Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 14
31. National Committee for prevention of Child Abuse. Position statement. Chicago, IL.
National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse. November 1990
Acknowledgements
We thank Drs. Faith Kung and Alice L. Yu for their assistance locating data on prognoses of
tumor patients. Drs. Lynne M. Bird, William B. Weil, and Donna A. Rosenberg made helpful
suggestions on the manuscript.
Reprinted with permission from Pediatrics, Volume 101, Number 4, April 1998, pp. 625-629.
**********
Seth M. Asner, M.D. is in the Department of Pediatrics of the University of California San
Diego's School of Medicine.
Rita Swan, Ph.D. is the president of Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty (CHILD).
This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 2000, Volume 17,
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Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 15
Prophets of the Apocalypse:
White Supremacy and the Theology of Christian Identity
Dennis Tourish
Department of Management
University of Aberdeen
Tim Wohlforth
Oakland, California
Abstract
Many white supremacist organizations in the United States (such as Posse
Comitatus, Aryan Nations and innumerable militia groups) draw their
inspiration from a theology known as Christian Identity, which argues that
the white race of North America is descended from the lost tribes of Israel
and is hence the Chosen People spoken of in the Bible. This philosophy also
posits that Jews are the direct descendants of the Devil and that blacks are
the product of interbreeding between people and animals. This paper
discusses the main theoretical principles of Christian Identity and how its
absolutist belief system encourages high activity forms of organization, in-
group favoritism, and the demonization of all out-groups. The paper argues
that the underlying ideology of Christian Identity and its organizational
manifestations are inherently cultic. In this context, fundamental principles of
social psychological theory concerned with attribution, stereotyping,
prejudice formation, and uncertainty reduction are applied to the Identity
milieu to explain its apparent hold on significant numbers of people.
The influence of far right groupings has grown during the past two decades. Significant
numbers of people are now attracted to organizations (e.g. Aryan Nations, Posse
Commitatus) that might properly be regarded as cultic. The theology of the Christian
Identity movement in particular is implicated in the growth of right wing militias and Neo-
Nazi organizations.
Although considerable academic material has been published on the far right, previous
researchers have failed to explicitly address Identity theology and the organizational forms
to which it gives rise from a cultic perspective. Moreover, few have applied research from
social psychology to explain far-right phenomena. Some writers have emphasized
personality issues (e.g., Adorno et al, 1950) in which support for the right is seen as
inherently irrational and hence susceptible only to personality based interpretations (see
Wilcox, 1992, for an extended discussion of problems with this viewpoint). Others have
stressed the sociological issues involved (e.g., Bruce, 1995). Our contribution is to apply
theoretical principles drawn from social psychology and the analysis of cults in a way that
has not previously been attempted.
We have studied the Web sites of many far right organizations and of various bodies who
monitor their activities, to gauge the nature of Identity theology and the extent of its
organizational influence. We make frequent reference to these sources in the pages that
follow.
We argue that the basic tenets of this theology are so sharply focused on the creation of in-
groups and out-groups that it inherently facilitates high activity forms of organization,
conformity, and cultic dynamics. In particular, its emphasis on imminent catastrophe (the