A short analysis of British-Israelism – 2022 Conference paper
Christian Nationalism is defined by an ideology that advocates for a fusion of American civic life with a Christian identity and culture (Whitehead & Perry, 2020). Examples of Christian Nationalist beliefs are that the US should be declared a Christian nation, the government should advocate Christian values, and Christianity should be established in public practices, such as prayer in schools.
Those who embrace Christian Nationalism often equate Americans with being native-born, white, and Christian – this leads to racial exclusion as well as tolerance of white supremacy. Christian Nationalism also has a strong correlation to xenophobia and Islamophobia (Baker et al, 2020), and while both are distinct phenomena, they both tap into more generalized fears of outsiders.
The data discussed below comes from 60+ issues of Kingdom Digest magazine (1949–1991) found in the Hall–Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda at Brown University and digitized by Religions of America. The content is based on the theology and ideology of British-Israelism.
British-Israelism is a religious movement that saw its growth starting in the mid-1800s in England, which was then embraced within the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The theology of British-Israelism is based on having a genetic link to the Israelites of the bible. They assert that White Anglo-Saxon Protestants are the true chosen people. And they call themselves “Israel,” which are the white national people of Britain and the United States. They see those racialized as Black, Jewish, Asian, or indigenous as not being descended from Adam, making racial exclusion a key component of their theology and ideology.
John A. Lovell (1907–1974), the minister who edited, produced, and distributed the Kingdom Digest, was one of the most well-known ministers of the British-Israelism movement in the U.S. His prominence was a result of his popular radio program transmitted nationwide and in parts of Mexico. He organized the conferences of the Canadian and American British-Israelites, as well as seeded multiple churches in California and Texas, and later in other states. Lovell spoke at segregationist activist meetings, including at a large event in Little Rock, Arkansas, opposing school desegregation in 1957. He also had direct connections to prominent white supremacists, such as Wesley Swift a prominent chapter leader of the KKK in California; Gerald Smith the founder of the antisemitic organization, the Christian Nationalist Crusade; and the neo-Nazi, Richard Butler, the founder of Aryan Nations.
The three most prominent themes of the preliminary analysis are: Christian nationalism, anti-Semitism, and conspiracy theories.
The Christian nationalist rhetoric focuses on Christianity as a national identity, leading to exceptionalist claims and using exclusionary language. The data show that anti-Semitism correlates with Christian nationalism because it threatens the white, Christian identity narrative. Anti-Semitic rhetoric is also used as a counternarrative to assert that racialized Jews are not the chosen people of the bible. When looking at the role of conspiracy theories in Christian nationalism, the rhetoric used is largely political in nature and often uses the concept of persecution, including being racially white and Christian.
It is identity that is at the center of the data. By defining who real Americans are, it points to those they deem cannot represent America. The rhetoric points to Christian values and adherence as necessary to being American. For example, in 1954 the author Reverend Clark equates Christianity with patriotism. He states that “Americans should think Christian and vote Christian because: Legally, our republic can be classified as a Christian Nation.” Later he says, “let us emphasize that there is no incompatibility between Christianity and patriotism. The best kind of a citizen is that of a man or woman who has [accepted Christ].” He also firmly states that there is no alternative, “Every American must take a stand for righteousness through the law of Christ. There can be no middle ground. It is Christ or chaos.”
In the same volume, Dr. Benham wrote that “our destiny -as a nation- has already been determined. Satan cannot change God’s blueprint. It is clearly defined in the Scriptures.” These sentiments are key not only to themes of Christian nationalism but those of anti-Semitism and conspiracies as well.
Christian nationalism was employed with anti-immigrant exclusionary rhetoric. The following quote comes from “Bible School Lessons” a recurring section within the volumes. This passage comes from Lesson 13 entitled “Jesus Among People of Other Races”. Mabel McMurray, the author, explains that as individuals we should treat others using the golden rule, however, the Bible has laws regarding race relations. She states, “Our nation was founded by Christian people [but] Satan saw his opportunity to weaken this growing nation and he caused men to come to this country who did not believe in God and who had no notion of abiding by the laws of the land. The admission into citizenship of these aliens who have violated all of God’s laws is one of the greatest disasters ever enacted, for they have been the cause of practically all of our national problems.” The article goes on to suggest that, had they barred them from arriving or denied their citizenship until the 10th generation, citing a biblical passage, America would have been better off.
