Enemies Unmasked

Salvi has alleged a conspiracy of Freemasons. Reuters and CBS News have reported that while in Florida, Salvi discussed his interest in the armed militia movement. He is also reported to have quoted the Biblical book of Revelations. He met with a Catholic priest and demanded to distribute lurid photographs of aborted fetuses, charging that the Catholic Church is not doing enough to stop abortions.

Each and every one of his actions and statements can be traced to specific theological and political arguments promoted by organizations in the Boston area and nationwide.

The basic premise of this worldview is that a secret conspiracy of wealthy elites controls the U.S. Variations on these themes include overtly bigoted theories concerning Jews, theories of a secular humanist conspiracy of liberals to take God out of society, One World Global Government theories, and many others. Symptoms of the corrosive nature of this alleged conspiracy are seen variously as abortion, homosexuality, the feminist movement, sex education, Outcomes Based Education, and the environmental movement, among others.

The photographs of fetuses distributed by Salvi come from Human Life International (HLI), a right-wing Catholic anti-abortion group with a chapter in Massachusetts. HLI promotes a highly orthodox vision of Catholicism that is critical of liberal Catholics' stand on abortion, sex education, homosexuality, and feminism. HLI publishes and distributes books with titles such as Sex Education: The Final Plague, The Feminist Takeover, Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism, and New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies. The latter book attacks the Freemasons as part of conspiracy to control the country through the manipulation of the economy and paper money. The book is also sold by other right-wing groups that circulate conspiracy theories, including some that promote the armed militia movement. Other conspiratorial literature found among Salvi's possessions include The Fatima Crusader, an apocalyptic right-wing Catholic magazine that sees abortion as evil; and The New American, a magazine published by the John Birch Society, which also actively opposes abortion.

Conspiracy theories have a greater audience than many believe. They are spread, for instance, by right-wing Christian evangelical leader Pat Robertson in his books and on his TV program, "The 700 Club."

"Is it possible that a select few had a plan, revealed in the great seal adopted at the founding of the United States, to bring forth, not the nation that our founders and champions of liberty desired, but a totally different world order under a mystery religion designed to replace the old Christian world order of Europe and America?

"In earlier chapters, we have traced the infiltration of Continental Freemasonry by the new world philosophy of the order of the Illuminati, and its subsequent role in the French revolution. We then were able to find clear documentation that the occultic-oriented secret societies claiming descent from Illuminism and the French Revolution played a seminal role in the thinking of Marx and Lenin.

"In fact, one historian has asserted that wealthy and influential Europeans with direct roots to Illuminism operated a very secret society out of Geneva, which in fact controlled the Bolshevik government. We also know that Lord Milner of the British Round Table and Jacob Schiff, of Federal Reserve Board creator Paul Warburg's banking firm, gave the essential seed money to finance the Russian Revolution.

"But where is the link between the Continental Illuminati occultic influences on communism and British and American financial support of the same cause? Let's continue. We do not know whether such a tie does exist; there is not presently any known direct evidence to support it. However, one magazine source, whose data have not been verified, indicated that all of the French membership on the Trilateral Commission were members of French Freemasonry. This may be just a coincidence or it may mean that prominent Frenchman are also Masons, or it may actually be the missing link tying these sordid elements together."

"Members of the Illuminati at the highest levels of the order were atheists and Satanists."

"I believe that the Persian Gulf War has now brought into sharp focus the great cleavage that has existed in the human race since the early beginnings of civilization in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. On the one side are the beliefs of a portion of humanity that flowed from Abraham to the Jewish race and to the Christians of the world. There are the people of faith, the people who are part of God's world order.

"On the other side are the people of Babel -- those who build monuments to humanity under the inspiration of Satan. Their successors in Babylon included worshipers of the goddess Astarte and the god Baal. There are the people whose religious rites included the worship of sex with cult prostitutes and cult sodomites, whose temples were adorned with eggs and phallic symbols."

"The European bankers and money lords of America do not want interest-free government loans, nor do they want to relinquish the power they now hold over the economic and political destiny of America. Lincoln's plan to print interest-free currency, called "greenbacks," during the Civil War -- instead of issuing bonds at interest in exchange for bank loans -- was so revolutionary that it would have destroyed the monopoly that European bankers exercised over their nation's money. There is no hard evidence to prove it, but it is my belief that John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Lincoln, was in the employ of the European bankers who wanted to nip this American populist experiment in the bud."

The central division among those who believe in these theories is whether or not Jewish bankers are behind the conspiracy. Frank P. Mintz, in his book The Liberty Lobby and the American Right: Race Conspiracy, and Culture, argues that there is now a clear division -- with the ultra-conservative John Birch Society believing that do not center on Jews, and the Liberty Lobby, with its newspaper the Spotlight, circulating theories that do center on Jews and Jewish institutions. The theories of Lyndon LaRouche are an example of antisemitic conspiracy theories linking Freemasons, the KKK, and the mob to Jews and Jewish institutions.

