Christian Right

Socio-Historians of Christianity from within and without white evangelical movements and churches have identified the place of Heterosexuality, family and sexual ethics as one of the central pillars of the Evangelical Church (e.g. Sophie Bjork-James, Kristin Kobe Du Mez, Frances Fitzgerald, Katherine Steward and Tanya Erzen). With the emergence of LGBTQIA+ exposure within the wider cultural landscape, evangelical faith leaders, academics and theologians have begun to call out the inculturation of evangelicalism with a heteronormative gospel. Amidst the ensuring culture war, visions and revisions for theology, pastoral care and cultural engagement has been lobbied in our cyber-spaces; shibboleths of orthodoxy has been set by denominational leaders; and the re-emergence of a politicised faith has caused major disruptions to the life and faith of every day believers. This paper is an evangelical practical theology that assesses and critiques key historical moments in the life of the Evangelical church in America from the rise of the religious right in the late 1970s to the emergence of Revoice. In so doing so, it aims to continue the investigation of whether churches are shaping culture or whether culture is shaping the church. Ultimately, it seeks to provide best practice through historical and theological analysis for Ecclesiology, pastoral care and missiology.

These five articles were written by late 2009.  They were my first analysis linking William S. Lind’s Fourth Generation Warfare strategy to John Tanton’s anti-immigration movement; the anti-immigration movement to the white nationalist or white supremacist movement; showing how the Christian Right took over the primary vehicle of the anti-immigration movement, namely, the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps; and, showing that William S. Lind’s role, beyond developing the Fourth Generation Warfare strategy, has during the time period of this initial study (2005-2009) written strategic assessments in the form of brief articles that, when combined with Thomas Chittum’s book, Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America, give insight into how the Patriot militia movement may have perceived the strategic situation.  As my first analytical attempt, no doubt there are errors of judgement.  But, this analysis drove me to understand the Christian Right—thus the first book that will be published here is on the Christian Right—and the Patriot militia.  The latter is the topic of the second book, of which several draft chapters have already been posted to academia.edu.  The third book covers the Tea Party movement.

The only difference between this paper and the earlier uploaded Part 1 is that this has the table on soft and hard ethnic cleansing rhetoric as an appendix. And it is a pdf.

The central thesis of this report is that the broad Rightwing has within it elements that collectively I call the pre-ethnic cleansing disposition (see Appendix 1 for examples of soft and hard ethnic cleansing rhetoric).  These elements are: a political-military ideology and strategy that identifies internal enemies posing a cultural and/or physical threat of genocide, and this ideology-strategy indicates that these enemies must be neutralized or destroyed.  This political-military strategy could be used (ex post facto) to justify ethnic cleansing of its enemies.  For the strategy to be credible, it must have organizations that subscribe to the strategy and a propaganda machine to communicate these ideas to the American public and its core supporters.  Lastly, it must have military organizations that could carry out ethnic cleansing.  I am not arguing that there is currently intent or planning to do ethnic cleansing, but the key elements are present and growing stronger.  It is the presence of the elements without any known or apparent intent/planning that constitute the pre-ethnic cleansing disposition.

When I began researching and writing on the American right-wing, I was heavily influenced by my experiences as a senior intelligence analyst covering the Serbian and Croatian wars of aggression against Bosnia & Herzegovina.  I believed that the elites using the mass media were priming their populations for genocide--something I called an ethnic cleansing pre-disposition.  For the American right-wing, I divided the soft versus hard ethnic cleansing pre-disposition.  The soft versus hard came from the SPLC's differentiation of hard anti-immigrant groups from white supremacists.  Or something like that.

In 1994, Richard Neuhaus and Charles Colson launched an ecumenical and unofficial dialogue, Evangelicals and Catholics Together. This “ecumenism of the trenches” aims to mobilize believers around a conservative moral agenda and gather them around the Christian Right. This chapter focuses on one of the most recent initiatives of this “ecumenism,” the Manhattan Declaration, drafted in 2009. This declaration calls for a “civil disobedience” against the American government, in the name of “natural law,” for the Obama administration would imperil “religious liberty” with the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act, and is favourable to same-sex marriage enacted by the respective U.S. states.

En 1994, Richard Neuhaus et Charles Colson lancent un dialogue œcuménique officieux, ECT. Cet “œcuménisme des tranchées” vise à mobiliser les croyants autour d’un agenda moral conservateur et à les rallier à la Droite chrétienne. Cette contribution s’intéresse à l’une des initiatives les plus récentes de cet « œcuménisme », la Déclaration de Manhattan, rédigée en 2009. Cette déclaration en appelle à la « désobéissance civile » au nom de la « loi naturelle », car l’administration Obama mettrait en péril la « liberté religieuse » avec le mandat contraceptif d’Obamacare, et en étant favorable aux mariages des partenaires de même sexe dans les différents États des USA.

