{"id":9014,"date":"2018-02-06T10:32:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T08:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=9014"},"modified":"2018-02-06T10:32:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T08:32:07","slug":"has-trumps-alt-right-white-house-resurrected-army-of-god-anti-abortion-extremists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2018\/02\/has-trumps-alt-right-white-house-resurrected-army-of-god-anti-abortion-extremists\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Trump\u2019s alt-right White House \u2018resurrected\u2019 Army of God anti-abortion extremists?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open Democracy<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0Christian extremism as a motivator for violence is often overlooked, while clinics providing abortion services are facing growing threats.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rising right-wing extremism in the United States appears to have breathed new life into militant Christian groups including the \u2018Army of God\u2019 (AOG) \u2013 a violent network which first rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Openly promoting the killing of abortion providers, it supports individuals jailed for the murders of healthcare workers, and it has been linked to a\u00a0number of domestic terror attacks<\/a>\u00a0on targets across America.<\/p>\n

The organisation\u2019s de facto religious leader, Reverend Donald Spitz, spoke to 50.50 in a rare interview from his home in Virginia late last year. \u201cPeople are standing up more for the rights of the family,\u201d he told us, claiming that with President Donald Trump in the White House, the AOG has been re-energised and has attracted more supporters, whilst allowing long-time allies to also be more open about their views.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group is growing and the election of Donald Trump has helped because before we were being crushed so much that nobody wanted to say anything, but now it\u2019s OK to say these things,\u201d he said, in comments that chime with the hate speech versus free speech debate that far-right activists are trying to push onto political agendas around the world. The \u2018right to offend\u2019 is being used to justify hate speech and harassment in many places.<\/p>\n

The AOG is perhaps best-known for violence against abortion providers. The group\u2019s most famous killer \u2013 \u2018Olympic Park Bomber\u2019\u00a0Eric Rudolph<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 was also convicted of injuring five people with\u00a0a bomb he planted outside a lesbian bar in 1997<\/a>. He evaded the FBI for seven years after another bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which killed a spectator and injured 111 others. His 1998 attack on\u00a0an abortion clinic\u00a0<\/a>killed a security guard and critically injured a nurse.<\/p>\n

\u201cEric\u2019s very popular,\u201d said Spitz, explaining how he connects interested members of the public with AOG members behind bars. \u201cPeople like him a lot because he evaded the authorities for so long \u2013 he was in North Carolina [which borders Virginia]\u2026 He knew how to live off the land; he was in the military; he had a little tent and he moved around and he was from the area as well, so he knew those mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rudolph\u2019s eventual capture was \u201can example of our government taking the side of the abortionists to persecute the Christians,\u201d according to Spitz. Throughout our conversation, he claimed there was scriptural justification for violent \u201cdirect action\u201d against abortion providers. \u201cYou would call it defensive action, justifiable homicide, you can\u2019t call it murder,\u201d he insisted, describing those responsible for deaths of healthcare workers as \u201cmartyrs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the very first ones to go out to abortion clinics with big signs and pictures, calling out to people.\u201d<\/h1>\n

\u201cWe were the very first ones to go out to abortion clinics with big signs and pictures, calling out to people,\u201d Spitz said proudly, of harassment tactics such as pickets and entrance blocking which have since been adopted by more mainstream anti-abortion groups across the US as well as in Europe. \u201cOver time, Christians have come to recognise that these are babies being killed, and this is right to do, and they deserve to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such views, Spitz said, are now \u201cmore acceptable…more widespread.\u201d He told us: \u201cA lot of churches used to not let us in, but now most churches let us in. So it\u2019s going very good, it\u2019s going very well. But it will never be enough until it\u2019s done, until the babies are protected and all the doctors and the nurses who are doing this are in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2018<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

2018 March for Life in Washington DC. Photo: Riccardo Savi\/SIPA USA\/PA Images. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/span><\/span>Spitz is dismissive of other, larger \u201cpro-life\u201d groups who distance themselves from the AOG whilst emulating their protest tactics. \u201cWe were ostracised and shunned, because we called for action, whereas people wanted to try and just have meetings and not get anywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want us talking about the Lord Jesus. They didn\u2019t want us talking about the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, the AOG militant Paul Hill was sentenced to death by lethal injection and executed for the 1994 murder of two people outside a women\u2019s health facility in Pensacola, Florida. Spitz describes Hill as a \u201cvery close friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Academic Jessica Stern\u2019s book,\u00a0Terror in the Name of God<\/a>, was published in 2003, the year of Hill\u2019s execution. It describes meeting Spitz and Hill, not long before the sentencing, and traces the AOG\u2019s links to relatively obscure tradition of \u2018Christian Reconstructionism,\u2019 that Hill said formed the basis of his worldview.<\/p>\n

