A Sinister Search for "Identity"

By Richard N. Ostling

"God said what he meant and meant what he said," proclaims Richard Girnt Butler, 66, of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian. Butler sounds like just another Fundamentalist country preacher--until he reveals his peculiar interpretation of God's word. He is one of the leaders of the increasingly troublesome Christian Identity movement, which preaches the most corrosive theology in America, blending hatred of blacks and Jews with visions of an imminent apocalypse and advocating--and sometimes practicing--armed violence to achieve its goals.

Butler's seven-building complex, with its WHITES ONLY sign at the gate, nestles amid towering evergreens near Hayden Lake, Idaho. The tranquil setting contrasts with unnerving events in nearby Coeur d'Alene over the past several weeks: a bombing at the home of a Roman Catholic priest who opposes white racism, then more bombings to divert attention from planned robberies at banks and a National Guard armory. Last week a former security chief of Butler's church, David Dorr, 35, and two others who attended meetings were charged in the bombings. The church professed shock at the incidents.

Whatever the outcome of the Idaho case, there is no question about violence committed by Identity believers elsewhere. Robert J. Mathews, who left Aryan Nations, Butler's umbrella organization for racists, and formed the Order, died in a 1984 gunfight with federal agents after a crime spree; other Order members drew prison terms of up to 100 years. In Arkansas last year, a heavily armed camp of another Identity group, the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord, surrendered to state and federal officers who confiscated a large arms cache and 30 gal. of cyanide. The leader was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In the Midwest, Identity ideas are frequently espoused by groups like Posse Comitatus, the violent tax-protest vigilantes.

In all, experts estimate that the disparate Identity groups count from 2,000 to 5,000 members plus several times that many sympathizers and seem to have particular appeal for bankrupt farmers and the unemployed. A handful of Identity churches, like Butler's, hold services in traditional places of worship. But the network includes little-noticed groups that meet in private homes and individuals who regularly receive audiocassettes and publications in the mail. The word is also spread through contacts in prisons, computer bulletin boards and shows on public access channels on TV cable systems, which are required by law to air material from local citizens.

The first thorough analysis of Christian Identity doctrine and history will appear next month in a report by Leonard Zeskind of Kansas City, research director with the Center for Democratic Renewal (formerly the National Anti-Klan Network). Zeskind says the Identity system "provides religious unity for differing racist political groups and brings religious people into contact with the racist movement."

Though Identity has only recently come to public notice, its central concept dates back to the 19th century. In its farfetched "British Israelism" theory, which lacks historical evidence, people of Britain or northern Europe (and hence white Americans) are the descendants of the ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. "The Jews have no part in this household," asserts Butler.

British Israelism was popularized among millions of Americans through books, magazines and broadcasts by the late Herbert W. Armstrong and his Worldwide Church of God, although Armstrong had no connection with the Identity movement. The Identity churches stem more directly from the preaching before and after World War II of Gerald L.K. Smith, a notorious anti-Semite. It was Smith's West Coast operative, Wesley Swift, who founded the church that Butler now leads. Later a Swift offshoot in Mariposa, Calif., led by retired Army Colonel William Potter Gale, produced the newsletter Identity and solidified the ideology.

Though Identity often sounds Fundamentalist, it is anything but. Identity followers believe they are saved by race rather than grace and welcome followers of Nordic pagan cults alongside Bible believers. The movement scorns Fundamentalism's support for Israel and its opposition to British Israelism. Unlike Fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell, who advocate involvement in the U.S. political system, Identity advocates despise the Federal Government, calling it ZOG (the Zionist Occupation Government).

Most Fundamentalists think believers will be taken to heaven in a "rapture" and escape calamities preceding Jesus Christ's Second Coming. But the Identity movement tells believers they must endure these dire events and prepare by taking military and survival training and stockpiling weapons and food. John Harrell of Louisville, Ill., wealthy head of the Christian Patriots Defense League, who teaches that "Caucasians are the most proven, most capable" of racial groups, recommends that every family of followers "have a 12-gauge shotgun, a .22 rifle and at least 500 rounds of ammunition."

Bruce Hoffman, a Rand Corp. analyst, warns against dismissing such adherents as "kooks or country bumpkins. These people are very adept at using weapons and explosives." The movement would be more dangerous, he says, if an effective leader were to arise. J. Gordon Melton, of Santa Barbara, Calif., an expert on marginal U.S. religions, agrees. "It's not a huge movement, and it's a fairly disorganized movement," he says. "But it doesn't take that many people with guns to do the damage." --By Richard N. Ostling. Reported by Barbara Dolan/Chicago and Mary Wormley/Los Angeles

With reporting by Barbara Dolan/Chicago, Mary Wormley/Los Angeles