Understanding Religious White Nationalism: An Activist and Policymaker Resource

PDF File: 

Today we are seeing an increase in nationalist sentiment among whites. These expressions are overtly religious or have religious overtones. It is important to understand this phenomenon so that we respect the religious liberties, and the ethnic self-determination, of all peoples.

Religious white nationalism is an all-encompassing worldview for its faithful.

In response to this growth of religious white racial consciousness, opposing groups are stepping up their efforts to misrepresent, infiltrate and subvert, or otherwise suppress religious notions of racial solidarity among white people. But when these opposing groups use the branches of government, and the apparatus of public institutions like schools, prisons, and the workplace, to agitate against religious white nationalism in policy or practice, they are violating a host of laws and policies designed to PROTECT religious and political liberty.

State reaction to religious white nationalism in prisons is especially troubling. American prison systems since the 1960’s have become important fronts in what can only be called a war for white ethnic self-determination. Now, a great deal of conflict occurs between religious white nationalist prisoners and so-called “anti-racist” prison staff. Some of this is based on misunderstanding.

To remedy the misunderstandings, definitions of fundamental concepts within religious white nationalism, and common conflicts regarding it in the community and in prison, are set forth herein. These conflicts are of concern to all people of good faith. There are additional aspects to this conflict, and differences between white nationalist religions. But this will show what many white nationalist religions have in common, and what institutional responses to them have in common.

Religious white nationalism manifests the highest morals and ethics civilization has achieved. Edgar Steele’s Defensive Racism, David Duke’s My Awakening, and Wilmot Robertson’s Dispossessed Majority, are among the best books on American white nationalism. The Politics of Righteousness by James Aho, and Gods of the Blood by Mattias Gardell, are great primers on the religious dimensions of white nationalism. In White Power/White Pride, by Betty Dobratz and Stephanie Shanks-Meile, you’ll find the synthesis of white nationalism with religion evaluated by sociologists.

Books like these are hard to come by because they are heavily censored by the opposing forces hostile to white independence. For example, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (ADL), and its acting subsidiary the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), have cornered the market on providing mainstream publishers, and government agencies, resources about white nationalism – deliberately portraying racially conscious whites in the most negative light possible. This is because the ADL and SPLC operate as arms of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service (per Michael Collins Piper’s, Judas Goats: The Enemy Within).

The following sections explain the significance of this in: Common Conflicts; Religious White Nationalism Defined; Slogans and Symbols; Their Position on Non-whites, Constitutional, Statutory and Case Law; and, Institutional Policies.

Common Conflicts: In the Community

Michael is our case study. He has been a white nationalist since 1989. His study of the subject began with several books purchased from a vendor at the '89 Minnesota State Fair.

Invited by the vendor, Michael attended Minnesota Patriot Council events in 1990 and '91. This put him in contact with others having similar interests. His curiosity was piqued by an article in the vendor’s newsletter, Facts For Action, so Michael joined the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, as some of our country’s presidents have. He rose in rank to Exalted Cyclops, or chapter leader, of Northern Star Klavern, Minnesota’s largest. Responsible activism was the measure of sincerity and devotion to Michael and his peers. They challenged each other to accomplish goals of lasting benefit to the white community.

Michael participated in peaceful demonstrations and literature distribution drives. He ran an Aryan Hotline that posted daily messages, advertised by business cards distributed around Minneapolis / St. Paul. He operated an autodialer that telephoned pre-recorded messages to neighborhoods around the Twin Cities. Michael sponsored the founding of a White Student Union at the University of Minnesota. All this got the local media’s attention.

Jewish groups, Marxists and anarchists did everything they could to stop Michael and his friends. Communist college students spat on them, threatened them, and threw things during Michael’s peaceful demonstrations at the U of M campus. A mob of thirty of these leftists attacked Michael and five friends after they escorted a spokesman into a late-night college radio interview. This was a momentous event.

Walking back to their vehicle from the radio station studio in the Coffman Union Building, a crowd started running toward them. Outnumbered five to one and two blocks from their car, they couldn’t get away. Anticipating the ambush, Michael brought his Rottweiller. He rallied his desperate friends, “The best defense is a good offense, so follow me!” They charged the angry mob. Fearful of the dog, the would-be attackers turned around and were chased onto the Washington Avenue footbridge, Michael and his dog blocking one end, while three others crossed the street and ran up the other side. A melee ensued. None of Michael’s friends suffered any injuries, police arriving afterward congratulated them. A WCCO News crew interviewed Michael after. This turned the tide of public sentiment in the whites’ favor.

