LaPorte Church of Christ
The LaPorte Church of Christ is an independent church in Laporte , Colorado . It was led by Peter J. Peters from 1977 to 2011 . The church is considered to belong to the Christian Identity Movement .
ideology
The LaPorte Church of Christ sees itself as a civil-civil independent church. The ideology consists among other things of anti-Semitic and homophobic set pieces. It mainly serves fundamentalist Christians and less aggressive right-wing extremists . Nevertheless, there are points of contact, including with the Aryan Nations , whose member Louis Beam was a guest speaker. Peters also tries to address right-wing extremist skinheads who, in Peters' opinion, are not yet ready for the Christian message, but who, unlike many white Americans, have at least developed a racist awareness.
The church was founded in 1977. Although the congregation has fewer than 100 members, the church was one of the most important propaganda platforms for the Christian Identity movement in the mid-1990s. Pastor Peter J. Peters managed his Scriptures for American Ministries mail order business from her . A radio station is also connected to this mail order business. From 1993 to 1995, Peters also aired a television program on the Keystone Inspiration Network . In May 1995 the program was canceled due to protests by the Anti-Defamation League . In 1984 the church served as a meeting place for David Eden Lane's terrorist organization The Order , which murdered radio host Alan Berg in 1984 . Peters, however, has not been associated with the crime.
Since 1984, Peters has organized an annual Bible Camp, at which representatives of the extreme right appear as guest speakers. The camp's program, which is held in a different location each year, consists of sermons, musical performances and Christian ceremonies. In 1988 the basic theological positions of the LaPorte Church of Christ were summarized there under the title Remnants Resolves .
In 1988, the Church raised money to oppose a bill in Fort Collins that would strengthen gay rights . In 1989 the State of Colorado charged the Church with political activity and fined the Church $ 10 a day until the Church would register as a Political Action Committee and pay its tax debt. By 1992 the amount had grown to $ 10,000. As a result, the Church's accounts were frozen and property confiscated and then auctioned off in an auction at which the state was the only bidder. Peters himself refused to raise the amount and mocked the state in an advertisement as a "blackmailer and narrow-minded church robber".
From the 2000s, Peters tried to get rid of the Christian identity ideology as much as possible. However, there are still allusions to the white supremacy movement. In 2011, after the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011 , he wrote in a newsletter that Japan deserved this disaster.
Peter J. Peters died on July 7, 2011 at the age of 64. Since then, the church and the mail order business have been continued by parishioners.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Thomas Grumke : Right-wing extremism in the USA . Leske and Budrich, Opladen 2001, ISBN 3-8100-2868-1 , p. 97 .
- ↑ a b Thomas Grumke : Right-wing extremism in the USA . 2001, p. 98 .
- ↑ Jeffrey Kaplan: Encyclopedia of white power: a sourcebook on the radical racist right . Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, ISBN 978-0-7425-0340-3 , pp. 240 .
- ^ A b c Bill Morlin: Influential Christian Identity Pastor Dies. Southern Poverty Law Center , July 15, 2011, accessed January 31, 2012 .
- ↑ Peter J. "Pete" Peters. (No longer available online.) Anti-Defamation League , archived from the original on June 28, 2008 ; Retrieved February 1, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