Author Sara Diamond in her book Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right discusses the role of the secular humanist conspiracy theory within the theocratic right. It is the secular humanist conspiracy theory that is central to many of the groups involved in theocratic right organizing in Massachusetts, such as the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, Eagle Forum, and Concerned Women for America.

The secular humanist conspiracy theory is a variation of the Freemason conspiracy theory, and is spread by elements in the Protestant Christian Reconstructionist and dominion theology branches of the Christian Right. Christian Reconstructionism has influenced the militant wing of the anti-abortion movement, a development discussed by researcher Fred Clarkson in a two-part article in The Public Eye newsletter, published by Political Research Associates.

In some cases these conspiracy theories are adopted by persons who believe we are in the Biblical "End Times" described in prophesies in the book of Revelations as a time when there will be literal confrontations pitting true Christians against Satan and the AntiChrist.

Paranoid conspiracy theories have emerged in times of economic and social crisis throughout U.S. history, often accompanying the rise of right-wing populist movements. Some analysts dismiss these movements as "paranoid," "extremist," or "radical," but a more current social science view is that these right-wing populist movements, even when accompanied with bizarre conspiracy theories, reflect real deep divisions and grievances in the society that remain unresolved. This unresolved anger and anxiety leads some persons to begin scapegoating the problems of the society on named groups or sectors in the society.

Most people who join these right-wing scapegoating movements are acting not out of some personal pathology, but as an act of desperation; grasping at straws to defend their economic and social status -- in essence protecting hearth and home and their way of life against the furious winds of economic and social change. They feel that no one is listening. While their anger and fear is frequently based on objective conditions (such as the falling buying power of the average wage earner, or dislocation caused by global corporate restructuring), the solutions offered by rightist demagogues point to targets that scapegoated groups of individuals as the cause of the problems. Ultimately, some people persuaded by these scapegoating arguments conclude that the swiftest solution is to eliminate the scapegoat.

That some who act violently against the named scapegoats are also suffering from some form of emotional distress or mental illness does not negate the fact that they were groomed by a social movement. Clinic violence is not the only result. In recent years there has been a disturbing number of threats and attacks against not only abortion providers, but also environmental activists, gays and lesbians, Jews, and feminists. The scapegoating of welfare mothers and immigrants of color could also lead to similar acts of intimidation and injury.

A growing problem posed by right-wing populist movements that embrace scapegoating is that they make serious dialog within the democratic process difficult or impossible. Instead of engaging in a political struggle based on debate and compromise, persons who believe in evil conspiracies want to expose and neutralize the bad actors, not sit at the same table and negotiate.

Also very problematic is the attempt by government officials to use the incident of terrorism in Oklahoma City to justify a range of repressive legislative initiatives, allowing greater law enforcement powers to use surveillance and infiltration of non-criminal dissent in an effort to stop terrorism. A series of Congressional hearings, lawsuits, and media reports in the 1970's demonstrated there was no evidence that widespread infiltration and surveillance of dissident groups had a significant effect on stopping criminal activity or terrorism, but did have a significant effect in abridging civil liberties and chilling free speech. In this volatile political moment, we must cautiously guard against the dangers of right-wing bigotry and violence, and government over-reaction in response to these very real divisive and dangerous problems.

The patriot movement is bracketed on the moderate side by the John Birch Society and the conspiratorial segment of Pat Robertson's audience, and on the more militant side by the Liberty Lobby and groups promoting themes historically associated with white supremacy and anti-Jewish bigotry. There are perhaps five million persons who consider themselves part of the Patriot movement, and between ten and twenty thousand persons in over forty states who are involved in the armed militia movement. The armed militia movement has been growing rapidly, relying on a network of fast electronic media such as computer networks, fax networks, and radio broadcasting; it is arguably the first U.S. social movement to be organized primarily through non-traditional electronic media such as the Internet.

There is an undercurrent of resentment across the patriot movement against what are seen as the unfair advantages the government gives to people of color and women through programs such as affirmative action. While much of the patriot movement represents a different sector than the traditional far-right white supremacist movement, this underlying prejudice is significant. In many ways the Patriot movement is a temper tantrum by a subculture within U.S. society that is part of a backlash against the social liberation movements of the 1960's.

It is also true that persons affiliated with far-right groups such as the Christian Patriots movement and the Posse Comitatus are attempting to steer the broader patriot movement toward bigotry; and that many of the conspiracy theories rampant within the patriots movement have been kept alive for the most part in far-right and frequently bigoted circles. The Posse Comitatus is a right-wing militia movement that spread throughout the farm belt during the rural economic crisis in the late 1970's

People regularly exposed to variations on the Freemason conspiracy theory (such as the secular humanist conspiracy theory) number in the tens of millions, primarily through right-wing religious broadcasting. In the past few years there has been evidence of a growing alliance, at least ideologically, between certain anti-abortion elements within the armed militia movement and certain militant members of the anti-abortion movement. A report on this topic is available from Frontlines Research at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America national office in New York City.

