Glossary

See also:

• Chart of Different Sectors of the Right
• Dynamics among Different Sectors of the Right

Antichrist: A world leader in the end times who attempts to forge a one world government and global religion but is revealed as a treacherous Satanic agent who wages war at Armageddon against the faithful Christians. His appearance is a sign of the times.

Anti-elite scapegoating (or anti-elite conspiracism): a form of conspiracism that targets groups seen as sinister elites abusing their power from above. While it sometimes attacks some actual members of the elite, anti-elite scapegoating fails to analyze the underlying systems of power and oppression. Instead, it blames social problems on the subjective actions of small groups who are seen as an alien force distorting the normal workings of society. Countersubersive scapegoating: a form of conspiracism that targets groups portrayed as subversives trying to overturn the established order from below or from within. Countersubversive scapegoating often demonizes anti-oppression struggles and plays on people's fears of disorder, violence, invasion, and moral collapse.

Antisemitism: A durable and unique historic and contemporary form of prejudice or demonization appearing at various times based on perceptions of religion, ethnicity, and race. In the U.S., Christian supremacist notions created systems of oppression that kept Jews in a second-class status until after WWII. While institutionalized antisemitism as a form of oppression is no longer a major force, prejudice and demonization remain. Although Jews are actually a diverse ethnoreligious group, their biased critics often project on them a racial identity that has motivated intimidation and violence.

Apocalypticism: The belief in an approaching confrontation, cataclysmic event, or transformation of epochal proportion, about which a select few have forewarning so they can make appropriate preparations. From a Greek root word suggesting unveiling hidden information or revealing secret knowledge about unfolding human events. The dualist or demonized version involves a final show-down struggle between absolute good and absolute evil. In Christianity there are competing apocalyptic prophetic traditions based on demonization or liberation. Central to Christianity, the tradition also exists in Judaism, Islam, and other religions and secular belief structures. Believers can be passive or active in anticipation; and optimistic or pessimistic about the outcome. Sometimes used similarly to the term millenarianism.

Armageddon: The location in the Middle East where there is a final showdown between the Christian forces of good and the forces of evil commanded by the Antichrist. According to Revelation, three frog-like demons pop out of the mouth of a satanic dragon and provoke this huge battle involving troops from Gog and Magog. Modern eschatological interpretation attempts to figure out what countries represent Gog and Magog since their conflict is a sign of the times.

B

Babylon: A symbol in Christianity of all that is sinful. During the Tribulations, a woman dressed in purple and scarlet appears riding a great beast representing the false religion of the Antichrist. This whore of Babylon commits adultery and enjoys excessive luxuries with the corrupt rulers. God triumphs over the beast, and punishes those who have refused to repent, with special attention to merchants in the cities who have profited from those who followed the Antichrist. When Babylon has fallen, the faithful rejoice.

Bigotry: The rigid intolerance of ideas or persons seen as different.

Business conflict: An approach to political analysis that focuses on structural divisions within the business community (based on industry, region, type of company, and other factors) to explain political conflict. Business conflict analysis argues that an economic elite dominates politics and society under capitalism and is united in its commitment to that system, but this elite contains many competing interests and factions that disagree on important political issues. Business conflict analysis helps to explain elite participation in right-wing populist movements and other mass-based initiatives.

C

Centrist/Extremist Theory: This theory marginalizes populist dissidents as dangerous irrational people whose sociopathology can best be explained as a form of psychological dysfunction. Their grievances and demands need not be taken seriously. Law enforcement can break up any criminal conspiracies by these subversive radicals who threaten the social order. Centrist/extremist theory portrays the U.S. political system as a vital center of pragmatism, rationality, and tolerance threatened by lunatic fringe, paranoid extremists of the Left and the Right. Centrist/extremist theory falsely lumps together movements for greater equality and democracy with movements that reinforce oppression. The theory also hides the fact that right-wing bigotry and scapegoating are firmly rooted in the mainstream social and political order, and obscures the rational choices and partially legitimate grievances that help to fuel right-wing populist movements. Centrist/extremist theory is the dominant model used by government agencies, mass media, and major human rights groups to portray right-wing movements, and was first developed by anticommunist liberals in the 1950s. The centrist/extremist model favors labels such as “extremist groups,” “radical right,” “lunatic fringe,” “religious political extremists,” or “wing nuts.” Sometimes called the Pluralist School (Political Science) or the Classical School (Sociology). Extremism was a concept favored by centrist/extremist scholars of the classical or pluralist school (Bell, 1955; Forster, and Epstein, 1956; Bell, 1963; Forster and Epstein, 1964; Hofstadter, 1965; Epstein and Forester, 1967; Lipset and Raab, 1970).

