necessary to stop abortions. Shannon was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting of Tiller and she later confessed to vandalizing and burning a string of abortion clinics in California, Nevada and Oregon.{{fact|date=November 2022}}

James Kopp was convicted of the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician who provided abortion services in the Buffalo area, and he has also been named as a suspect in the shooting of several abortion providers in Canada. Kopp hid in the woods behind Slepian's home in October 1998 and shot him through the window with a high-powered rifle, killing him as he stood in his kitchen with his family. Slepian had just returned from a memorial service for his father when he was killed. Kopp spent almost two and a half years on the run in Mexico, Ireland and France before he was captured and extradited to the United States in 2001. He was convicted on a state charge of second-degree murder in 2003 and sentenced to serve 25 years in prison. In 2007, he was convicted on a separate federal charge and sentenced to life in prison. The Canadian authorities also consider Kopp a suspect in several nonlethal attacks on Canadian abortion service providers because they believe that he shot through the windows of their homes. He was charged with the 1995 attempted murder of Dr. Hugh Short, an abortion service provider in Ontario, but the charges were dropped after he was convicted in New York. The police in Canada also named him as a suspect in the 1997 shooting of Dr. Jack Fainman in Winnipeg and they also named him as a suspect in the 1994 shooting of Dr. Garson Romalis in Vancouver, which was the first attack on an abortion provider in Canada.{{fact|date=November 2022}}

The November 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting, in which three people were killed and nine people were injured, was described as "a form of terrorism" by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34958284|title=Colorado Springs shootings: Calls to cool abortion debate|access-date=29 November 2015|publisher=BBC}} The gunman, Robert Lewis Dear, was described as a "delusional" man{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/colorado-clinic-shooting-psychologists-call-suspect-robert-dear-delusional-n564506|title=Psychologists Call Suspect in Colorado Clinic Shooting Delusional|website=NBC News|date=29 April 2016 }} because on a cannabis internet forum, he had written that "sinners" would "burn in hell" during the end times, and he had also written about smoking marijuana and propositioning women for sex.{{cite web|last=Silverstein|first=Jason|date=2015-11-29|title=Robert Dear appeared to solicit sex, rant about Bible online|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/robert-dear-solicit-sex-rant-bible-online-article-1.2449509|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151202032311/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/robert-dear-solicit-sex-rant-bible-online-article-1.2449509|archive-date=2015-12-02|access-date=2022-01-06|website=New York Daily News|publisher=Wayback Machine}}{{cite web|url=http://heavy.com/news/2015/11/robert-lewis-dear-colorado-springs-planned-parenthood-suspect-gunman-shooter-sexyads-online-dating-profile-ad-cannabis-posts-religious-rants-wife-divorce-girlfriend-social-media-bdsm/|title=Robert Lewis Dear's Online Dating Profile & Cannabis.com Rants|last=Cleary|first=Tom|date=29 November 2015}} He had praised the Army of God, stating that attacks on abortion clinics are "God's work".{{cite web |last=Fausset |first=Richard |date=2 December 2015 |title=For Robert Dear, Religion and Rage Before Planned Parenthood Attack |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/us/robert-dear-planned-parenthood-shooting.html |access-date=6 January 2024 |work=The New York Times}} Dear's ex-wife said that he had put glue on a lock of a Planned Parenthood clinic, and in court documents which pertained to their divorce, she said "He claims to be a Christian and is extremely evangelistic, but does not follow the Bible in his actions. He says that as long as he believes he will be saved, he can do whatever he pleases. He is obsessed with the world coming to an end." Authorities said that he spoke of "no more baby parts" in an interview after his arrest.