I would submit that this chapter lends added weight to Clarkson’s original insight and observation.  In the seventeen years since Clarkson first wrote his book, the Christian Right has developed a Fourth Generation Warfare strategy and related strategies, operational plans, propaganda campaigns, multi-billion dollars of information infrastructure, and myriad networks to win their war against a secular American democracy that appears to consider the “culture wars” over, neglects to examine the Christian Right’s strategy, overlooks its organization building and networking, and the cross-linking of right-wing movement segments through the spread of narrative structures.  The Ron Paul-linked Oath Keepers and Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, the National Precinct Alliance, and his homeschooling curriculum are all part of this war.

NOTE: The Barbara Coe discussed in this paper is not Professor Barbara A. Coe at Western Washington University. Please do not confuse the two.

These five articles were written by late 2009.  They were my first analysis linking William S. Lind’s Fourth Generation Warfare strategy to John Tanton’s anti-immigration movement; the anti-immigration movement to the white nationalist or white supremacist movement; showing how the Christian Right took over the primary vehicle of the anti-immigration movement, namely, the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps; and, showing that William S. Lind’s role, beyond developing the Fourth Generation Warfare strategy, has during the time period of this initial study (2005-2009) written strategic assessments in the form of brief articles that, when combined with Thomas Chittum’s book, Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America, give insight into how the Patriot militia movement may have perceived the strategic situation.  As my first analytical attempt, no doubt there are errors of judgement.  But, this analysis drove me to understand the Christian Right—thus the first book that will be published here is on the Christian Right—and the Patriot militia.  The latter is the topic of the second book, of which several draft chapters have already been posted to academia.edu.  The third book covers the Tea Party movement.

This chapter examines how the Christian Reconstructionist and Christian Identity movements narrowed their ideological differences while maintaining theological differences.  The two movements did these first through an exchange of ideas, principally Christian Identity preacher Pete Peters writing a Remnant Resolves pamphlet as a response to the Coalition on Revival's World View documents.  Once these ideological differences were narrowed, two key Christian Reconstructionists, David Barton and Larry Pratt, made physical contact.  Though the two religious movements are believed to differ on anti-Semitism related to the "Jewish question," this is more apparent than real.  They do differ on the "national question," but both movements are deeply involved in white supremacy, it is just that the Christian Right is less open about it.  One key concept, "county supremacy" is a bridging mechanism between Christian Reconstructionism, Mormon Constitutionalism, and Posse Comitatus/Christian Identity.

This chapter presents the “hole-in-the-donut,” that is, the actual plan that the Christian Right had for the development of the Patriot militia in the 1990s.  Chapters 14, 15, and 16 established the operational links and the ideological affinities between the Christian Right, the National Rifle Association and other gun rights absolutist organizations, the Wise Use/County Rule movements, and the Patriot militias.  Of course, the Christian Reconstructionists did not necessarily hide their intentions to create a Patriot militia movement, but then again, they did not necessarily broadcast clearly those intentions.

This chapter shows how Oath Keepers operationalized the Vieira-North-Lind-Paul strategy by networking with the Tea Party and Patriots movements from 2009 onwards.  The paper empirically demonstrates that what is considered by scholars and close observers to the "Patriot movement" is actually an extension of the Christian Right.  What brings the Christian Right, the Patriot movement, and the Tea Party movement together are opposition to the New World Order and Agenda21.  These twin conspiracy theories also establish epistemological markers separating "true" Republicans, conservatives, Christians, and Patriots from ordinary Republicans, conservatives, Christians, and Patriots.  Moreover, these two conspiracy theories mobilize "true" Americans to eviscerate environmental laws and support the ALEC (oligarchy and billionaires) agenda of transferring hundreds of millions of acres of public lands and trillions of dollars of wealth to the oil, gas, coal, mining, timber, and grazing industries.  This is the prelude to the "Battle of Bunkerville" and the introduction to Chapter 22 (now called Chapter 23 here).

God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America
by Christopher Buck
Kingston, NY: Educator's International Press, 2015

Contents
Introduction, by J. Gordon Melton
Chapter 1: America: Nation and Notion
Chapter 2: Native American Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 3: Protestant Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 4: The Christian Right’s Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 5: Catholic Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 6: Jewish Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 7: Mormon Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 8: Christian Identity Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 9: Black Muslim Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 10: Contemporary Muslim Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 11: Buddhist Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 12: Baha’i Myths and Visions of America
Chapter 13: Conclusion: How Minority Faiths Redefined America’s World Role

Two sample chapters (by publisher's permission):
1.  Native American Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 2)
2.  Black Muslim Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 9)

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/God-Apple-Pie-Religious-Visions/dp/1891928155/

Introduction by J. Gordon Melton,
Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University

Far from being an interesting additional topic for the religious dilettante, the discussion around the theological reality that is America, periodically bursts forth as an important item on the nation's agenda, from the place of prayer services in the White House, to the issuance of an annual government report on religious persecution, to the rise of contemporary terrorism. As one traces radical Islam, for example, one arrives at the writings of one Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian who spent some of his younger years in America, and came away with his own vision of a country mired in sin and decadence. He would posit America as the image of everything he hoped to escape in promoting the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, in all honesty, I must admit that over the years as I encountered all of the intriguing, even fascinating, ideas about America in the great cosmic scheme of things, I never got around to systematically gathering the different visions and trying to make sense of them in any detailed fashion. Thus, I have been more than happy to receive, and now with this modest introduction, pass along to my scholarly colleagues and the reading public the work of Christopher Buck.