Chiliasm: The belief that the righteous remnant who remain faithful will enjoy their anticipated rewards on earth. In Christianity, that the faithful will receive salvation and live on earth for 1,000 years under the reign of the returned Christ. See pre-millennialism.

Christian Identity: See, Identity

Christian Nationalism: The idea that America is the redeemer nation and thus should uphold Christian principles.

Classical School (Sociology): See Centrist/Extremist Theory.

Conspiracism: A form of scapegoating that portrays the enemy as part of a vast insidious plot against the common good. Conspiracism assigns tiny cabals of evildoers a superhuman power to control events, frames social conflict as part of a transcendent struggle between Good and Evil, and makes leaps of logic, such as guilt by association, in analyzing evidence. Often employs common fallacies of logic in analyzing factual evidence to assert connections, causality, and intent that are nonexistent. A distinct narrative form of scapegoating, conspiracism uses demonization to justify constructing the scapegoats as wholly evil while reconstructing the scapegoater as a hero. Sees secret plots by tiny cabals of evildoers as the major motor powering important historical events.

Countersubversion – Seeking to ferret out, expose, and neutralize people, groups, movements, or ideas deemed subversive. See Scapegoating.

D

Demagogues: Charismatic leaders willing to use emotionally-manipulative appeals coupled with simplistic and subjective explanations to mobilize constituencies with unresolved anger and frustration in times of societal stress. Demagogues often use anti-democratic techniques including prejudice, dehumanization, demonization, scapegoating, and conspiracism.

Demonization: Portraying a person or group as totally malevolent, sinful, or evil--perhaps even in league with Satan. A precursor to scapegoating and conspiracism which encourages discrimination and violence against the target. Acts as a form of dehumanization or objectification. Demonization involves marginalization (using propaganda and prejudice to set people outside the circle of wholesome mainstream society) and dehumanization (negatively labeling the targeted persons so they become perceived more as objects than as real people).

Discrimination: A set of actions or methodology that denies equal treatment to a targeted group. Discrimination can appear in three forms: Individual, Institutional, and Structural. (Pincus, 1999: 120-124).

Dispensationalism: A Christian theological scheme developed by theologian John Nelson Darby that outlined specific historic epochs or dispensations that are pre-ordained by God. This pre-millennialist view often encourages the Christian faithful to await salvation while remaining aloof from sinful secular society since they will be raptured before the Tribulations.

Dominionism: The theocratic idea that regardless of theological view or eschatological timetable, heterosexual Christian men are called by God to exercise dominion over secular society by taking control of political and cultural institutions. Competes in Christianity with the idea of Stewardship, which suggests custodial care rather than absolute power. Used here in the broader sense, some analysts use the word only to refer to forms and offshoots of Reconstructionism.

Dualism: A form of binary thinking that divides the world into good versus evil with no middle ground tolerated. A famous historic dualist movement was called Manicheaism. In dualism there is no acknowledgment of complexity, nuance, or ambiguity in debates; and hostility is expressed toward those who suggest coexistence, toleration, pragmatism, compromise, or mediation.

E

End Times: See Eschatology.

Eschatology: The idea that there is an "end time" for the current historic epoch at which point the forces of evil will be vanquished and the forces for good rewarded. In Christianity, the study of Biblical prophesy regarding the end times.

Ethnic Intimidation: Acts of intimidation based on the perception of ethnicity.

Ethnoreligious bigotry: Bigotry based on the perception of some combination of ethnicity and religion.

Ethnoviolence: Acts of violence motivated by prejudice or supremacy.

Extreme Right: Militant insurgent groups that reject democracy, promote a conscious ideology of supremacy, and support policies that would negate basic human rights for members of a scapegoated group. These groups are viewed as insurgent because they “reject the existing political system, and pluralist institutions generally, in favor of some form of authoritarianism.” (Berlet & Lyons, 2001).

