The roots of white Christian nationalism are long, and the seeds of
the ideology have been embedded on American soil for more than a
century.
Year in Hate: Communities fight back against hate groups and far-right
extremism
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Dwayne Fatheree Read the full piece here
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Friend,
Over the last five decades, the Southern Poverty Law Center has
researched, documented and tracked far-right extremist groups that
espouse white supremacy, antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ+ hate and other
often-intersecting ideologies.
During that time, there have been ebbs and flows in the number of
groups spouting virulent philosophies and hate. Old trends repeat, new
faces appear, but the underlying harm remains the same.
The just-released, annual Year in Hate and Extremism report from the
SPLC's Intelligence Project
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, in addition to updating the activities of known hate and
anti-government groups, highlights several organizations of another
kind: those working to counter the rise of white Christian
nationalism. The ideology - intertwining strong antigovernment
leanings with antisemitism, white supremacy, American exceptionalism,
and a disdain of gun control legislation - found new life in the
American "Christian patriot" movement and associated
militia groups in the 1990s and is now surging again.
The report is a culmination of the previous year's research and
analysis, designed in a way to both document the evolving threats of
violent extremism as well as make recommendations to resist those
forces and empower communities to fight back through education and
organizing at a grassroots level.
"Research is important in that it can serve members of the
community as they work to be resilient, to resist and to respond when
necessary to the hate and antigovernment extremist groups that we are
providing research on," said Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy
director of research, reporting and analysis for the SPLC's
Intelligence Project. "The other piece of that is that our
research at SPLC for 50 years really has always been a result of the
input of the communities that are directly impacted."
A long, bloody trail
The roots of white Christian nationalism are long, and the seeds of
the ideology have been embedded on American soil for more than a
century.
"We have been working on issues of religious freedom for all and
separation of church and state for 87 years," said Amanda Tyler,
executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious
Liberty
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in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit whose focus is defending religious
freedom for all people. "I would say for the last few decades,
part of our consistent work has been debunking the myth of the United
States as a quote-unquote 'Christian' nation. This idea
that the country was founded by Christians to privilege Christianity
and that Judeo-Christian values should be legislated into law and
policy and that Christians should enjoy privilege in our society
- these ideas strike at the very heart of the constitutional
guarantee of religious freedom for all and the way that our country is
ordered to maintain the institutional separation of church and
state."
Read More
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
P.S. Don't miss our virtual Year in Hate and Extremism briefing
on Wednesday, June 14, at 11 a.m. ET. - RSVP here!
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The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond,
working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy,
strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.
Friend, will you make a gift to help the SPLC fight for
justice and equity in courts and combat white supremacy?
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