During his years of observation and research, Buck has surveyed the spectrum of visions of America that have energized and motivated the America's religious community, and has selected from among them a sample that both (1) represents the spectrum of opinion about America and its importance, and (2) highlights the more important visions of America that have shaped and are continuing to shape the way we understand this country we call home. His work calls us to become self-conscious about the assumptions we use in our day-to-day movements that massage the ways we approach our neighbors, our colleagues at work, and the politicians for whom we vote.

Buck begins with the visions of America present at the founding of the nation, aspects of which still strongly permeate the culture today, and have found a new home among conservative Protestants in their innovative idea of Christian America. Amid the Protestant context, we often forget the role of the Roman Catholic Church, which became the largest religious body in America in the 1840s and is now three times larger than its nearest competitor. At the end of the nineteenth century, a controversy on Americanism would erupt around Catholic visions of their place in a changing world that would drive it from participation in the nation's public square for a half-century, and molded its reentrance after World War II.

And then there are all the other-than-Christian religions, from Ahmadiyya Muslims to Zoroastrians, all of which possess their its own vision of America that shapes their appropriation of life in the United States and guides their development as their place in the nation was challenged, then accepted, and most recently affirmed and even celebrated by the nation as a whole. We have watched as Buddhists have carved out a place as cultural peacemakers, Muslims have struggled with separation of religion and government, and Baha'is have tried to understand the communication of their founder, Baha'u'llah, with the presidents of the Americas collectively, and with 'Abdu'l-Baha's statements about the destiny of America in particular. All of this occurs in the ebb and flow of religious life. One day we envision the possible unity of America's religions only to be thrown up against the many harsh divisions, which motivates us once more to seek realms of agreement, which again highlights the array of issues that can drive wedges between those who accept the label "American" as part of their self-identity.

In conclusion, I can, as a scholar, reflect on the contribution that this book, Religious Myths and Visions of America: God and Apple Pie, is making to our understanding of the American mosaic and how various segments of the religious community have found their way to being American. As an informed citizen I welcome its information that allows me to empathize with and make informed decisions relative to those with whom I might align (or oppose) as I sally forth in the public square. And on a personal level, I welcome the author's invitation for me to meet anew the residents of my neighborhood, those who shop in the same stores I do, send their children to the same schools my grandchildren attend, and diligently work toward their own appropriation of the American dream.

J. Gordon Melton
Distinguished Professor of American Religious History
Baylor University

January 2015 — This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

NOTE: This is actually chapter 21, as author has revised the order of the chapters.  END NOTE.  Examines how the Christian Right's Council for National Policy, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity, and the Patriot movement are waging 4GW to force the federal government to surrender public lands in Western states to those same states with the objective of selling them to private gas, oil, coal, and mining corporations.

Part II up to this point has emphasized bringing together different segments of the broad right-wing and more or less circling around the Patriot militia movement that lurked in the background of the discussion.  This chapter brings the Patriot militia into greater focus and argues that it was the Christian Reconstructionists through a very small number of select organizations within the Council for National Policy, with extensive links to the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, that carries the most responsibility for forming the Patriot militias.  To be sure, the anti-Semitic, white supremacist Christian Identity movement was there at the creation, and in greater number of participants at the 1992 Estes Park meeting in Colorado where the Patriot movement germinated as an idea (discussed below); indeed, the right-wing had a long history in forming various militia groups over the previous decades.  But, in terms of strategy and organizational linkages, let alone the tremendous communications and organizational network resources available to the Christian Right, the Christian Reconstructionists were the senior partners and the Christian Identity movement the junior partners.

Consider chapters 1 through 6 to be Version 1.0. Chapters 2 through 6 have Information Cutoff Dates ranging between March 4, 2012 (Ch 2) and November 28, 2014 (Ch 3). I completely stand by the results of these chapters. They are published in current form to get the information out into the public domain. In Version 2.0, each chapter will be reduced in size, like Ch 1a, 1b, 1c, etc., revised and updated with more current information. The theoretical focus, while staying on Fourth Generation Warfare will expand to explain the underlying epistemological warfare of John Boyd,, with its sophisticated and complex Observe-Orient-Decide-Act Loop, Russia’s hybrid warfare, and the new Weaponized Narrative Initiative. The inclusion of the latter three ideas are necessary to explain the very real threat the United States is under—from the Christian Right, the Trumpichy regime, and Russia’s hybrid warfare which appeals to the Christian Right (anti-gay, anti-abortion, traditional values), while attempting to exploit and amplify racial, ethnic, gender, and ideological differences in American society. The main focus remains the Christian Right. However, given the close and strong support given by the Christian Right to Trump, additional chapters on Trump and Fourth Generation Warfare will be included in Version 2.0. At this stage, it is more important to put these chapters into the public domain for use by other researchers than to wait for them to be revised and updated.