Extremist: The term “extremist” is of dubious value and should be avoided used As sociologist Jerome Himmelstein argues, “At best this characterization tells us nothing substantive about the people it labels; at worst it paints a false picture. ” (1998: 7).

F

False Messiah: See Antichrist.

False Prophet: A world religious leader who attempts to build one world religion, variously seen as Catholicism, Moon’s Unification movement, world Communism, the New Age movement, or secular humanism. An ally of the Antichrist or False Messiah in the end times.

Far Right: The term “Far Right” is used in different ways by different authors. Some use it to refer to the Hard Right, while others use it to refer to the Extreme Right. When used, it should be defined. After much discussion, PRA tries to avoid the term, and the staff is encouraged to define it when used at all. We are leaning toward using it to refer to what we call the Hard Right, based on comments by Durham.

Fascism and neofascism: Fascism is an especially virulent form of far-right populism. Fascism glorifies national, racial, or cultural unity and collective rebirth while seeking to purge imagined enemies, and attacks both revolutionary movements and liberal pluralism in favor of militarized, totalitarian mass politics. Fascism first crystallized in Europe in response to the Bolshevik Revolution and the devastation of World War I, and then spread to other parts of the world. If it is a post-WWII occurrence it should be called neofascist or neofascism unless it solely involves participants in older movements. Neofascists reinterpret fascist ideology and strategy in various ways to fit new circumstances.

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Signal the beginning of the Tribulations and God's judgment of the sinful. They represent the deceptive Antichrist seeking power (riding a white horse); war, revolution and civil strife (riding a red horse); natural disasters causing famine (riding a black horse); and pestilence and death (riding a pale horse). Note that at the end of Revelation, the real Christ returns riding a white horse. Some Christians dispute that the rider on the White Horse is the Antichrist.

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God: A Supreme being.

H

Hard Right: An umbrella term used to refer to groups to the right of the Republican Party in the United States. In other countries, Hard Right refers to all groups outside the electoral or parliamentary system. Includes Dissident, Populist, Insurgent, and Revolutionary groups.

Hate Crime: A legal term that describes criminal acts motivated by prejudice. The term ethnoviolence is a broader term that describes acts of intimidation whether or not deemed illegal.

Hate Group: The term “hate group” is used to describe any organization in any sector of society that aggressively demonizes or dehumanizes members of a scapegoated target group in a systematic way.

Heteropatriarchy: The combination of male supremacy and heterosexual supremacy.

Heterosexism: An ideology that assumes a hierarchy of human worth based on the social construction of what is a “normal” sexual identity. Heterosexism is a form of heterosexual supremacy developed to claim that sexual relations between men and women are “natural,” while other forms of sexual expression are unnatural, abnormal, inferior, or sinful. While heterosexism as a belief system can exist anecdotally among people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (sometimes as a backlash response to oppression) it is not an equivalent phenomena, and it does not create oppression. Heterosexism + discrimination + power/privilege = sexuality oppression. Sometimes the term heterosexism is used to describe the entire system of oppression based on sexual identity. In this larger context, heterosexism can refer to forms that are internal, interpersonal, institutional, or systemic. The term heterosexist ideology describes ideas, while the term heterosexist discrimination describes acts. See: Oppression.

Homophobia: An aggravated form of heterosexism. Fear of homosexuality.

I

Identity or Christian Identity: A US derivation of the earlier British Israelism. Argues that the US is the true Israel and White Christians are God’s "Chosen People" of the Biblical covenant. Considers modern Jews and the state of Israel to be hoaxes. In the most virulent form, Jews are seen as agents of Satan, and people of color are considered "pre-Adamic," thus pre-human. Denounced as a heresy by Catholicism and virtually every Protestant denomination and group.

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Mark of the Beast: The Satanic mark of the Antichrist, represented by the number 666. To remain faithful, and thus be saved in the end times, Christians must reject the mark. Seen variously as a tattoo, hidden in supermarket bar-codes, woven into new paper currency, or implanted into the flesh micro-chip. The arrival of the Mark is a sign of the times. The Beast is sometimes described as having three heads.

Matriarchy: A system of female supremacy.

