Month: April 2010

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has learned that a “Christian Identity” supporting “church,” the Abundant Life Fellowship, in Morgantown, Indiana has hosted one white nationalist speaker, and plans to show a film by Craig Bodeker (who was scheduled to be a speaker at the white nationalist “American Renaissance” conference.)  The Abundant Life Fellowship hosted an event in Martinsville, Indiana  on March 27, and now plans to show Craig Bodeker’s  film denying the existence of racism, “A Conversation About Race,” on the evening of April 2 (7 to 9 PM), on Good Friday, at the Abundant Life Fellowship facility at 140 E. Washington Street in Morgantown, Indiana.  (See also our “correction” on this.)

Craig Bodeker is a supporter of the white nationalist “American Renaissance” organization’s conferences, and was scheduled to speak at their biannual conference in the Washington DC area in February 2010, before DC area hotels became aware of the racist nature of group’s ideology and chose to cancel their event. The American Renaissance is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a “white nationalist hate group.” American Renaissance’s Craig Bodeker wrote to R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm, warning him to stop educating the public about the American Renaissance’s ideological nature or someone might “decide to correct your behavior” among other comments.  At the DC conference, Craig Bodeker was to speak with “white nationalists” and racist individuals including Nick Griffin, who has called the Holocaust “the Holohoax.” Craig Bodeker has created a film called “A Conversation about Race” which seeks to deny that racism exists.

The Indiana events in Martinsville and Morgantown have been supported by Occidental Dissent contributor Matt Parrott, who is also the local Indiana leader of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), which is also listed by the SPLC as a “white nationalist hate group.” Occidental Dissent, where Matt Parrott writes his articles on “white nationalism,” describes its mission as “the creation of a Jew-free, racially exclusive White ethnostate in North America.”

On Occidental Dissent, Matt Parrott has been promoting the Martinsville and Morgantown, Indiana events hosted by the Abundant Life Fellowship church.  The Abundant Life Fellowship church pastor Jonathan Harness appears at the end of a YouTube video of the white nationalist rally in Martinsville, after Matt Parrott finishes speaking.

Regarding the “White Nationalist community,” Matt Parrott claims to be a “veteran of the movement for a decade.” He complains that “Jews are directing our foreign policy, running Hollywood, controlling our media, and dominating our academic institutions.”  (Prior to his involvement with the racial oriented, “Christian Identity”-supporting Abundant Life Fellowship Church events, Matt Parrott was a member of an atheist organization, whose home page illustrates someone defiling a crucifix.)

Indiana Events Promoted on Stormfront “Hate Group” Web Site by Church

The Indiana events have also been promoted on the “Stormfront” group’s web site, led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and former American Nazi Party member Don Black.  Don Black defines his Stormfront group as “white nationalist” with a logo using a white cross with the slogan “white pride worldwide.”  The Stormfront group is also listed by the SPLC as a “white nationalist hate group.”

The Indiana events were promoted on the Stormfront “white nationalist hate group” website  by a local volunteer who is a member of the local Indiana CofCC “hate group,” and states that she is the wife of an Indiana CofCC member at the Martinsville, Indiana rally.  They have also been promoted there by the “associate pastor” of the Abundant Life Fellowship “church.”

This CofCC wife, with the Stormfront name “remain in the light,” is a “Friend of Stormfront Sustaining Member.”   She writes on the Stormfront web site about the Abundant Life Fellowship white nationalist speaker planned for April 2 event in Morgantown, Indiana:  “As an individual, I would like to extend the invitation to all of our white brethren regardless of religion (or lack thereof). I understand that it may be awkward for those not of the Christian faith to attend an event at a church, but please remember that the emphasis is on race and heritage. All white kinsmen welcome!”

She also writes on Stormfront that “We need to be united in our fight for the white race…. [and that] This experience will hopefully help any future theological dialogues that occure [sic] once we secure a white nation… [and that our judicial system has failed] since it has been infested by Jews.”

Abundant Life Fellowship “associate pastor” Ed Glasgow is also a forum member of the Stormfront “hate group,” and has been there for six years.  He also uses the Stormfront web site to promote the Morgantown, Indiana white nationalist events.  According to his biography on Abundant Life Fellowship church, “In 1997 Ed and Sarah attended a debate on ‘Who is Israel?’ and was there introduced to the Christian Israel truth.”  “He served as Asst. Pastor at Union Christian church in Paragon, Indiana until it was disbanded.”

Ed Glasgow goes on to make his views about Jews very clear on the Stormfront “hate group” web site, stating:  “I am the asst. pastor at Abundant Life Fellowship. Yes we are a Christian Israel church. We believe that the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred peoples make up the physical descendants of the Israelites in the Bible. We do not believe those who claim to be jews, or the modern state of IsraeLIE are, and in fact are just the impostors mentioned in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9.”   Ed Glasgow has spoken at Indiana events along with Jonathan Harness at events hosted by the “Heritage Connection” white nationalist band, who fly a banner on the blog with the Stormfront logo “white pride worldwide.”