Consider chapters 1 through 6 to be Version 1.0. Chapters 2 through 6 have Information Cutoff Dates ranging between March 4, 2012 (Ch 2) and November 28, 2014 (Ch 3). I completely stand by the results of these chapters. They are published in current form to get the information out into the public domain. In Version 2.0, each chapter will be reduced in size, like Ch 1a, 1b, 1c, etc., revised and updated with more current information. The theoretical focus, while staying on Fourth Generation Warfare will expand to explain the underlying epistemological warfare of John Boyd,, with its sophisticated and complex Observe-Orient-Decide-Act Loop, Russia’s hybrid warfare, and the new Weaponized Narrative Initiative. The inclusion of the latter three ideas are necessary to explain the very real threat the United States is under—from the Christian Right, the Trumpichy regime, and Russia’s hybrid warfare which appeals to the Christian Right (anti-gay, anti-abortion, traditional values), while attempting to exploit and amplify racial, ethnic, gender, and ideological differences in American society. The main focus remains the Christian Right. However, given the close and strong support given by the Christian Right to Trump, additional chapters on Trump and Fourth Generation Warfare will be included in Version 2.0. At this stage, it is more important to put these chapters into the public domain for use by other researchers than to wait for them to be revised and updated.

This article examines the rise of a "right-wing international" around contemporary Russia through the lens of the concept of "bad ecumenism," explored in conjunction with the author's philosophical views and personal experience of Orthodox-Protestant interaction. In contrast to "good ecumenism," which, broadly defined, seeks interconfessional dialogue and cooperation toward the common good in our pluralist world, bad ecumenism seeks interconfessional dialogue and collaborative efforts with the goal of dominating and coercing individuals and social groups that do not conform to so-called "traditional values." Hence Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate,  dubs hardline American Evangelical Franklin Graham and other Western Christians who oppose LGBTQ rights "confessors of the faith," and Graham is happy to receive his blessing. This works in part because the history of the US Christian Right is bound up with anti-Communism and an equation of secularism with Communism. Russian actors are now playing into this narrative, insisting that because they survived Communism, they can help US and European Christians resist the "new totalitarianism" of so-called "political correctness."

Consider chapters 1 through 6 to be Version 1.0. Chapters 2 through 6 have Information Cutoff Dates ranging between March 4, 2012 (Ch 2) and November 28, 2014 (Ch 3). I completely stand by the results of these chapters. They are published in current form to get the information out into the public domain. In Version 2.0, each chapter will be reduced in size, like Ch 1a, 1b, 1c, etc., revised and updated with more current information. The theoretical focus, while staying on Fourth Generation Warfare will expand to explain the underlying epistemological warfare of John Boyd,, with its sophisticated and complex Observe-Orient-Decide-Act Loop, Russia’s hybrid warfare, and the new Weaponized Narrative Initiative. The inclusion of the latter three ideas are necessary to explain the very real threat the United States is under—from the Christian Right, the Trumpichy regime, and Russia’s hybrid warfare which appeals to the Christian Right (anti-gay, anti-abortion, traditional values), while attempting to exploit and amplify racial, ethnic, gender, and ideological differences in American society. The main focus remains the Christian Right. However, given the close and strong support given by the Christian Right to Trump, additional chapters on Trump and Fourth Generation Warfare will be included in Version 2.0. At this stage, it is more important to put these chapters into the public domain for use by other researchers than to wait for them to be revised and updated.

NOTE: The Barbara Coe discussed in this paper, see footnote 8, is not the same as Professor Barbara A. Coe at Western Washington University.

Part III examines William S. Lind’s two Fourth Generation Warfare articles to generate its key operational art principles; it then applies these principles, as well as targeting guidance, to the right-wing paramilitiaries.  This article also examines Lind’s strategic assessments in light of Thomas Chittum’s book, Civil War II.  It is a prelude to the five chapters of Part V.  It closes by showing that William S. Lind, the originator of Fourth Generation Warfare, and John Tanton, the godfather of the anti-immigration movement, and his links to the white supremacist/nationalist movement, were very close organizationally, ideologically, and strategically.  Part III was started in May 2009.  The later five articles in Part V were written by October 2009.