Messianism: The idea of a chosen one who signals salvation. A herald, prophet, or avatar who announces access to secret or hidden knowledge or metaphysical revelation; claims to act on behalf of a greater spiritual power or public good; confronts leaders with accusations of tyranny, betrayal, or corruption; and seeks to liberate the oppressed through the significant transformative renewal of the society or the arrival of a new metaphysical epoch.

Millenarianism: A sense of expectation that a significant epochal transformation is imminent, usually involving apocalyptic events. Sometimes used similarly to the term apocalypticism.

Millennialism: A sense of expectation that a significant epochal transformation is imminent, marking either the end of a thousand year period, or signal its beginning, or both. Two major forms of millennialist response are passive waiting versus activist intervention. Can involve varying degres of apocalypticism. In Christianity, the idea that the Second Coming of Christ marks a thousand year period. Millennialist variations in Christianity include:

--Pre-millennialism – Belief that Christ returns at the beginning of a thousand year period of peace and prosperity. Can foster passivity or intervention.

--Post-millennialism – Belief that Christ returns only after a thousand years of reign and rule by godly Christian men. Fosters intervention. See Reconstructionism.

--A-millennialism – Belief that Christ’s eventual return cannot be anticipated, thus de-emphasizing it as a practical immediate consideration. Most a-millennialists believe that Christ’s return ends history.

--Preterism – Belief that most or all of the millennium mentioned in Revelation and other books of the Bible already has occurred.

Misogyny: An aggravated form of male sexism. Hatred of women.

N

Nazism and neonazism: Nazism is a form of fascism developed by Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and the state it controlled in Germany and Europe from 1933 to 1945. Nazism was defined by a doctrine of Aryan racial supremacy, demonization of the so-called Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy, a program of German military conquest, and systematic genocide against Jews and other people considered racial enemies or racially inferior. Neonazism describes various post-WWII political doctrines openly or secretly derived from Hitler's ideology, including Christian Identity, the Third Position, National Alliance, Church of the Creator, and others.

Nostradmus: A sixteenth century prophet who utilized astrological charts and visions to write a pre-history of the world making predictions about events centuries in advance. The text, written in quatrains, is obscure and ambiguous. There are many published commentaries claiming to unravel their meaning. One major prediction was the arrival of a great comet. His predictions do not go beyond the year 2000.

O

One World Government: In the End Times the Antichrist attempts to build a One World Government.

One World Religion: In the End Times , an ally of the Antichrist, the False Prophet, spreads a One World Religion.

Oppression: A systematic form of discrimination that is generated when institutions or structures in a society maintain hierarchies of power and privilege that weighs down or subjugates a specific group. Oppression can be subtle and relatively invisible to the mainstream society, or it can be “institutionalized in customs and norms, or even codified in laws” (Berlet & Khan, 2001: 19-20). Racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism are the major forms of oppression in the U.S., but there are others based on ability, language, ethnicity, immigrant status, size, religion, and more. Oppression is systematic and occurs as the result of a dynamic process involving ideas, acts, and a hierarchical position of dominance. This dominance involves both power and privilege. The resulting formula for oppression is as follows: supremacist ideology + discrimination + power/privilege = oppression. Oppression as a system is built on a foundation of internal, interpersonal, and institutional forms of supremacy and subjugation.

P

Patriarchy: A system of male supremacy.

Pluralist School (Political Science): See Centrist/Extremist Theory.

Populism: A style of organizing that involves an effort to mobilize "the people" into a social or political movement around some form of anti-elitism. Populist movements can be on the right, the left, or in the center. They can be egalitarian or authoritarian, inclusive or exclusionary, forward-looking or fixated on a romanticized image of the past. They can either challenge or reinforce systems of oppression.

--Right-wing populist movement: a populist movement that targets superficial or false symbols of elite power, reinforces systems of social privilege and oppression, and is built around a backlash against liberation movements, social reform, or revolution. Right-wing populist movements feed partly on people's grievances against their own oppression but deflect that anger away from positive social change. Right-wing populism is a form of repressive populism.

--Repressive populist movement: a broader category that includes right-wing populism. Repressive populism combines distorted or fake anti-elitism with efforts to reinforce systems of oppression, but not all repressive populism involves an anti-leftist backlash. The term repressive populism helps describing some movements before the 20th century, such as the Jacksonians, that share major features with right-wing populism but cannot be clearly classified as rightist.

