Aryan Nations

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Aryan Nations (AN) is an international anti-Semitic white supremacist group. It was founded in the 1970s by Richard Girnt Butler as an arm of the Christian Identity group Church of Jesus Christ-Christian.

Aryan Nations flag

Its origin lies in the teachings of Wesley Swift , a significant figure in the early Christian Identity movement. Swift combined British Israelism, extreme anti-Semitism, and political militancy. He founded his own church in California in the mid 1940s where he could preach this ideology. In addition, he had a daily radio broadcast in California during the 1950s and 60s. In 1957, the name of his church was changed to the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian, which is used today by Aryan Nations churches.

Some in the AN openly debated a plan to forcibly take five northwestern states - Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming - from the United States government in order to establish an Aryan homeland.

From the 1970s until 2001 the headquarters of the AN was in a 20 acre (81,000 m²) compound at Hayden Lake, Idaho. There were a number of state chapters, only loosely tied to the main organization. The group ran an annual "World Congress of Aryan Nations" at Hayden Lake for both AN adherents and other right-wing groups.

After losing a $6.3 million lawsuit in September 2000, brought by Victoria and Jason Keenan who were attacked by Aryan Nations guards in 1998, the group was bankrupted. In February 2001, the group's Hayden Lake compound and intellectual property including the names "Aryan Nations" and "Church of Jesus Christ Christian" were transferred to the Keenans.

Until 1998 the leadership of the AN remained firmly in the hands of Butler. But by that year he was over eighty and had been in poor health for some time, so at the annual "World Congress", Neuman Britton was appointed as the group's new leader. In August 2001, however, Butler appointed Harold Ray Redfeairn from Ohio, who had been agitating for control since the mid-1990s. Shortly thereafter, Redfeairn and August Kreis, III, propaganda minister of Aryan Nations, led a splinter group away from Butler and was expelled from the organization, but a few months later Redfeairn returned to an alliance with Butler. Redfeairn died in October of 2003. Butler died of heart failure in September 2004. At various times there have been as many as four competing factions of Aryan Nations.

August Kreis III joined with Charles John Juba to continue one faction of Aryan Nations. They held an Aryan Nations World Congress in July 2000. Juba resigned in March of 2005 announcing his successor August Kreis III as the groups new leader with a headquarters located in Lexington, SC. There is another faction that claims to have remained loyal to Butler's wishes upon his death, and its members have continued to call themselves "The Church of Jesus Christ Christian". They are led by a council of 3 men and headquartered in Lincoln, Alabama. The leader is Jonathan Williams. They have held a Congress each year since the passing of Richard Butler, and have used these congresses to forge alliances and social networks with various other white supremacist groups.

[edit] Subgroups

Like many other extreme right groups, AN has produced many small, transitory subgroups. Bob Mathews formed a group called The Order, which committed a number of violent crimes, including murder. Their mission was to bring about a race war. Dennis McGiffen, who also had ties to the AN, formed a cell called The New Order, based on Mathews' group. The members were arrested before they could follow through on their violent plans.

A relatively new tenet among Christian Identity believers justifies the use of violence in order to punish violators of God's law, as interpreted by Christian Identity ministers and adherents. Christian Identity followers engaging in such behavior are referred to as Phineas Priests or members of the Phineas Priesthood, though they usually seem to act alone.

Non-aligned members of AN later convicted of serious crimes include Chevie Kehoe, who was convicted of three homicides, conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property also spent some time at the AN compound. Buford O. Furrow, Jr., the man accused of the August 10, 1999, shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, California, and the murder of Filipino American postal worker, Joseph Ileto also spent some time at the AN compound working as a security guard.