Extremists Spur Response By Churches

Concerned that extremist groups have misrepresented Christian teachings, the Montana Association of Churches has issued a theological statement.

The association said the 81-day standoff between the freemen and the FBI this year in eastern Montana was a wake-up call, because it involved some “reinterpretations and co-optation of Christian teachings” intended to serve freemen purposes.

Leaders of the Montana freeman, in freeman documents and personal confrontations, have espoused the white-supremacy beliefs of the Christian Identity movement, which holds that white people from northern Europe are God’s chosen, while Jews are the offspring of Satan and blacks are subhuman “mud people.”

The church association has unanimously adopted a document titled “Text of Declaration on Distortions of the Christian Gospel.”

It affirms “the sovereignty of God’s just and loving purpose” and repudiates “the teaching that God’s love in Christ is not inclusive of all human life.”

The document says that:

Racial diversity is a gift of God, and there is no basis for teaching that one race is superior to others.

Teaching hatred is dehumanizing.

Church and state are separate and God has authority over both. “We repudiate as false the teaching that joins church and state in an unholy alliance which tyrannizes people of diverse backgrounds.”

The association represents 10 mainline denominations.

It is not unusual for the association to issue statements on social issues, such as gambling, and to use these statements when lobbying for or against legislation. But the declaration on distortions is the first of its kind for the organization.

“Because the hate groups in Montana are doing their work in the name of Christianity, the MAC leadership decided to frame a document both to repudiate the false teachings of the hate groups, and to affirm basic teachings of Christianity …” wrote the Rev. Jessica Crist of Great Falls.

She said Christians have an obligation to say what Christianity does and does not encompass.

Churches in the association have matters on which they disagree, but “at notions such as racial superiority, we draw the line,” Crist said.

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