""Debates about the relationship and boundary between mainstream and extremist (sometimes referred to as radical or violent) activism historically emerge in response to violent incidents, where defenders of a cause will attempt to differentiate between the two in order to maintain their legitimacy and critics will attempt to make links between them in order to delegitimize the movement. This is necessary in the case of the former and possible in the case of the latter because of both popular opposition and distaste for ‘extremism’ (however defined) and because of the overlap between the ideologies and objectives of mainstream movements and so-called extremist ones, even if they differ in terms of tactics. While a movement’s ideology does come into play in the definition of extremism, its application is usually reserved for those movements or activists that, while sharing an ideology or objectives with mainstream ones, reject legitimate democratic methods in favor of violence. While this analytical distinction and boundary is applied to many movements, perhaps the clearest application is the anti-abortion movement in the United States, which includes: elected officials, members of the Republican Party, the Christian Right, church groups and citizen activists, as well as more militant direct action organizations, terrorists and elements of the extreme right. The distinction and relationship between the ‘mainstream’ and ‘extreme’ anti-abortion activism has become more significant in the first decade of the 21st century as America has not only waged a war against terrorism, but the stigma of terrorism that had become attached to the anti-abortion movement in the 1990s has been obscured as anti-abortion activism reached the White House and political power under President George W. Bush and the ascendant Christian Right. Yet, anti-abortion violence returned soon after Bush left office and Barack Obama entered it as the murder of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors to perform so-called ‘late-term abortions,’ by activist Scott Roeder in Wichita, Kansas on May 31 2009 clearly illustrated.

This chapter provides an overview of the literature on extremist or violence anti-abortion activism, and where it fits in to wider literature on the anti-abortion or pro-life movement, the Christian Right and other forms or sectors of the right, as well as terrorism. This is followed by an overview and examination of the different sectors of the anti-abortion movement, including the mainstream, militant direct action organizations such as Operation Rescue, the Pro-Life Action Network and Lambs of Christ, and extremist ones that advocate or perpetuate violence such as the American Coalition of Life Activists, Missionaries of the Preborn and the Army of God, websites such as the Nuremburg Files and so-called ‘lone wolf’ terrorists such as Rev. Mike Bray, Rev. Paul Hill, John Salvi, James Kopp, Eric Rudolph and Scott Roeder. This includes an overview and examination of the theological and textual sources and material used to advocate and justify violent activism, and the history of anti-abortion extremism and violence in the post-Roe v. Wade context from 1973 to the present. Through these sections, the chapter interrogates the relationships between extremist and violent anti-abortion violence, the mainstream anti-abortion movement, wider mainstream Christian Right and extreme right. It also examines responses to these activists and anti-abortion violence by the government and the mainstream anti-abortion movement. Significantly, the chapter looks at whether the mainstream anti-abortion movement provides support for more extreme elements activists or disassociates itself from these elements as it is frequently called upon to do, and whether it can or should be held responsible for perpetrators of violence who share a common cause. Finally, the chapter examines how anti-abortion extremism and violence are understood in relation in post-9/11 America.

On the book Extremism in America:

“A first-rate survey of the various strands of domestic extremism, from far left to far right, that are increasingly convulsing our country. A must-read for students, scholars, officials, and others entering this important field.”—Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center

“With contributions on areas ranging from anti-abortion extremism to modern anarchism and black nationalism, this is a fascinating study of an often neglected and vital area of American politics.”—Martin Durham, author of White Rage: The Extreme Right and American Politics

The American Republic was born in revolt against the British crown, and ever since, political extremism has had a long tradition in the United States. To some observers, the continued presence of extremist groups?and the escalation of their activities?portends the fragmentation of the country, while others believe such is the way American pluralism works. The word extremism often carries negative connotations, yet in 1964 Barry Goldwater famously said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”
         
Extremism in America is a sweeping overview and assessment of the various brands of bigotry, prejudice, zealotry, dogmatism, and partisanship found in the United States, including the extreme right, the antiglobalization movement, Black Nationalism, Chicano separatism, militant Islam, Jewish extremism, eco-extremism, the radical antiabortion movement, and extremist terrorism. Many of these forms of single-minded intolerance are repressed by both the state and society at large, but others receive significant support from their constituencies and enjoy a level of respectability in some quarters of the mainstream. The essays in this volume, written by area specialists, examine the relationship between these movements and the larger society, dissect the arguments of contemporary American anarchist activists, look at recent trends in political extremism, and suggest how and why such arguments resonate with a considerable number of people.
"

This is a draft of a book in preparation.  Although the Introduction refers to the book in three parts, it is far more likely that the book will eventually be published as three books--one on the Christian Right, one on the Patriot militia movement as the armed wing of the Christian Right, and the third on the Tea Party movement.  Holding all three books together are Fourth Generation Warfare (introduced in Book Two) and the Christian Right's organization, strategy, and key leadership personnel present in all three phases of the Christian Right.