\u2018Christian Reconstructionism\u2019 is fundamentalist movement that advocates \u201ctheonomy\u201d; government ruled by divine law, based on the Old Testament and economic liberalism. It\u2019s founder Rousas Rushdoony called \u00a0for a\u00a0\u201cregeneration” of society from the bottom up, \u201cbeginning with the individual and the family\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

This relatively small group of zealots is credited with starting the the Christian homeschooling movement, based on the \u201crights\u201d of the family to educate children, over those of the state or government. Its impact has been underestimated, argues Julie Ingersoll in her book\u00a0Building God’s Kingdom<\/a>; its ideology is now visible in the more widespread far-right trends movements that have engulfed much of America today.<\/p>\n

In a 2015 interview with\u00a0Salon.com, Ingersoll described<\/a>\u00a0an argument within Christian Reconstructionism, that predates the US civil war, \u201cthat equality itself is not a value, that people aren\u2019t equal. That people are different; that God ordained some of that difference.\u201d In other words: a theological argument against equality, and against democracy, which would be \u2018against God.\u2019<\/p>\n

Domestic terrorism expert Daryl Johnson<\/a>\u00a0has meanwhile identified a certain reluctance among the counter-terrorism community to investigate or even acknowledge how Christian extremists use religion to recruit and radicalise supporters, much in the same way that Islamists do. His 2017 report\u00a0Hate In God\u2019s Name<\/a>\u00a0is among the few to have looked into this issue, sounding the alarm on links between such groups to current, and increasingly mainstream, far-right political momentum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere are people who have murdered and carried out arson attacks who had his Army of God manual on them.\u201d<\/h1>\n

\u201cAnti-abortion extremism has a long rooted history in violence and terrorism,\u201d Johnson told 50.50, explaining the starring role that Spitz and the AOG have played in this. Among other things, the AOG produces how-to material for anti-abortion \u2018direct action,\u2019 which they also distribute online. \u201cThere are people who have murdered and carried out arson attacks who had his Army of God manual on them. Meaning they have read it and they have been indoctrinated by what he says and [that] what he believes is a viable solution to ending abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Donald Spitz holds Army of God banner. Photo: Rev Spitz\/Wikimedia Commons. (CC0).<\/span><\/span><\/span>The latest upsurge in anti-abortion violence in America began in 2009, with Obama in the White House, says Johnson. This is broadly consistent long-term trends where threats from the far-right increase when a Democrat is power, and tend to decrease with a Republican president, he said.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s presidency however has upended this trend: murders by white supremacists doubled in 2017, according to\u00a0Anti-Defamation League (ADL) research.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWe were already at a heightened level under the previous administration,\u201d said Johnson. He described \u201cthe continued threat from the far-right under a Republican administration\u201d as a reality that \u201cgoes against the trend that we have seen over the past 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three were people killed and nine injured in an attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado in 2015. Threats against clinics across the country doubled between 2010 and 2014, according to a bi-annual survey\u00a0from the Feminist Majority Foundation<\/a>. It also found that 34% of clinics faced instances of \u2018severe violence\u2019 in 2016, compared to 20% in 2014.<\/p>\n

The most common forms of such \u2018severe violence\u2019 are blocking women\u2019s access to clinics, bomb threats, facility invasions and death threats, said\u00a0the report<\/a>. Arson, chemical attacks, and stalking are other forms, while less severe incidents include home-picketing of doctors, break-ins, robberies, and using glue to ruin locks and nails in driveways to puncture car tires.<\/p>\n

Most clinics endure a number of different threats and a vulnerable minority experience a range of concentrated attacks by different anti-abortion groups working together,\u00a0according to the data<\/a>. The reports describes attackers\u2019 aim to \u201cforce [facilities] to close their doors before moving on to the next set of targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Anti-abortion<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Anti-<\/span><\/span><\/span>abortion rally outside Planned Parenthood clinic in metro Detroit, 2017. Photo: Jim West\/PA Images. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/span><\/span>Between 2011-2016, a quarter of US clinics providing abortions\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0shut their doors, with financial trouble and \u201chostile legislative environments\u201d\u00a0cited as factors.<\/a>\u00a0The most dramatic escalation in threats has been against healthcare workers. Since 2010, the percentage of US clinics reporting intimidation and threats against staff\u00a0almost doubled<\/a>, increasing from 27% to 46%.<\/p>\n