In a meeting dominated by Marxist rabble about official recognition for the White Student Union in the Coffman Union Building, one of the leaders from Africana Student Hall got up and demanded Michael be allowed to speak. She threatened to take the whites downstairs to their area so they could debate their positions openly. Jewish students at the podium refused to let Michael speak, so the blacks and whites left together, with several representatives from the local press, leaving the agitators abandoned. In the hour that followed the whites and blacks came to terms and were reconciled. When Michael went to shake the black leader’s hand, she hugged him. The press went crazy and perhaps a dozen photos were taken. But in the news – dead silence – not even the campus newspaper printed the story.

The radical left was influential there and then as here and now. Aside from stifling any more positive press about local white rights activists, they pressured the Attorney General’s office to stop Michael from using the autodialer. But the A.G.’s office ruled its use for political speech could not be forbidden.

This pattern of instigating violence, and pressuring authorities to suppress white speech and assembly rights, while insisting that of nonwhites be respected, is THE hallmark of the political left’s tactics. (To understand the left’s pathology of violence and double standards, read Herbert Marcuse’s essays, One Dimensional Man, and Repressive Tolerance.)

Because Minnesota white nationalist activists wouldn’t back down from insisting on exclusively white institutions, and because they obeyed all rules and laws in their activism, public opinion was on their side. Every attack against them improved their public image. This taught them the value of cultivating public sentiment and maintaining the moral high ground. But then, in 1992, a tragic series of events raised the stakes of nationalist activism significantly.

The Ruby Ridge murders of Sammy and Vicki Weaver, by U.S. Marshall, William Degan, and FBI Sniper, Lon Horiuchi, showed that our government was at war with even the most peaceful religious white nationalists. Michael felt Civil War Two (a must-read book by Tom Chittum) was imminent. He left Minnesota and moved to the Church of Jesus Christ Christian / Aryan Nations. He was appointed Security Chief for the grounds by Richard Butler at the end of the 1993 Aryan World Congress. He attended the '93, '95 and '97 Congresses, proud to have served.

Common Conflicts: In Prison

Michael is serving a twenty-five year term for killing an Everett, Washington drug dealer during an attempt to get back property stolen in a burglary. He has no crimes of dishonesty, drug crimes, or deviant criminal history.

Because of his community activism, upon arrival in prison Michael was interrogated by the FBI and what the Department of Corrections, or DOC, calls Intelligence and Investigations, or I&I. They determined Michael did not fit the profile of a gang member and was not what they called a “security threat”.

Michael became familiar with prison gangs. He realized gang membership discredits what you have to say in the eyes of the public, so he steered clear of them. The “Aryan” gang members in prison were not what Michael and his peers considered to be white, most were druggies, many were homosexual. He taunted them, “Which is the Aryan part?” Michael realized that good people among the bad needed to be given a better example of what they all CLAIMED to stand for.

Michael began a crusade to show by example what could be done for the Folk, even from behind prison walls. He emulated Ezra Pound and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Because of his knowledge of REAL white nationalism, Michael took responsibility for showing whites in prison a better way than the prison gang pathology. He demonstrated that real self-respect, and the only sincere respect of others, was earned through responsible activism, not the dysfunctional “convict” posture. He reminded his brethren, “We are trying to win the hearts and minds of our people, not make them even more ashamed of being white than they already are.”

Soon, Michael was placed in solitary confinement and charged with “threatening, extortion, and security threat group activity”. The charges were false and the Attorney General’s office ordered them expunged. He knew something was coming, because in the previous weeks, razor blades had been planted in his cell on three occasions. All this was retaliation for writing The War Against Whites, about Washington State Penitentiary’s Cultural Diversity class; exposing WSP’s practice of denying racially conscious white prisoners jobs and custody promotions; and his refusal to “just let it go” when a staff member seized one of his rare books. Secret “evidence” was used so he could not defend himself against the charges in the disciplinary hearing. They called it “confidential information”. And though the charges were overturned after five months, they kept Michael in solitary another four, in what’s called “diesel therapy” around the state.

By the time this was resolved, Michael had been in “close custody” seven years, when Murder 1° required four. He had an excellent conduct record, so he was not a security problem: Eventually, DOC Headquarters had to order his transfer because of a pattern of mistreatment by anti-white staff. But before he left, he wrote The Cult of Victimhood about DOC’s Victim Awareness class. Like The War Against Whites, this caused the program to be scrapped for anti-white bias. This engendered a retaliatory cell search, and another spate of bogus infractions, based on the literature Michael had won in mail rejection appeals (see Prison Mail Rejections at fromjail.com).