The purpose of this article is to make the linkages to Fourth Generation Warfare more explicit by demonstrating that Lind's 4GW strategy, Lind's conspiracy theory of "Political Correctness," and Samuel Francis's strategy of mobilizing "Middle American Radicals" are organizationally, strategically, and operationally linked.  Closely intertwined with Lind and Francis is the strategizing and organizing of John Tanton, the godfather of the anti-immigration movement.  Moreover, Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Patrick Buchanan's presidential campaigns are also organically linked.

Recently, there has been much debate about the rise of an Evangelical Left in the United States. This debate has focused on the emergence of influential evangelical leaders breaking away from the Republican Party, such as Rick Warren. This debate mistakes a hegemonic crisis of (neo-)conservatism with a hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism. Instead, the evangelical movement in the United States needs to be analyzed in the context of neoliberalism and the decline of class-based forms of solidarity, which it replaced. Throughout their ascent, the evangelical institutions have inscribed themselves into and become a part of the neoliberal state. At the same time, the depth of the economic crisis, the remaining class character of the evangelical movement, the importance of evangelical churches as arenas of hegemonic struggles and, finally, the existing shift in national discourse in terms of the ecological question, the social question and the rehabilitation of the state vis-à-vis the market mark an opening of the political situation in the US that may eventually lead to a replacement of the current evangelical centrism by the actual Evangelical Left as part of a counter-hegemonic post-neoliberal historic bloc.

An upsurge in Orthodox anti-ecumenical criticism in 2016 has raised the question of the current state of ecumenism. Examining this topic , the author describes a new form of ecumenical activity associated with the emergence of conservative Christian alliances in defense of traditional values. This " conservative ecumenism, " or " Ecumen-ism 2.0, " differs from the " classical ecumenism " that arose in the early twentieth century and that continues to be represented today by the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical institutions. The author considers the phenomenon of " ecumenical consciousness " and demonstrates that it can be found in both types of ecumenism. Some of the Orthodox anti-ecumenists who attack classical ecumen-ism, however, may eagerly opt for this new, conservative " Ecumen-ism 2.0. " This article discusses the possible competition between the two types of ecumenisms.

Consider chapters 1 through 6 to be Version 1.0. Chapters 2 through 6 have Information Cutoff Dates ranging between March 4, 2012 (Ch 2) and November 28, 2014 (Ch 3). I completely stand by the results of these chapters. They are published in current form to get the information out into the public domain. In Version 2.0, each chapter will be reduced in size, like Ch 1a, 1b, 1c, etc., revised and updated with more current information. The theoretical focus, while staying on Fourth Generation Warfare will expand to explain the underlying epistemological warfare of John Boyd,, with its sophisticated and complex Observe-Orient-Decide-Act Loop, Russia’s hybrid warfare, and the new Weaponized Narrative Initiative. The inclusion of the latter three ideas are necessary to explain the very real threat the United States is under—from the Christian Right, the Trumpichy regime, and Russia’s hybrid warfare which appeals to the Christian Right (anti-gay, anti-abortion, traditional values), while attempting to exploit and amplify racial, ethnic, gender, and ideological differences in American society. The main focus remains the Christian Right. However, given the close and strong support given by the Christian Right to Trump, additional chapters on Trump and Fourth Generation Warfare will be included in Version 2.0. At this stage, it is more important to put these chapters into the public domain for use by other researchers than to wait for them to be revised and updated.

The link of Oath Keepers and the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association with the ALEC corporate land grab was integral to the overall strategy at the Bundy ranch confrontation.  The main Fourth Generation Warfare claim made by ALEC, Oath Keepers, CSPOA, the Tenth Amendment Center, and the John Birch Society centers on delegitimizing the federal government’s constitutionally correct ownership of public lands in the West.

The aim of this essay is to analyze the influence of the American Religious Right (RR) on U.S. foreign
policy in the context of International Relations (IR) theory. While classifying the Religious Right as a
pressure group (also in foreign policy), the author argues that its effectiveness can be analyzed through
Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) schemes. An important part of the article is also dedicated to the
question concerning the role of religion: is it only used instrumentally to justify various (geopolitical)
decisions, or can it realistically influence foreign policy and IR?

NOTE: The Barbara Coe discussed in this paper is not Professor Barbara A. Coe at Western Washington University. Please do not confuse the two.

These five articles were written by late 2009.  They were my first analysis linking William S. Lind’s Fourth Generation Warfare strategy to John Tanton’s anti-immigration movement; the anti-immigration movement to the white nationalist or white supremacist movement; showing how the Christian Right took over the primary vehicle of the anti-immigration movement, namely, the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps; and, showing that William S. Lind’s role, beyond developing the Fourth Generation Warfare strategy, has during the time period of this initial study (2005-2009) written strategic assessments in the form of brief articles that, when combined with Thomas Chittum’s book, Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America, give insight into how the Patriot militia movement may have perceived the strategic situation.  As my first analytical attempt, no doubt there are errors of judgement.  But, this analysis drove me to understand the Christian Right—thus the first book that will be published here is on the Christian Right—and the Patriot militia.  The latter is the topic of the second book, of which several draft chapters have already been posted to academia.edu.  The third book covers the Tea Party movement.