The Army of God is an American Christian terrorist organization; its members have perpetrated acts of anti-abortion violence.{{cite web | url = http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=28 | title = Terrorist Organization Profile: Army of God | publisher = National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism | access-date = October 5, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120623065521/http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data%5Fcollections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=28 | archive-date = June 23, 2012 | url-status = dead }}

Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder were a gay couple from Redding, California, who were murdered by Benjamin Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams in 1999. Neighbors said that the family of the Williams Brothers was known for its fundamentalist Christian beliefs, and they also said that recordings of sermons and religious music were frequently heard from their house.{{cite news|url=http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/06/redding/index.html|title=Poster boys for the summer of hate|last=Stanton|first=Sam|date=9 October 1999|work=Salon.Com|access-date=6 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517113040/http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/06/redding/index.html|archive-date=17 May 2008|url-status=dead|author2=Gary Delsohn}} The two perpetrators of the murder are believed to have had ties to the Christian Identity movement. They were also suspected of playing a role in 18 arson attacks on three synagogues.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-20-mn-57756-story.html|title=Charges Filed in Slaying of Gay Couple|date=20 July 1999|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=1 May 2019 }}

In 1996, three men who claimed to be Phineas priests—Charles Barbee, Robert Berry and Jay Merelle—were charged with two bank robberies and bombings at the banks, the bombing of a Spokane newspaper, and the bombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington state. The men were antisemitic Christian Identity theorists who believed that God wanted them to carry out violent attacks and they also believed that such attacks would hasten the ascendancy of the Aryan race.{{Cite book|title=Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues|last=Martin|first=Gus|publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc|year=2003|isbn=978-0761926153}}{{pn|date=November 2022}}

In 2015, Robert Doggart, a 63-year-old mechanical engineer, was indicted for solicitation to commit a civil rights violation by intending to damage or destroy religious property after he stated that he intended to amass weapons and attack Islamberg, an Islamic hamlet and religious community in Delaware County, New York.{{cite web|url=http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jul/14/tennessee-mpleads-not-guilty-alleged-plot-kil/314465/|title=Signal Mountain man pleads not guilty in alleged plot to kill New York Muslims|date=14 July 2015|work=timesfreepress.com}} Doggart, a member of several private militia groups, spoke to an FBI source during a phone call and stated that he had an M4 carbine with "500 rounds of ammunition" that he intended to take to the Delaware County enclave, along with a handgun, Molotov cocktails and a machete. The FBI source recorded him saying "if it gets down to the machete, we will cut them to shreds".{{cite web|url=http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/may/20/plotter-attack-muslims-ruled-out-possible-thr/305256/|title=Plotter of attack on Muslim town ruled out possible 'threat' in Tennessee|date=20 May 2015|work=timesfreepress.com}} Doggart had previously travelled to a site in Dover, Tennessee, which had been described as a "jihadist training camp", in chain emails and found that the claims were wrong. In April, Doggart accepted a plea bargain and stated that he had "willfully and knowingly sent a message in interstate commerce containing a true threat" to injure someone. The plea bargain was struck down by a judge because it did not contain enough facts to constitute a true threat.{{cite web|last=Sainz|first=Adrian|date=2015-09-06|title=Trial of Tennessee man Robert Doggart accused of planning mosque attack delayed|url=http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/state/trial-of-tennessee-man-robert-doggart-accused-of-planning-mosque-attack-delayed-ep-1261575159-327924131.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925183818/http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/state/trial-of-tennessee-man-robert-doggart-accused-of-planning-mosque-attack-delayed-ep-1261575159-327924131.html|archive-date=2015-09-25|access-date=2022-01-13|work=commercialappeal.com}}{{cite news |date=7 September 2015 |title=Judge delays trial of man accused of plotting attack on Muslim community |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/06/islamberg-plot-trial-delayed-robert-doggart-tennessee |access-date=6 January 2024 |work=The Guardian}} Doggart describes himself as a Christian minister in the "Christian National (Congregational) Church" (apparently, the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches).{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Robert_Doggart|title=Robert Doggart|work=ballotpedia.org}} None of the charges against him are terrorism related, however, some groups have described his actions as such.{{cite news |last=Jalabi |first=Raya |date=7 July 2015 |title=Release of man who threatened Islamberg hamlet prompts outcry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/07/robert-doggart-attack-islamberg |access-date=4 September 2015 |newspaper=The Guardian}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-tennessee-congressional-hopeful-indicted-in-alleged-anti-muslim-plot-in-new-york/|title=Ex-Tennessee congressional hopeful Robert Doggart indicted in alleged plot against Muslims in upstate New York|date=7 July 2015|work=CBS News|access-date=4 September 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jul/13/protesters-outside-chattanooga-federal-building-blast-handling-robert-doggart-case/314361/|title=Protesters outside Chattanooga federal building blast handling of Robert Doggart case|date=13 July 2015|work=Times Free Press|access-date=4 September 2015}}