Forced to give back all the literature after Michael filed a tort claim over its seizure (see Property Disposition Appeal Process and Declaration Accompanying Tort Claim), I&I gave Michael a formal letter permitting him to possess the materials. By now his writings had gained notoriety and community support. This scrutiny forced fair treatment of Michael and secured his transfer out of WSP.

Soon after his arrival at Stafford Creek Correction Center, Michael wrote Washington Prison Holds Lecture by Black Militant, about anti-white, Marxist domestic terrorist, Angela Davis. This exposed DOC’s double standards about “racism” and “hate,” and what constitutes a “security threat.” Still new here, Michael was cornered by several uniformed staff and threatened to stop writing or face time in solitary confinement. He politely referred them to his central file, and excellent conduct record. Whatever the source, they found out it was too late: Michael’s writings were all over the country by now, on numerous websites, and published in several newsletters. He was “outside the box,” and beyond their ability to suppress.

Michael continued, confronting DOC’s sick practice of placing incompatible prisoners in the same cell. Calculated Integration resulted in DOC Policy 420.140, requiring prior determinations of compatibility. A 2009 update of the story netted nearly three and a half million dollars in an out-of-court settlement for a white prisoner assaulted by a black when staff disregarded the policy.

A year later, a Jewish I&I investigator at Michael’s prison learned about a copy of The War Against Whites in another prisoner’s cell. That prisoner was charged with having security threat group (STG) material, but beat the charge. The investigator was literally shaking with rage over the content of the essay while questioning the prisoner. This would come back to haunt Michael.

Then Michael celled up with a well known troublemaker. Though ostensibly a pagan religious white nationalist, he spiraled out of control after Michael tricked him into admitting his nonwhite ancestry. Bitterly resentful, this prisoner began a systematic program of character assassination against Michael, which I&I later admitted knowing about. During the next three months, the troublemaker went to the hole three times with major disciplinary charges. Inexplicably, he was promptly released each time, and always back to minimum security with Michael. He was released from prison shortly thereafter.

But the controversy was far from over. Michael was scorned for not having beaten up his slanderer. His only critics were the “Aryan” gang members who were not white, and one in particular who was half Jewish. Three prisoners were sent to assault Michael in the Gym, but instead told him what was going on and who was behind it. Michael confronted the “Aryan” Jew the next day. He attacked Michael, but Michael was unharmed, and staff witnessed the scuffle. Both were placed in solitary confinement.

After a month in solitary, Michael was taken to a room where the same Jewish I&I investigator mentioned two names, hoping Michael would implicate them. He refused, and lobbied for leniency for his combatant, claiming he had provoked him. Here was the investigator’s opportunity for revenge. He conveyed this to other prisoners in such a way as to make it look like Michael had “snitched.”

Religious White Nationalism Defined

Religious: A pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance; treated or regarded with a devotion and scrupulousness appropriate to worship. Several religions hold white purity of race to be sacred. White nationalist religions require racial purity of their members. They believe all unmixed whites are members of their ‘faith group,’ regardless of their religion. This gives rise to the popular sentiment within religious white nationalism that “Our race is our religion.”

White: A member of the light skinned people of European ancestry, having no alleles (DNA) characteristic of those of black or yellow ancestry. These whites are the “holy race” to religious white nationalists. Only these whites may live among them and participate in their ceremonies.

Nationalism: Advocacy of political independence for people united by common ancestry, in this case whites. To religious white nationalists, ‘nation’ means race, not place, per the Latin natio(n-): ‘birth, race of people.’ This guides the political aspirations of all religious white nationalists. Whites are the only ones granted citizenship in a future white homeland, or The Ethnostate (book by Wilmot Robertson),

Religious white nationalists consider their politics and religion inseparable. The “church” (Greek: ekklesia) is the body of common ancestry. Separation of church and state would mean severing the concept of Folk from government. Rather, the ethnostate IS the church, and serves as the cradle for the race, despite religious differences.