This is particularly worrying for reproductive rights advocates as such personal attacks are often the precursor to deadly violence. Ten percent of clinics surveyed for the Feminist Majority Foundation\u2019s report said that their doctors\u2019 faces had been featured in WANTED-style posters \u2013 a tactic used by Army of God members in the past. Several doctors were\u00a0murdered in the 1990s<\/a>\u00a0after their faces and addresses appeared on similar posters.<\/p>\n

These kind of threats put huge strains on clinics that are already thinly stretched, according to Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation \u2013 not to mention the personal toll on staff members. She noted an increase in threats under President Trump.<\/p>\n

Trump speaks to March for Life participants and pro-life leaders in Washington DC, January 2018. Photo: Ting Shen\/Xinhua News Agency\/PA Images. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/span><\/span>Has Trump\u2019s alt-right White House \u2018resurrected\u2019 the Army of God\u2019s brand of anti-abortion militancy? “What we are seeing and hearing from our partners in clinics all over the US: an upsurge in violence this last year,\u201d Smeal told 50.50 from Arlington, Virginia. \u201cNew methods and tactics [are] being used, and ongoing threats against medical staff \u2013 and this is an upsurge coming on the end of an upsurge \u2013 clinics were already at heightened alert levels.”<\/p>\n

In the UK, the\u00a0targeting of clinics providing abortion services has become increasingly commonplace<\/a>\u00a0as well \u2013 with protests often scheduled to coincide with Christian events. Rachael Clarke, from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service told 50.50 that almost a quarter (34) of the UK\u2019s 140 clinics experienced some form of protest in the last year. Two clinics, which have not seen such protests before, have demonstrations scheduled during the 40 Days for Life campaign planned for Lent (starting 14 February).<\/p>\n

“In recent years protests outside clinics have become more entrenched and more women are encountering and being negatively affected by them.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years protests outside clinics have become more entrenched and more women are encountering and being negatively affected by them. In one London clinic alone, we estimate that almost 6000 women were affected by protests in 2017,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Back in America, Spitz told us that he divides his time between his \u201cministry\u201d supporting AOG \u201cmartyrs\u201d in prison, and running a group called Pro-Life Virginia. He had just returned from picketing an abortion clinic when we talked. \u201cI try to go out a few times a week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For his \u201cmartyrs,\u201d Spitz added, the biggest problem they have behind bars or facing the death penalty is not regret, nor any kind of Christian remorse for breaking the commandment that thou shalt not kill \u2013 it\u2019s their close proximity to \u201chomosexual sex\u201d in prison. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of immorality and its not appreciated,\u201d he said. \u201cHomosexual sex is going on in a lot of prisons, and they just don\u2019t want to be around all the sex and whatever going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s alt-right White House has\u00a0promised to defund Planned Parenthood<\/a>. This is just one development that has made Spitz more optimistic about his struggle than he has been for decades. Trump, he said, \u201cis very outspoken about being pro-life and that\u2019s wonderful. Now we have a voice, and before we didn\u2019t have one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The extremist was coy, however, about his own plans for the future. There is no \u201cgrand masterplan\u201d (beyond that of God, presumably), he said. \u201cWe are just going out to save individual babies. There are people trying to get legislation [against abortion] passed and that\u2019s good, but that\u2019s not us. It\u2019s all good, whatever anyone is doing to save the babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told us: \u201cWe are what you call the grunts, the soldiers, trying to do our best. We will just continue to be on the frontline.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open Democracy\u00a0–\u00a0Christian extremism as a motivator for violence is often overlooked, while clinics providing abortion services are facing growing threats. Rising right-wing extremism in the United States appears to have breathed new life into militant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":9015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,85,11,88,10],"tags":[840,842,841],"class_list":["post-9014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editor-selection","category-human-rights","category-issues","category-slider","category-world","tag-abortion","tag-far-right-extremism","tag-pro-life-movement","country-usa","country-world"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9017,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014\/revisions\/9017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}