Phineas Priesthood

Last updated

The Phineas Priesthood, also called Phineas Priests, are American domestic terrorists who adhere to the ideology which was set forth in the 1990 book Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood by Richard Kelly Hoskins. [1]

Contents

The Phineas Priests are not an organization, and it has no discernible leadership or institutional structure. For ideological adherents, a "Phineas Priest" is someone who commits a "Phineas action" – meaning the person follows the example of Phineas, a Hebrew man who was rewarded for killing an interfaith couple by God, according to the Old Testament. The term "Phineas action" is broadly used by white supremacists, as a term for murders of interracial couples and as a term for attacks on Jewish people, members of other non-white ethnic groups, "multiculturalists," and anyone else who they consider their enemy. [2]

Ideology and activities

The ideology which is set forth in Hoskins's book includes Christian Identity beliefs which oppose interracial relationships, the mixing of races, homosexuality, and abortion. It also is marked by anti-Semitism and anti-multiculturalism.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "Many people mistakenly believe that there is an actual organization called the Phineas Priesthood, probably because there was a group of four men in the 1990s who called themselves Phineas Priests. The men carried out bank robberies and a series of bombings in the Pacific Northwest before being sent to prison. But there is no evidence that their organization was any larger than those four individuals."

The Phineas Priesthood is not considered an organization because it is not led by a governing body, its members do not hold gatherings, and it does not have a membership process. One simply becomes a Phineas Priest by adopting the Priesthood's beliefs and acting upon them. Adherents of the Phineas Priesthood ideology are considered terrorists because, among other things, their crimes include numerous abortion clinic bombings in 1996, the 1996 bombing of The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, Washington bank robberies, and plans to blow up FBI buildings. [3] Four men who professed to follow the "religious philosophy of Phineas priests" were convicted of crimes that included bank robberies and bombings, and each of them was (initially) sentenced to life in prison in 1997 and 1998. [4]

Hoskins's book was found in a van that was driven by Buford Furrow when he killed one person and wounded five others in an attack on a Jewish Community Center in California in 1999. In 2012, Drew Bostwick renamed a splinter faction of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations the "Tabernacle of the Phineas Priesthood-Aryan Nations" when he replaced August Kreis as the group's leader. [2]

On November 28, 2014, 49-year-old Larry Steven McQuilliams fired more than 100 rounds at a federal courthouse, a Mexican consulate building (which he also tried to set on fire), and a police station in Austin, Texas; he was killed by return fire from police. [5] A copy of Hoskins's book was found in McQuilliams' home. [6]

Name

The Phineas Priesthood is named after the Israelite Phineas, grandson of Aaron (Numbers 25:7). According to Numbers 25, Phineas personally executed an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were together in the man's tent, ending a plague which had been sent by God in order to punish the Israelites for intermingling both sexually and religiously with Baal-worshipers. Phineas is commended for having stopped Israel's fall into idolatrous practices that were introduced to it by Moabite women. God commends Phineas as zealous through Moses, gives him a "covenant of peace," and grants him and "his seed" an everlasting priesthood. This passage was cited in Hoskins's book as a justification for using violent means against people who have interracial relationships and practice other forms of alleged immorality.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aryan Nations</span> White-supremacist, Christian Identity terrorist organization

Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate group that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about 2+34 miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded Aryan Nations in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Israelism</span> Pseudoreligious belief

British Israelism is the British nationalist, pseudoarchaeological, pseudohistorical and pseudoreligious belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin. From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.

Christian Identity is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or people of the Aryan race and people of kindred blood, are the descendants of the ancient Israelites and are therefore God's "chosen people". It is a racial interpretation of Christianity and is not an organized religion, nor is it affiliated with specific Christian denominations. It emerged from British Israelism in the 1920s and began to take shape during the 1940s-1970s. Today it is independently practiced by individuals, independent congregations, and some prison gangs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hate group</span> Collective united by hatred against others

A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a hate group's "primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Aryan Resistance</span> Neo-Nazi organization led by Tom Metzger

White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It was based in Warsaw, Indiana, and it was also incorporated as a business. In 1993, the group expanded into Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eli (biblical figure)</span> High priest of Shiloh in ancient Israel

Eli was, according to the Book of Samuel, a priest and a judge of the Israelites in the city of Shiloh, ancient Israel. When Hannah came to Shiloh to pray for a son, Eli initially accused her of drunkenness, but when she protested her innocence, Eli wished her well. Hannah's eventual child, Samuel, was raised by Eli in the tabernacle. When Eli failed to rein in the abusive behavior of his own sons, God promised to punish his family, which resulted in the death of Eli's sons at the Battle of Aphek where the Ark of the Covenant was also captured. When Eli heard the news of the captured Ark, he fell from his seat, broke his neck, and died. Later biblical passages mention the fortunes of several of Eli's descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Patriot movement</span> American Christian political movement

The Christian Patriot movement is a subset within the broader American Patriot movement that promotes and emphasizes Christian nationalism as their core goal and philosophy. Like the larger movement, it promotes a revisionist interpretation of American history in which the federal government has turned against the ideas of liberty and natural rights expressed in the American Revolution.

