Since many Christians claim there “are no Christian terrorist groups”, I’ve composed a partial list of the better known ones, and these are just a few in the USA, with hundreds more around the world:
- The Army of God openly promotes killing abortion providers. They’ve been involved in the deaths of Dr John Britton and his bodyguard, two receptionists at a Brookline Massachusetts Planned Parenthood clinic, Dr. David Gunn, Dr. George Tiller and the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta.
- The Phineas Priesthood whose members have been involved in violent activities ranging from abortion clinic bombings to bank robberies.
- The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord was responsible for firebombing an Indiana synagogue, arson of a Missouri church and an attempted bombing of a pipeline supplying Chicago with natural gas. In 1985, FBI agents raided the CSA compound and seized hundreds of weapons, bombs, an anti-tank rocket and quantities of cyanide allegedly intended to poison a city’s water supply.
- The Order started out robbing banks and Brinks to raise money for “the cause” and weapons and a ski condo. They soon upped the ante, adding bombing and murder to their repertoire. They bombed a Boise synagogue, killed one of their own they thought had loose lips. Their most notorious murder was that of Jewish radio host Alan Berg.
- The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian Fundamentalist terrorist group originally from Uganda, but now active in the Sudan, the Central African Republic, and other places. Uganda, you may remember, is a hotbed of Christian Fundamentalism, so it makes sense that a group who calls themselves “Christianist” would come from the country. The LRA surfaced in the popular conscious sometime ago when Joesph Kony suddenly became a meme on the internet; up to that point, their main claim to fame is child sex slaves and children soldiers. Indeed, the LRA is known to orchestrate kidnappings, railroading young boys into fighting while forcing young girls into sexual slavery. Those who refused to fight were hacked to pieces. The young girls are forced to be “brides” for the soldiers, and thus helping to spread HIV. They’re especially brutal towards civilians, as well, wiping out entire villages and attacking refugee camps.The goal of the LRA is pretty straight froward: they want a Bible-based state that uses the Ten Commandments as guide posts. Active: 1980s-Present, about 30 years
- Ku Klux Klan
These guys don’t need any introduction There have actually been three Klans; the first one was formed in 1865, in Pulaski, and drew on former members of the Confederacy Army. They were a vigilante group, and they wore the sheets as a reminder of their fellow Confederates who died (think the classic “sheet ghost” and you’re not far off). Everything about the Klan is geared towards terrorism and psychological war, from the uniform to the cross burning.While the Klan started out hunting down and terrorizing freemen and women, that wasn’t their sole target. The Klan is a far right-wing Protestant organization, and being a Protestant organization, they hate Catholics. As a result, Klan has targeted both Catholics and Jews in the (not-so-distant) past.