Christian terrorism

Christian terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant Christian character or influence ; to be considered religious terrorism the perpetrators must use religious scriptures to justify or explain their violent acts or to gain recruits and there must be some sort of clerical figures involved in some leadership roles.

In recent periods, examples of Christian terrorism are overwhelmingly tied to individuals and small groups, drawing condemnation from various institutional church bodies.

Many contemporary allegations of Christian terrorism are closely tied to American Protestant white supremacy organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Other groups, such as the Christian Identity movement bridge the gap between racism and religious theology by targeting racial and religious minorities, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and women.

Anti-abortion
One of the most widely-reported Christian terrorists is Eric Robert Rudolph, an American who committed a series of bombings across the southern United States in the 1990s, killing three people and injuring at least 150 others, because he violently opposed abortion and homosexuality as contrary to Christian doctrine. He may have been associated with the Christian Identity movement. While the movement influenced his actions, Rudolph himself has said: "I was born a Catholic, and with forgiveness I hope to die one." .

Clayton Waagner claimed to be on a "mission from God" when he set out with his family on a trip across the United States, intent on killing multiple abortion providers. Ultimately he mailed envelopes, falsely claiming they contained anthrax, to more than 500 abortion facilities, as part of the larger, and unconnected, anthrax attacks of 2001.

Army of God
Several Christians who have targeted abortion providers have had close ties to the militant organization Army of God, including the former Presbyterian minister Paul Jennings Hill, Michael F. Griffin, and the Reverend Michael Bray. Eric Rudolph, Clayton Waagner, and James Kopp all had links to the Army of God.

National Liberation Front of Tripura
The National Liberation Front of Tripura is a Fundamentalist Christian militant group in India, demanding a separate Christian state. Allegedly funded by the Baptist Church of Tripura, it is accused of ethnic cleansing and bombings that have killed hundreds, as well as forcing gunpoint conversions. They were declared a terrorist organization under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002.

Freedomites
Freedomites (also Svobodniki or Sons of Freedom, Canada, 1902-present)

Poso, Jakarta (2000)
On July 26, 2007, 17 Christians were convicted of religion-inspired terrorism under Indonesian law. A Christian mob attacked, murdered, and beheaded two Muslim fishermen in September 2006, reportedly as retaliation for a previous court ordered and legally sanctioned execution in 2006 of three Christians convicted of leading a militant group which killed hundreds of Muslims in Poso in 2000. In addition to the seventeen Christian defendants found guilty of "acts of terrorism by the use of violence", two defendants received fourteen year sentences for their main roles in the killings, while ten were sentenced to twelve year terms. Five other defendants in separate hearings received eight year sentences for their part in the disposal of the bodies.

Late Nineteenth-Century U.S. South
In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Mob: Violence against Religious Outsiders in the U.S. South, 1865-1910", Patrick Q Mason describes a wide range of activities, including lynching, murder, attempted murder, rape, beating, tar-and-feathering, and whipping. In addition, it took the form of property destruction, such as when vigilantes burned or ransacked homes, businesses, and churches.