Prejudice: The preconceived formation of negative or hostile views toward a person or group of persons based on ignorance, stereotyping, or other filter of bigotry. Prejudice can be unconscious or conscious, and any set of prejudiced ideas may be transformed into an ideological viewpoint.

Producerism: a populist doctrine that champions the so-called producers in society against both "unproductive" elites (notably bankers) and subordinate groups defined as lazy or immoral (such as people of color, immigrants, welfare mothers, and gays). Producerism blurs actual class divisions and embraces some elite groups while scapegoating others. For example, producerists often counterpose "productive" industrial capital against "parasitic" finance capital, a phony distinction closely related to antisemitic attacks on supposedly parasitic Jews.

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Racial Discrimination: According to the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.” Note that the term being defined is not “racism” but “racial discrimination.” So the UN definition separates the idea from the act.

Racialism: An ideology that elevates the social construction of racial difference to a primary place in human relations. While existing in theory as an ideology that is not supremacist, is rooted in pseudo-scientific theories of race. It can be used cautiously to point out specific distinctions and nuance in discussions of race and racism.

Racism: Racism is an ideology that assumes a hierarchy of human worth based on the social construction of racial difference. Racism as an ideology was developed to claim superiority of White people over people of color based on the false idea that race is a fixed and immutable reality. The overwhelming reality of racism in the U.S. is White supremacy, which uses racism to rationalize the oppression of people of color. While racism as a belief system in the U.S. can exist anecdotally among people of color (sometimes as a backlash response to oppression) it is not an equivalent phenomena, and it does not create oppression. Racism + discrimination + power/privilege = racial oppression. The overwhelmingly hegemonic form of racism in the U.S. is White supremacy, but other forms exist in other countries. Sometimes the term racism is used to describe the entire system of racial oppression or aspects of that system. In this larger context, racism can refer to forms that are internal, interpersonal, institutional, or systemic. The term racist ideology describes ideas, while the term racial discrimination describes acts. See: Oppression, Racial Discrimination.

Rapture: In some Christian apocalyptic timetables, the idea that the collective salvation of the remaining remnant of the Christian faithful occurs through an ascension into heaven while earth is purged of evil during the Tribulations through great punishment of those who rejected Christ in favor of sin. Whether or not Christians then return to an earth purged of evil is in contention. Not all Christians believe in a literal rapture. See Chiliasm.

Reconstructionism: The most militant form of Protestant dominionism, arguing that the US Constitution is merely a codicil to Christian Biblical law. Rooted in Calvinist theonomy and the idea of America as a Christian redeemer nation. Sees religion, culture, and nation as an integral unit. A form of Christian nationalism, Reconstructionism echoes of the European clerical fascist movements of the 1930s. A post-millennial view urging militant Christian intervention in secular society since faithful men must reign and rule for a thousand years before Christ returns. Has no connection whatsoever with Jewish Reconstructionism.

Religious bigotry: Bigotry based on the perception of religion targeting Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, and other faith-based groups.

Remnant: In some Christian apocalyptic timetables, the idea that in the end times or after the Tribulations there will still be a righteous remnant of faithful Christians.

Repression: A subset of oppression, repression occurs when public or private institutions—such as law enforcement agencies or vigilante groups--use arrest, physical coercion, or violence to subjugate a specific group.

S

Scapegoating: blaming a person or group wrongfully for some problem, especially for other people's misdeeds. Scapegoating deflects people's anger and grievances away from the real causes of a social problem onto a target group demonized as malevolent wrongdoers. The problem may be real or imaginary, the grievances legitimate or illegitimate, and members of the targeted group may be wholly innocent or partly culpable. The scapegoats are wrongfully stereotyped as all sharing the same negative trait or are singled out for blame while other major culprits are let off the hook.

--Anti-elite scapegoating (or anti-elite conspiracism): a form of conspiracism that targets groups seen as sinister elites abusing their power from above. While it sometimes attacks some actual members of the elite, anti-elite scapegoating fails to analyze the underlying systems of power and oppression. Instead, it blames social problems on the subjective actions of small groups who are seen as an alien force distorting the normal workings of society.