The doctrine of the serpent seed, also known as the dual-seed or the two-seedline doctrine, is a controversial and fringe Christian religious belief which explains the biblical account of the fall of man by stating that the Serpent mated with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was Cain. This event resulted in the creation of two races of people: the wicked descendants of the Serpent who were destined for damnation, and the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have eternal life. The doctrine frames human history as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of the Serpent.

Black Hebrew Israelites are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees. Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.

The Nation of Yahweh is predominantly a Black Hebrew Israelite religious movement which was founded in 1979 in Miami by Hulon Mitchell Jr., who went by the name Yahweh ben Yahweh. Its goal is to move African Americans, who it believes are the original Israelites, to Israel. The group accepts Yahweh ben Yahweh as the Son of God. In this way, its beliefs are unique and distinct from those of other Black Hebrew Israelite groups.

In the United States, domestic terrorism is defined as terrorist acts that were carried out within the United States by U.S. citizens and/or U.S. permanent residents. As of 2021, the United States government considers white supremacists to be the top domestic terrorism threat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phinehas</span> Biblical priest and prophet who opposed the heresy of Peor

According to the Hebrew Bible, Phinehas or Phineas was a priest during the Israelites' Exodus journey. The grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priests, he distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim with his zeal against the heresy of Peor.

<i>Citizens Rule Book</i>

Citizens Rule Book is a handbook written to educate American citizens regarding their rights and responsibilities. It is a compilation of quotes from founders of the United States of America and select government documents, including information on the rights of a jury to "nullify bad law" and acquit people on trial. The author of the Rule Book says that jurors have the right to nullify a trial if the law is unconstitutional or is being used in an unconstitutional manner. Originally published anonymously, the Citizens Rule Book is now known to have been written by Charles R. Olsen, a World War II Marine veteran and printer from Boston. It is distributed by the Fully Informed Jury Association, among other groups.

This is a list of topics related to racism:

James Paul Wickstrom was an American white supremacist, far-right activist, and Christian Identity minister. He was a founding member of the Posse Comitatus, an antisemitic, anti-government and anti-tax group associated with the broader militia movement. He was strongly anti-communist, and he frequently advocated the genocide of Jews, non-European Americans, "race traitors," homosexuals, and drug addicts.

Anti-miscegenation laws are laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races.

Kinism is a white nationalist interpretation of Christianity. The ideology is a "movement of anti-immigrant, 'Southern heritage' separatists who splintered off from Christian Reconstructionism to advocate that God's intended order is 'loving one's kind' by separating people along 'tribal and ethnic' lines to live in large, extended-family groups."

The 11th Hour Remnant Messenger was an American antisemitic Christian identity organization established in Sandpoint, Idaho, by wealthy retired entrepreneurs Vincent Bertollini and Carl E. Story. The sect was located in proximity to the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations compound and cooperated with a number of Aryan Nations members. Bertollini and Story had ultimately selected the city of Sandpoint on account that roughly 98% of the area's residents were non-Jewish Caucasian Americans.

References

  1. "Extremism in America: Richard Kelly Hoskins". Anti-Defamation League. 2005. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Phineas Priesthood". Archived from the original on 2016-02-21. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  3. "Phineas Priests Arrested in Spokane Robberies". MHRN. Montana Human Rights Network. 1996. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  4. Morlin, Bill (November 1, 1997). "Sentencing Delayed For Valley Bomber, but No Third Trial Charles H. Barbee Faces Mandatory Life Imprisonment". The Spokesman-Review. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  5. Tolbert, Patrick; Sadeghi, Chris (December 1, 2014). "Chief on Austin gunman: 'Hate was in his heart'". KXAN. Archived from the original on June 21, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  6. Ohlheiser, Abby; Izadi, Elahe (December 1, 2014). "Police: Austin shooter was a 'homegrown American extremist'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.