“The Camp of the Saints Worldview” combines moral conflict and physical combat to illuminate the ideological and religious roots, and deadly consequences of the Camp of the Saints (COTS) worldview.  This worldview exists on a spectrum from neo-Nazis to the extreme or populist right to religious conservatives to neo-conservatives, without clear demarcations along the spectrum, but with nuanced differences.  But, they are all one worldview and the white terrorists or mass murderers are the logical endpoint of this worldview, though they are not all neo-Nazis.

I conceptualize this worldview in terms of Jean Raspail’s French novel Camp of the Saints and the Eurabia Project writings of Egyptian Jewish exile writer Bat Ye’or. They are, respectively, the “intellectual forefather” and the “matriarch” of the counter-jihad or “rising Muslim tide” movement.  Ye’or’s Eurabia book is “the standard text of the genre.”

We can draw lines of influence from COTS the novel to: John Tanton’s white nationalist anti-immigration movement; Renaud Camus’ the Great Replacement; from the Great Replacement to Generation Identitaire movement; Islamophobic or gun groups; white terrorists; Stephen Bannon’s worldview; Breitbart, gateway to the Alt Right; the conservative movement; the Alt Right; the Eurabia or counter-jihadist narrative and movement; the anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, or anti-Hispanic white terrorists, all of whom are motivated to “stop the invasion” or the demographic replacement of whites; and, conservatives who condemn the terrorism while agreeing with the political-cultural analysis of the terrorists.

In short, it is fair to say that Camp of the Saints (COTS) in all its variations and nuances encompasses a worldview (COTS) ranging from cultural and political analyses, to delegitimizing Western political, economic, and intellectual elites, to global acts of terrorism, to preparations for a racial civil war—and is itself an instrument of Fourth Generation Warfare.

America’s 2018 midterm elections provide an opportunity to assess white evangelical Protestants’ counterintuitive embrace of Trump. Reports of the President’s past infidelities, suspicious business deals, and possible electoral collusion with Russia appear to have done little to abate the support of America’s most socially conservative law-and-order voters - white evangelical Protestants. PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) data demonstrates though Trump never polled above 50 percent favourability with white evangelical-Protestants during the primaries, since his 2016 election the constituency has only grown more ‘Trump-drunk’ with a record 75 percent endorsing the President and his commitment to put ‘America First’.

Although America’s Christian right have long-standing Republican inclinations; evangelicals’ self-abasement under Trump remains difficult to understand. White evangelicals have migrated from a Christian movement guilty of overt partisan identification even gullibility for political leverage; to a movement willing to corrupt their faith values and religious tradition for political opportunities. The effect as Gerson notes (2018) is a faith tradition now riddled with ‘…political tribalism and hatred for political opponents, with little remaining of Christian public witness’. Keller cuts deeper, ‘evangelical’ used to mean those who take the moral high ground, but now it’s nearly synonymous with hypocrite (Keller cited in Gerson, 2018). ‘With an end-justifies-the-means style of politics that would have been unimaginable before [Trump]…’ (Jones cited in Coppins a, 2018) it seems America’s evangelicals are putting politics before God. Subsequently this article reflects on 4 dimensions of Trump’s win with white evangelicals. Firstly, how Trump and the GOP presented 2016 as the ‘last chance election’, why nostalgia chimed with evangelicals. Secondly it will explore Trump’s priestly rhetoric and white evangelicals priestly faith in him; how does Trump, like his Republican predecessors use religious language to convince values voters he’s shares their concern for America. Thirdly, what has been achieved under Trump, what has his administration given white evangelical-Protestants in return for their votes? Lastly how has putting politics before faith changed America? Will nativism and tribalism consume their faith-tradition, just as it’s dividing the country?

THIS PAPER WAS LAST EDITED ON NOVEMBER 18, 2010.  It still has some editing required, but it represents my first effort to link the Christian Right's Council for National Policy to all the major social movements on the right, including the Pioneer Fund to the CNP itself, the anti-immigrant movement, the militia movement, and the Tea Party movement.  This paper uses the term "Tea Bag Party" which was the movement's first name.  It also focuses on a key organization that receives no recognition, TheVanguard.org, but which Bill Berkowitz rightly noticed and brought to some attention.