Christian nationalist sentiment also employed Islamophobia, particularly in later volumes. Using concerns of the growing population, political power and instability of Muslim-predominant countries in 1985, the article “Islam in Prophecy” is an anti-Muslim interpretation of Revelations, with the assertion that Islam was founded and propagated by Satan. Using locusts and scorpions as biblical metaphors from the book of Revelations, Alan Campbell states unambiguously, that “the Arab peoples, once converted to the new religion, would carry it forward devouring, plundering and conquering the lands and peoples. The peculiarities of the locusts are also the characteristics of the Arabs, their vast numbers, they’re ravaging power, they’re essential unity, yet lack of any one king. Just as the locusts of Old Testament days.” The article suggests that Muslims have an agenda to destroy Christendom because Islam is inherently Satanic.
Anti-Semitism is another common theme in the data. Fusing Christian nationalism with rhetoric of the racial and religious threats perpetrated by Jews. James Matthews, citing a fictitious speech, accuses Jews of a racial conspiracy. He states, “I read it carefully, stunned by the diabolical proposal it contained for the annihilation of the white race.” He writes that Jews are behind the civil rights movement and soon they will, “forbid whites to mate with whites, and propose laws attempting to enforce intermarriage of blacks and whites.” Thus, eliminating the white race.
They use anti-Semitic conspiracy and persecution rhetoric to advance Christian nationalist ideals. Roy Thornton writes, “Ignorance is apparent in the many difficulties in upholding ‘Sunday closing’ laws, in which we find the ‘Saturdarians’ aligning themselves with Jews and atheists in an all-out effort to erase Sunday from any special consideration in our public life.”
For white Anglo-Saxons to be the true Israel, the rhetoric places the racialization of Jews into a counternarrative by directly refuting Jewish links to Christianity. In the opening article of attestations, Delbert Clayton writes that propaganda is behind the linking of Christianity to Judaism and that “Jesus was a Galilean, not a Jew. His disciples were Galileans, not Jews; the writers of the Old Testament were Israelites, not Jews.” J. L. West, in an anti Judeo-Christian article, uses historical-revisionist rhetoric in asserting that “Christianity is historically the oldest religion in the world – all others are “Johnny-come-latelys.“ That “No, we are not a splinter – we are the Great Olive Tree.” From South African author, W. G. Finlay, he attempts to revise the meaning of “Semite” by stating that “From the scriptural point of view, a ‘Semite’ is one who owes his descent to Shem, one of the three sons of Noah who were racially identical and certainly part and parcel of the Caucasian White race.” By using refutations and revisionist rhetoric, a counternarrative is created that replaces Jews with White Anglo-Saxon Christians as the chosen people, thus fueling anti-Semitism.
Moving from the historical to present day Christian nationalism, two public events are examined using the analysis of the Kingdom Digest data.
The photo on the left shows a group of young white men walking through the University of Virginia campus the night before the white nationalist march Unite the Right where they chanted the phrase “Jews will not replace us.” The data shows that anti-Semitic rhetoric of domination and intentional white race replacement was used from one of the earliest volumes through to the editions of the late 1980’s. The rhetoric of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the Kingdom Digest mirror the discourse of organized white supremacy of today.
On the righthand side, is a photo of a mob during the January 6th capitol attack in 2021, where a Q-Anon flag is being waved along with a Trump 2020 flag. Q-Anon is a group bounded by similar beliefs in conspiracy theories including attributes of anti-Semitism and white supremacy. Discourses of conspiracy among Q-Anon adherents were used before, during, and after the capitol attack to further political nationalist sentiment. Throughout the data, it shows political conspiracy rhetoric that purports a super world government with an aim to destroy freedom using similar vernacular to Q-Anon.
The findings show how British-Israelism laid the groundwork for integrating different factions of organized white supremacy in the U.S., such as the KKK as well as Neo-Nazi groups, such as the Aryan Nations. Furthermore, by straddling the line between underground and above ground activism and ministry, John Lovell was able to disseminate the message of Christian nationalism and white supremacy among the wider public through his radio program and magazine. The connection between the Christian nationalism rhetoric of British Israelism and the Christian nationalist movements of today help explain patterns related to racism and white supremacy.
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