Four distinct but overlapping social movements with militant factions appear to be coalescing to create a potential for violent confrontation against targeted scapegoats:

Attendees browsed three tables of literature brought by Den's Gun Shop in Lakeville Massachusetts. One book offered instruction in the use of the Ruger .22 rifle, the weapon used by Salvi. Other books contain diagrams on how to build bombs and incendiary devices. One title was Improvised Weapons of the American Underground. You could even purchase the book Hunter by neo-Nazi William Pierce of the National Alliance. (The book is about parasitic Jews destroying America and the need for armed civilians to carry out political assassinations to preserve the white race.) Pierce's previous book, The Turner Diaries, was the primary sourcebook of racist terror underground organizations, and was reportedly a favorite of alleged Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

One speaker, Ed Brown, who runs the Constitutional Defense Milita of New Hampshire, passed out brochures offering "Firearms Training, Combat Leadership, Close Combat, and Intelligence Measures." This was not unprecedented; in 1994, Planned Parenthood released information on a Wisconsin Patriots meeting where anti-abortion activists and armed militia proponents shared the podium.

A key figure in training armed civilian militias was the featured afternoon speaker at the Burlington meeting. Robert K. Spear is the author of Living Under the New World Order and Surviving Global Slavery. According to Spear, we are living in the "End Times" predicted in the book of Revelations. True Christians will be asked to make sacrifices to defend their faith and prepare the way for the return of Christ. Spear's plan is the formation of armed Christian communities.

These views are hardly marginal on the Christian Right. Pat Robertson, a leading figure in the Religious Right and whose Christian Coalition is credited in helping elect many new Republican Senators and Representatives, has been emphasizing End Times themes on the "700 Club." Just after Christmas 1994, the program carried a feature on new dollar bill designs being discussed to combat counterfeiting. The newscaster then cited Revelations 13 and suggested that if the Treasury Department put new codes on paper money it might be the Mark of the Beast.

In recent years, the most militant anti-abortion groups such as Operation Rescue have been influenced by the theology of Christian Reconstructionism, or dominion theology, which argues that true Christians must physically confront secular and sinful society and return it to God.

Though predominantly composed of right-wing Protestants, a similar movement among doctrinaire Catholics has emerged. The trajectory of Philip Lawler from the editorship of the Boston Archdiocesian publication The Pilot, to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to Operation Rescue is one example of this drift toward militancy. In the spring of 1994, Salvi joined with 300 anti-abortion demonstrators outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts where pamphlets were circulated that cited Operation Rescue as claiming that 18,000 abortions were performed annually at the facility.

The Bay Area-based Coalition on Revival has helped bring Protestant dominionism into the theocratic right political movement. Militant antiabortion activist and Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry writes for their magazine, Crosswinds, and has signed their Manifesto for the Christian Church, which proclaims that America should "function as a Christian nation" and that the "world will not know how to live or which direction to go without the Church's Biblical influence on its theories, laws, actions, and institutions," including opposition to such "social moral evils" as "abortion on demand, fornication, homosexuality, sexual entertainment, state usurpation of parental rights and God-given liberties, statist-collectivist theft from citizens through devaluation of their money and redistribution of their wealth, and evolutionism taught as a monopoly viewpoint in the public schools."

Francis Schaeffer is the dissident Presbyterian philiosopher whose ideas about a militant brand of orthodox Protestant faith gave rise to dominionism. Schaeffer placed a central emphasis on stopping abortion as a litmus test for a godly society. Dominion theology plays the same role in urging miltancy within rightwing Protestant circles as do the "Fatima prophesies" in right-wing Catholic circles. The central theme of stopping abortion in Protestant dominionism provides a common point of intersection with militant Catholic anti-abortion activists, so it is little surprise to find right-wing dominionist anti-abortion activist Randall Terry working closely with right-wing Catholic anti-abortion activist Joseph Scheidler. Scheidler in turn is on the U.S. board of advisors to Human Life International (HLI), as is Father Charles E. Rice, who authored an article discussing abortion in an issue of the John Birch Society's magazine The New American.

There is no evidence that Salvi attended the patriot movement meeting in Burlington, or that the rhetoric or ideas of any of the groups or individuals mentioned directly influenced his actions. The fact remains, however, that there is a growing right-wing social movement that uses theological arguments to encourage direct confrontation of its targets, and tolerates discussions of armed resistance. Its adherents scapegoat abortion providers, gays and lesbians, feminists, even environmental activists. Some have called feminists who support abortion rights "femiNazis" and argued that abortion is a genocide worse than that of Hitler. On the fringes of the anti-abortion movement are groups that argue that it is morally justifiable to kill abortion providers. One slogan is:

"If you really think abortion is murder, then act like it."

For some who hear this message, all that remains is to pull the trigger.