NOTE: Parts of this chapter incorporated parts of a previous chapter as the order of the analysis changed.  END NOTE.  This chapter examines the Bundy confrontation on two levels: 1) the intersection of Bundy's biography and movement history; and, 2) the development of the conflict inside and outside the Bundy compound as it relates to Fourth Generation Warfare.  The Patriot movement, spearheaded by Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, InfoWars, and the John Birch Society viewed the BLM retreat in the face of armed opposition as a great victory heralding even bolder actions, perhaps even leading to a civil war.  Outside observers saw the BLM retreat as a defeat of the rule of law, an invitation to chaos, and an emboldening of a movement with dangerous ideas.  The chapter concludes with a comparison of the Christian Reconstructionist's ideas related to the "doctrine of lesser magistrates" and the Christian Identity's Posse Comitatus.  The chapter argues that Bundy, Stewart Rhodes, and Richard Mack were operating consistent with Christian Reconstructionist doctrine.  The misplaced emphasis on Posse Comitatus, which has an ideological affinity, obscures the massive Christian Right and corporate interest in transferring hundreds of millions of acres and trillions of dollars to the American oligarchy.

All these formulations start with a different premise and reach the same strategic conclusion.  Each formulation uses different language to construct its cosmic war scenario, but the strategic result is the same.  For some in the Christian Right, homosexual rights is the trigger for revolution, for others abortion, for others, feminism or evolution, or whatever.  For the Christian Right, secular humanists are the main enemy; for the NRA, the main enemy are the “‘gun grabbers;’” for Christian Identity, the main is enemy is the Jews.  Different enemies, same strategic results.  Any researcher can find differences across these segments or within a segment—that is not difficult.  But, what is more important is finding they have a common enemy, believe the federal government is illegitimate, and are willing to resist the federal government by force, if necessary.  The different segments are much more united in the realm of ideas and strategy than commonly believed.  And, it is the Christian Reconstructionists who provide the most carefully thought out strategies.

This article is a critical engagement with political scientist William Connolly’s book Christianity and Capitalism: American Style. Connolly’s analysis of the ways in which evangelical Christianity and capitalist agendas interrelate in the US context is outlined and critiqued in terms of its tendency to homogenise the US evangelical movement and overstate its incorporation of right wing political interests. Its theoretical framework is also critiqued, but developed in light of its potential to generate insights into the global context of evangelical influence, including as a vehicle for capitalist values. This is explored in terms of US influence upon British evangelicalism and what this reveals about the circulation of evangelical-capitalist ideas within a transatlantic context. A case study is offered of the Willow Creek sponsored Global Leadership Summit by way of illustration.

GOD & Apple Pie
Religious Myths and Visions of America

Two sample chapters (by publisher's permission):
1.  Native American Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 2)
2.  Black Muslim Myths and Visions of America (Chapter 9)

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/God-Apple-Pie-Religious-Visions/dp/1891928155/

From the Inside Flap;

GOD & Apple Pie
Religious Myths and Visions of America

Christopher Buck

Introduction by J. Gordon Melton,
Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University

This book is about an unusual religious topic: the United States of America ("America").
"America" is, at once, nation and notion, country and creed, republic and rhetoric. This book is about Providence and principle--the relationship of the supernatural world to the world's superpower. "America" is not in the Bible, nor in the Qur'an. Yet "America" today pulsates with religious significance. "America" is a word that has taken on mythic proportions.

Eleven religions have been selected for their distinctive perspectives on America: (1) Native American religion (Iroquois); (2) Protestant Christianity (the Puritans); (3) the Christian Right; (4) Roman Catholicism; (5) Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist); (6) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons); (7) Christian Identity (White nationalists); (8) Nation of Islam (Black nationalists); (9) Islam (especially Radical Islamists and Progressive Muslims); (10) Buddhism (Tibetan and Soka Gakkai); and (11) the Baha'i Faith.

Over the course of American history, religious myths and visions of America tend to reflect an ever-changing American civil society, whether as a function of its social evolution or as a catalyst of it. The result is: Religions re-mythologize America. And: Religions re-envision America.

God & Apple Pie invites serious reflection on what it means to be an American, particularly from a religious perspective.

This chapter demonstrates that the dominant Anti-Defamation League—Southern Poverty Law Center narrative of the Patriot militias that emerged in the mid-1990s, contrary to Robert Churchill’s libertarian interpretation, recognized that the white supremacists and Christian Identity religious movement were linked to a minority of Patriot militias.  This narrative also recognized that opposition to gun control and staunch opposition to the federal government were the driving ideology of the Patriot militias—not racism or anti-Semitism—contrary to Churchill’s misinterpretation of their findings.  However, as the previous chapter showed, opposition to gun control and opposition to the federal government were actually rooted in religious ideas, and, secular libertarian ideas as well.  But, I contend that the majority of Patriot militias, though not all, which were not clearly linked to the Christian Identity or white supremacist movement, were more likely than not linked—at least in the realm of core ideas and narrative—to the Christian Right.  And, only a minority, at best, of the non-white-supremacist Patriot militias could be considered as secular constitutional militias.