On his Facebook page, Ed Glasgow shows his interests to be Glock pistols, the “Confederate States of America,” a company that sells products with the Confederate flag, and the Bible.  He also states that he is a fan of makers of sub-machine guns (SMGs) and other tactical weapons.

The Stormfront “hate group” has a history of members guilty of racial terrorism plots, members calling for assassinations, members who have murdered police officers, members praising terrorist acts in the United States as acts by “martyrs” or “heroes,” and Stormfront members calling for additional terrorist attacks on Americans.) On March 29, 2010, Stormfront forum member Daniel Cowart pleaded guilty to a racial terrorist plot to kill 102 Americans.

Indiana’s “Abundant Life Fellowship Church” Views on Race

Abundant Life Fellowship “church” pastor Jonathan Harness describes his church as a “Christian Israelite fellowship.”  For those wondering what a “Christian Israelite fellowship” is, elsewhere he clarifies this as “Christian Israel (or Identity).”  On the Abundant Life Fellowship web site, they have posted an article by Lawrence Blanchard criticizing a book called “Race Over Grace – The Racialist Religion of the Christian Identity Movement,” which gives a good idea of the “racialist” views held by the Abundant Life Fellowship “church.”  (Lawrence Blanchard agrees with the book where it states the Christian Identity movement has been too fragmented, and needs to be more unified, not about criticism of its racist views.)

In a recent list of prayers at the Abundant Life Fellowship “church,” pastor Jonathan Harness calls for prayers and praise for “Christian Identity ministries all over.”

The “Christian Identity” movement has been described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a “racist and anti-Semitic religious sect whose adherents believe that white people of European descent are the descendants of the ‘Lost Tribes’ of ancient Israel.”  ADL also states that “Many consider Jews to be the Satanic offspring of Eve and the Serpent, while non-whites are ‘mud peoples’ created before Adam and Eve. Its virulent racist and anti-Semitic beliefs are usually accompanied by extreme anti-government sentiments. Despite its small size, Christian Identity influences virtually all white supremacist and extreme anti-government movements. It has also informed criminal behavior ranging from hate crimes to acts of terrorism.”

The SPLC also provides an essay on the past history of the Christian Identity ideology and its links to terrorist and militia groups, such as “The Order” and the “Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord (CSA).”  The Occidental Dissent group, where Matt Parrott writes, has used slogans from white nationalist David Lane, the founder of “The Order.”

Throughout his writings, “pastor” Jonathan Harness describes his “biblical” views on race, rejecting racial integration, focusing on the leadership of Christian by “white men,” viewing that leaders must be “white,” and seeking to defend white heritage and denying the existence of racism.  (See also his various comments on “race,” “racial,” “racism,” and “white” people on his website.)

— Harness defending “white heritage importance,” rejecting “the fallacy called racism,” stating “It is by the mouths of our enemy, those anti-Christ deceiving liars, who continue to keep this “supposed” sin alive in our midst to keep the white race beat down and oppressed by causing the compassion of the white race to be turned into self-loathing for a sin that none of us personally committed!”

— Not unlike Craig Bodeker, however, “pastor” Johnathan Harness also seems to believe that racism doesn’t exist, stating that:

“I have had a minister of this faith speak ill against brethren in the name of ‘racism’; a word that is filled with emotion, but is used by our common enemy to destroy us all and we continue to use it on one another.  I challenge you all to find the origin of the word, ‘racism’.  It isn’t an old word, but rather a fairly new word within the last century.  And yet, we continue to ‘judge’ others for supposed ‘racism’ when it is bringing the judgment back on ourselves as we stand as racial separatist and therefore are bunched together (whether we like it or not) by the semantic of it!”

— Harness arguing that God formed man only as “white man”

— Harness condemning racial integration: “My opponent began this treatise with an argument about the New Covenant being established for ‘all men’ and obviously my opponent has not studied that topic out thoroughly as their point was of a racially integrated relationship within the Kingdom of God through His Christ and that is absolutely against the premises of Scripture.”

— Harness calling for tithing only to support his own race: “I teach that all of these should be of our racial kin as we have many needs in our own people”

— Harness on the only hope for Christianity in the white race: “We can only find the answer in one people group and one alone; that being the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, Kindred peoples.  Even today you do not find the fulfillment of these expectations any greater than in the white man.  The white man has been faithful in carrying the Gospel message throughout the globe.”

— Harness calling for “white Christians” to condemn free elections: “Could it be that the conservative white ‘Christians’ are beginning to “wake up” to the reality of tyranny that is upon this country through the curses of Deuteronomy 28?  Could it be that we, White Americans, with true birth right are realizing the weight of this election and what it might mean to us and our progeny?”

Not surprisingly, Jonathan Harness was horrified by the election of a black American as president, stating in despair that:

“It is with a very heavy heart that I write this article this week!  We, as a nation of believers in America, have seen history in the making clearly and unobstructed.  Moreover, we are the reason that we have seen this history being unfurled before our very eyes!”

“This week our nation elected its first black President!  This is an unbelievable feat as I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s; a time that was still inundated with pride for heritage and country:  I believe that most during that time and before will agree that we still respected the forefathers beliefs on the necessity of being ‘white’ for ‘high’ leadership purposes.”

