The Church of Jesus Christ–Christian is an American
Christian Identity
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood ...
,
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
church, which was founded in 1946 by
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
organizer
Wesley A. Swift
Wesley A. Swift (September 6, 1913 – October 8, 1970) was a minister from Southern California who was known for his white supremacist views and was the central figure in Christian Identity from the 1940s until his death in 1970.
Early life and ...
. Swift was the son of a
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...
minister and is considered a significant figure in the early years of the
Christian Identity
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood ...
movement in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Swift's work and copyrights are carried on by
Kingdom Identity Ministries
Kingdom Identity Ministries (KIM) is a self-described "outreach ministry" based in Harrison, Arkansas, which advocates racism, antisemitism, and extreme homophobia. Its website states that it "is an outreach ministry to God's chosen race" by whi ...
.
History
The church was originally known as the White Identity Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, assuming its present name in 1957. After Wesley Swift's death in 1970, the ministry was continued by his wife Lorraine Swift. Roy Gillaspie and
Arnold Murray were in leadership positions between 1950 and the 1970s.
In February 2001, the names Church of Jesus Christ–Christian and
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group i ...
were transferred to Victoria and Jason Keenan when the Keenans won a US $6.3 million lawsuit against the organizations after being attacked by Aryan Nations paramilitary soldiers; the Aryan Nations compound was also transferred to the Keenans. In March 2001, the Keenans sold the compound to the
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
-based
Carr Foundation, a
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
organization which plans to build a human rights center on the property.
The church resurfaced in August 2009, five years after the death of
Richard Butler, who resumed the ministry after the death of Swift. The church is now headed by a council of three men, including Senior Pastor Paul R. Mullet.
References
Further reading
*''
On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left'' by
Dennis Tourish
Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius.
The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...
, and
Tim Wohlforth
Timothy Andrew Wohlforth (May 15, 1933 – August 23, 2019), was a United States Trotskyist leader. On leaving the Trotskyist movement he became a writer of crime fiction and of politically oriented non-fiction.
As a student, Wohlforth joined the ...
, 2000.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church Of Jesus Christ-Christian
Christian denominations established in the 20th century
Christian Identity
Christian organizations established in 1946
Ku Klux Klan organizations