In a way their race – and its history – are their religion. Their God or gods are their forefathers, hence patriotism (Greek: patrios – ‘of one’s fathers’) means religious faithfulness to the race. Common historical threads, and the common theme of “Two Seedline,” run through all Aryan records: Mesopotamian texts, the Aryan Vedas, the Zend Avesta, Babylonian creation myth, pre-Greek Pelasgian creation myth, Greek mythology and drama, Egyptian records during the reign of Hatshepsut, Norse mythology and Roman myths and plays. Two Seedline is the theme of the Old and New Testaments. Christ’s statements express Two Seedline in the parables of ‘The Wheat and the Tares,’ and ‘The Weeds in the Field.’ Beyond merely “faith,” Two Seedline is the “religion” of history and reality:

Rabbi Emanuel Rabinovich, in his speech to the Council of European Rabbis in Budapest, Hungary, 12 January 1952, sheds light on the reality of Two Seedline: “The goal for which we have striven so concertedlyfor three thousand years is at last within our reach. ... I can state with assurance that the last generation of white children is now being born. ... Thus the white race will disappear ... our race will rule undisputed over the earth.” Similarly, Israel Cohen, in A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century, is quoted in the United States Congressional Record, Volume 103, page 8559, as promoting the following: “Our most powerful weapon is racial tension. By propounding into the consciousness of the dark races that for centuries they have been oppressed by the whites, we can mould them to the program of the Communist Party. ... While inflaming the Negro minority against the whites, we will endeavor to instill in the whites a guilt complex for their exploitation of the Negroes. We will aid the Negroes to rise in prominence in every walk of life, in the professions and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige, the Negro will be able to intermarry with the whites and begin a process which will deliver America to our cause.”

Slogans and Symbols

Adolf Hitler, Germany’s Third Reich, Nazism and the Swastika are religious white nationalist subjects and symbols. Religious white nationalists study Germany’s experiment with the ethnostate, and the pragmatism of Nazi policies, the way devout Christians study the Bible. This might sound shocking until you read The Holy Reich, by Steigman-Gall, The Triumph of Reason: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Adolf Hitler by Michael Walsh, The Hitler We Loved and Why by Freidrich and Thomson, and Germany’s Hitler by Heinz.

The 88 Precepts, written by David Lane, comprise a set of axioms necessary for the genetic survival of whites. Holy to many religious white nationalists, most recognize one precept guiding resolution to personal and national questions: “Is it good for whites?” Washington’s prison system once considered the 88 Precepts a security threat, but changed their position in an August 20, 2010 letter from HQ staff Jamie Gerkin to prisoner Michael Nelson.

The Fourteen Words, sacred to religious white nationalists, are “We must secure the existence of our race, and a future for white children.” This expressed their author David Lane's understanding of the need to respect and protect the purity of blood, and establish a white homeland. Once considered a “security threat” in Washington prisons, DOC changed their position in an October 5, 2006 letter from HQ staff Lyn Francis to prisoner Michael Nelson.

Rahowa! or Racial Holy War, is the war waged by religious white nationalists for the survival of their race. Errantly, some white nationalists think they are impervious to the menace nonwhites are capable of imposing. In fact, a Jewish group called for a “holy war” AGAINST whites in the August 7, 1933 New York Times. So did another Jewish group, in London’s Daily Express, headline, March 24, 1933. Religious white nationalists take it seriously that one race has called for WHITE GENOCIDE, “so concertedly for three thousand years”.

The Swastika, sunwheel, or winged sun, is a symbol holy to religious white nationalists. It represents lawful natural order, arete over anomie, and the right hand path. To Christian white nationalists it is the symbol of Christ. Ancient Aryan cultures engraved this symbol on bowls, bells and amphorae (National Geographic, November, 1997; Cultural Review, July / August 2002).

White Power!, probably first coined by nationalist author George Lincoln Rockwell, is a simple expression of ethnic selfdetermination for whites. It is no more criminal behavior in the community, nor a security threat in prison, than the expressions “Black Power” or “Brown Power.” Read Washington Prison Holds Lecture by Black Militant.

Their Position on Nonwhites

Few things are fraught with more falsity than the RUMORED position of religious white nationalists on nonwhites. Respectable whites simply consider it “hate” on the part of nonwhites to attempt to corrupt the white’s genetics. Race mixing is a threat to the biological integrity of the white race – in a word, GENOCIDE. Because of corruption by association, white nationalist religions forbid whites and nonwhites to occupy the same living space. To this end, they hope nonwhites form ethnostates of their own. But they have to help themselves – white nationalist religions forbid material assistance to nonwhites.