According to University of Auckland Professor Douglas Pratt, who is an international expert on religious terrorism, the Christchurch mosque shootings by Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, which killed 51 people and injured 50 more people (primarily Muslims) at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, were a form of "Christian terrorism" and white supremacy. Tarrant's manifesto The Great Replacement, which is named after the French far-right conspiracy theory bearing the same name, quoted Pope Urban II (who ordered the First Crusade) and demanded the retaking of Jerusalem, cited the death of 11-year-old Swedish girl Ebba Akerlund, cited NATO's involvement in Kosovo, stated Tarrant's wish that Istanbul (aka Constantinople) should be taken from Turkey so it will be back in Christian hands and he finally stated that Tarrant's main motive for the attacks was revenge against Islam. The shooter's rifles were covered with white supremacist symbols and the names of various historical non-Muslim figures who waged battles against Muslims, such as Charles Martel, Skanderbeg and Bajo Pivljanin as well as the Battle of Tours in 732 and the Battle of Vienna in 1683.{{cite news|date=19 March 2019|title=Christchurch attacks were a form of 'Christian terrorism', as well as racial hatred, says religion expert|publisher=Television New Zealand|url=https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/christchurch-attacks-were-form-christian-terrorism-well-racial-hatred-says-religion-expert|url-status=dead|access-date=2022-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322094714/https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/christchurch-attacks-were-form-christian-terrorism-well-racial-hatred-says-religion-expert|archive-date=2019-03-22}}{{cite news |title=Warning signs of terror attack in New Zealand have been apparent, experts say |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111324932/christchurch-mosque-shootings-naive-to-think-this-wouldnt-happen-here |publisher=Stuff.co.nz |date=15 March 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://heavy.com/news/2019/03/brenton-tarrant-manifesto/|title=Brenton Tarrant Manifesto: The 'Great Replacement' Rant|work=Heavy.com|access-date=4 April 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-zealand-shooting-gunman-rifles-white-supremacist-symbols-memes/|title=New Zealand shooting gunman's rifles covered in white supremacist symbols popular online|work=CBS News.com|access-date=4 April 2019}}

The perpetrator of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting Robert Bowers paraphrased a section of {{Bibleverse|John|8:44|kjv}}, stating "Jews are the children of Satan" on the bio of his now defunct Gab account.{{Cite news|url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/robert-bowers-shooter-killed-11-synagogue-quoted-bible-talked-jesus-christ.html|title=Robert Bowers, Shooter Who Killed 11 at Synagogue, Quoted the Bible, Talked About Jesus Christ|website=christianpost.com|access-date=21 May 2021|date=29 October 2018}} Similarly, the Poway synagogue shooting suspect John T. Earnest also cited Bible quotes to justify his attack and in March 2019, he attempted to burn down a mosque in Escondido, California but failed.{{Cite web|url=https://heavy.com/news/2019/04/john-earnest/|title=John Earnest: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know|last=Cleary|first=Tom|date=27 April 2019|website=Heavy.com|language=en|access-date=28 April 2019}}

{{Portal|Christianity}}

• Christianization
• Criticism of Christianity
• European wars of religion
• Witch-hunt
• Religious discrimination
• Religious violence

{{Reflist}}

• Michael Gaddis.2005. There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire: 39 (Transformation of the Classical Heritage). University of California Press.
• Mason, Carol. 2002. Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
• Zeskind, Leonard. 1987. The 'Christian Identity' Movement, [booklet]. Atlanta, Georgia: Center for Democratic Renewal/Division of Church and Society, National Council of Churches.
• Al-Khattar, Aref M. Religion and terrorism: an interfaith perspective. Greenwood. January 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-275-96923-3}}
• "The Armies of God: A Study in Militant Christianity" by Iain Buchanan, Publisher: Citizens International (2010), {{ISBN|978-9833046096}}
• [https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199759996.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199759996-e-41 Introduction: The Enduring Relationship of Religion and Violence] – Oxford Handbooks Online

{{Criticism of religion}}

{{Terrorism topics}}

Category:Religiously motivated violence in the United States

Category:Religious terrorism