Jonathan Harness decries that “They sold the generation before mine on integration… The Bible has explicitly warned us of our errors and has offered us a way of correcting them, but we have to be willing to accept that we have the ability to accomplish things for His Kingdom.”

According to his biography on the Abundant Life Fellowship church web site, “Pastor Jonathan attended the Bible Institute in St. Paul, MN. He has been in ministry since he was 16 years old.”  It also states that he and his wife “worked as Youth Pastors, Youth Directors for the Church of God United Assembly, Outreach Pastors, and both served on the board of directors of the National Christian Outreach.”

The Abundant Life Fellowship church sells books by white nationalist Matt Parrott, books condemning interracial marriage, a book by Lawrence Blanchard “Did All Races Come from Adam?,” “The Story of Celto-Saxon Israel,” and “Symbols of our Celto-Saxon Heritage,” among others.

In addition to the “Abundant Life Fellowship church,” Jonathan Harness also is opening a store in Nashville, Indiana to sell Confederate flags and associated memorabilia called “Livin the Legacy.”  According to the Brown County Democrat, the local Nashville, Indiana government was concerned about a store with a Confederate flag sign, but their Confederate flag sign was approved by the local Indiana government.

Morgantown Pastor Speaks Out to Defend Christianity and Equality for All Races

In a separate discussion with the pastor of the Morgantown Baptist Church in Indiana, R.E.A.L. learned some additional facts about the Abundant Life Fellowship “church” to provide context on this group.

Pastor Ben Swopes states that the white nationalist and racist views of the Abundant Life Fellowship members do not represent Morgantown, Indiana, and that they represent only a small fraction of what is a very small town of about 2 miles.  Pastor Swopes states that he knows the town very well as he served as president of the town board for a year and a half.  Moreover, it would appear many others in the small town have not heard about the planned Craig Bodeker film, there has been no local advertising about the event, nor is there likely to be any parking at the Abundant Life Fellowship “church,” if many show up to attend.

Pastor Ben Swopes states that he believes “that there is only one race, the human race”  and that “we are to share the gospel to the whole human race.”

A Decision to Make – Defy the Legacy of the Past and Promote Human Rights – Or – Hope for the Best?

But despite Pastor Swopes’ hopeful, loving, and inspirational view of his neighbors, history shows that parts of Indiana still must shake off remnants of a past era when white supremacists held power in Indiana, and where cities such as nearby Martinsville, Indiana was considered by some as a “sundown town” where blacks dared not venture after dark.  Martinsville and other parts of Indiana continue to seek to defy that legacy of racist hate, and seek to build a new reputation of hope and understanding for Indiana.  But there remain those who continue to seek to drag Indiana and America back to the “bad old days” of racial hatred and division.

It is no small irony that the “white nationalist” Craig Bodeker film event at the “Abundant Life Fellowship church” should fall on the Christian Good Friday on the cusp of the most important spiritual holiday in the Christian religion, their “Easter resurrection day”.  Should Christians who honor Jesus’ commandment to love one another remain silent as racist “white nationalism” ideologies are being spread on behalf of “Christian” events as Christians throughout Indiana, America, and the world are preparing for Easter?

Christians and human rights activists struggle with the decision to make over the remnants of racial supremacist ideologies and groups, such as the growing efforts by some to promote “white nationalism” in America.  But while many believe that they can just “ignore the extremists” in hopes that they will simply go away, the unfortunate truth is that every year we are finding more and more groups being added to the Southern Poverty Law Center hate group listings.  We are seeing racial intolerance and hate speech growing more and more in our public discourse and in society.

Furthermore, this comes less than a week after federal government raids on the “Christian militia” Hutaree in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

When will Americans reach the point where “looking the other way” no longer works?  After a white supremacist terrorist attack on U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June 2009, and a foiled terrorist plot where a white nationalist Stormfront forum member sought to kill 102 Americans, what more will it take?  How many more churches, synagogues, and mosques need to be defaced in America?  How many more racial slurs need to be hurled?  How many more black Americans need to be spit upon in our streets?  At what point, do Americans and American Christians need to actively defy racism in America, especially racism in the name of “Christianity”?

In addition to Easter this weekend in America, many will also recall that April 4 is the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.  Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) honored his sacrifice to America on the Lincoln Memorial on March 28, to the displeasure of “white nationalist” groups such as Occidental Dissent, where Indiana’s Matt Parrott writes.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life to his nation for his “dream,” so we too must realize that we have “a responsibility.” We believe that Americans need to be responsible for equality and liberty.   Perhaps only then will we finally all be able to say together that we are “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all.  We urge “white nationalist” supporters and all those who promote hate against others to drop the burden of the hate of from their hearts.

Choose love, not hate. Love wins.

Note: R.E.A.L. inaccurately reported in our initial report that Craig Bodeker was also going to speak at the Morgantown event, and we have since learned that only his film is going to be shown.  We apologize for the inaccuracy.  We also apologize to Mr. Bodeker on this inaccuracy.