Constitutional, Statutory,and Case Law

The First Amendment protects freedom of speech with progressively stronger protections for political and religious expression. In Beard v. Banks, Supreme Court 2006, Justice Stevens wrote an opinion on its breadth and scope in the prison setting: “The state may not, consistent with the spirit of the First Amendment, contract the sphere of available knowledge. The right to freedom of speech and press include not only the right to utter or print, but the right to distribute, the right to receive, the right to read, and freedom of inquiry, freedom of thought.” “Plainly,” Stevens wrote, “the issue in this case strikes at the core of the First Amendment rights to receive, to read, and to think.” “What is most troubling,” according to Stevens, “is that [prison rules] come perilously close to a state-sponsored effort at mind control.” “In this case,” noted Stevens, “the prohibition on [dubiously designated “security threat” materials] prevents prisoners from receiving suitable access to social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas which are central to the development and preservation of individual identity.”

A federal statute based on the First Amendment is the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The RLUIPA applies to all schools, prisons and workplaces other than small shops. The RLUIPA defines “religious excercise” to include “any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by or central to a system of religious belief.” This gives broad protection to religious convictions in living conditions, activism, property, literature, mail, and artwork – all the common conflicts.

The RLUIPA restores a higher standard of legal protection for religious liberty. It puts the burden on officials to demonstrate that their rules and practices – that interfere with religious liberty – are “in furtherance of a compelling government[] interest.” “No longer can prison officials justify restrictions on religious exercise by simply citing to the need to maintain order and security in prison.” When challenged under the RLUIPA, they have to prove that they “actually considered and rejected the efficacy of less restrictive measures before adopting the challenged practice.” (Alvarez v. Hill, 9th Circuit 2008, quoting the RLUIPA, at 42 U.S.C. §2000cc(a)(1).)

Case law for resolving the common conflicts begins with Bruce v. Ylst, 9th Circuit 2003, where Bruce was validated as a gang member in retaliation for activism. In Farid v. Goord, Western District of New York, 2002, Farid was punished in relation to writing satirical articles on various aspects of prison life. In Spruyette v. Hoffner, Western District of Michigan 2001, prisoners were retaliated against for writing letters to the editor of a local newspaper – they lost their jobs, were labeled as security threats, and had personal belongings seized from their property. In Lindell v. Houser, 7th Circuit 2006, religious white nationalist Nate Lindell was repeatedly celled with Black Gangster Disciple (BGD) gang members. His requests to move were denied and serious fights ensued each time. The District Court ruled staff were “deliberately indifferent” to known hazards by forcibly integrating Lindell. In Valandingham v. Bojorquez, 9th Circuit 1989, prison staff circulated rumors Valandingham was a “snitch” in retaliation for his activism. In Rhodes v. Robinson, 9th Circuit 2005, most of the above took place, in addition to retaliatory transfer. All these cases would be more effectively litigated under the RLUIPA.

Institutional Policies

In Michael’s prison system, legislative intent for corrections is in the Revised Code of Washington, RCW 72.09.010. Section (4) of the statute states prisoners are to be treated fairly and equitably regardless of race or religion. RCW 42.52.900 is a common statute on Ethics in Public Service. Quoting Thomas Jefferson, it states “Government derives its powers from the people. Ethics in government are the foundation on which the structure of government rests. State officials and employees of government hold a public trust that obligates them, in a special way, to honesty and integrity in fulfilling the responsibilities to which they are elected and appointed. ... Only when affairs of government are conducted, at all levels, with openness as provided by law and an unswerving commitment to the public good does government work as it should.”

Washington DOC policy reflects legislative intent and the requirement for high standards of ethics in public service. DOC Policy 100.500 forbids discrimination or the unfair treatment of prisoners on the basis of race, religion or political views. This institutional policy is enforceable through a typical criminal statute on official misconduct. RCW 9A.80.010 states “A public servant is guilty of official misconduct [a gross misdemeanor] if, with the intent to ... deprive another person of a lawful right or privilege, s/he intentionally commits an unauthorized act ... or refrains from performing a duty imposed by law.”

Conclusion

The common conflicts religious white nationalists experience have their roots in misrepresentation of their beliefs by Jewish groups. Jews and other nonwhites infiltrate white nationalist groups and are the cause of the distortion of the religious white nationalist agenda away from ethnic self-determination toward criminal activity. Because of this misrepresentation and distortion, the climate is hostile to religious white nationalism.

Even people favorable toward white ethnic self-determination, in positions of authority, feel pressured to posture as anti-racist. And in pop culture, anti-racism supports the racism of nonwhites, while condemning it for whites. In this climate of dishonesty, racist whites hold the moral high ground by declaring openly what almost everyone acknowledges in private: Whites are Earth’s most endangered species and their diminishing influence is condemning the planet to a new dark age of ignorance, disease and starvation. It is only through coming to terms, with the legitimacy of religious white nationalism, that lasting peace and prosperity are possible for anyone.