--Countersubersive scapegoating: a form of conspiracism that targets groups portrayed as subversives trying to overturn the established order from below or from within. Countersubversive scapegoating often demonizes anti-oppression struggles and plays on people's fears of disorder, violence, invasion, and moral collapse.

Sexism: An ideology that assumes a hierarchy of human worth based on the social construction of gender difference Sexism was developed to claim superiority of men over women, based on the idea that “natural” gender norms are a fixed and immutable reality. The overwhelming reality of sexism in the U.S. is male supremacy, which uses sexism to rationalize the oppression of women. While sexism as a belief system in the U.S. can exist anecdotally among women (sometimes as a backlash response to oppression) it is not an equivalent phenomena, and it does not create oppression. Sexism + discrimination + power/privilege = gender oppression. Sometimes the term sexism is used to describe the entire system of gender oppression. In this larger context, sexism can refer to forms that are internal, interpersonal, institutional, or systemic. The term sexist ideology describes ideas, while the term gender discrimination describes acts. See: Oppression.

Signs of the Times: A phrase used to highlight the possibility that a specific worldly event may fulfill a Biblical prophesy and thus be a signal of the end times when faithful Christians are expected to engage in appropriate (and highly contested) preparations. Wars, earthquakes, comets, social unrest, and examples of sinful immorality are commonly interpreted as signs. Christian Biblical prophesy in Revelation, Ezekiel, and Daniel, generate contemporary interpretations by authors such as Hal Lindsey, Billy Graham, Timothy LaHaye and others.

Social Movement Theory (Sociology): There have been a number of shifts and innovations in social movement theory over the past thirty years (Buechler, 2000: 3-57; Garner & Tenuto, 1997:1-48). Smith notes that in the 1970s there was “a decisive pendulum-swing away from “classical” theories toward the view of social movements as rational, strategically calculating, politically instrumental phenomena,”(1997: 3). Rogin (1967) and the authors in Schoenberger (1969) raised early questions about centrist/extremist theory, and the list quickly grew long (Curry & Brown, 1972, pp. vii–xi; Canovan, 1981: 46–51 179–190; Ribuffo, 1983: 237–257; Himmelstein, 1990: 1–5, 72–76, 152–164; Diamond, 1995: 5–6, 40–41; Kazin, 1995:190–193). Hixson summarized many of these complaints (1992: 10–48, 77–123, 273–292). Since the late 1980s, there have been numerous books that use post-classical theories to analyze the Far Right (Diamond, 1989; Aho, 1990; Blee, 1991; Barkun, 1994; Hamm, 1994; Diamond, 1995; Corcoran, 1995; Ezekiel, 1995; Lamy, 1996; Hamm, 1997; Dobratz & Shanks-Miehle, 1997; Ferber, 1998; Berlet & Lyons, 2000; Blee, 2002). Dobratz and Shanks-Meile have synthesized many approaches and argue that the study of right-wing movements requires consideration of “socioeconomic conditions, changing political opportunities, resources, consciousness, labeling, framing, interpretations of reality, boundaries, and negotiation of the meaning of symbols,” (1997:32).

Social Movement: A dissident mass movement that seeks to transform society and challenge existing power relationships by means other than (but often including) the political electoral process. Social movements are frequently confrontational, but they do not necessarily resort to violence. Many social movements are essentially reformist, while some are insurgent or even revolutionary. Dissident groups generally still hope for the reform of the existing system, even when their reforms are drastic, and the dissidents are dubious their goals will be reached.

Supremacy: a set of beliefs whereby one group is deemed superior to another and thus justified in assuming a dominant hierarchical relationship. Prejudice facilitates supremacy, but they are distinct, though linked, phenomena. Racism, sexism, heterosexism, and antisemitism are the major forms of supremacy in the U.S., but there are others based on ability, language, ethnicity, immigrant status, size, religion, and more.

Survivalism: An apocalyptic view with both Christian and secular proponents who gather and store large supplies of food, water, medical supplies, and usually weapons and precious metals, in anticipation of an impending economic collapse, social unrest, or the Tribulations. Sometimes survivalists withdraw to remote locations or form small communities for mutual self-defense. Some Christian fundamentalist survivalists believe to avoid the Mark of the Beast they must live apart from secular society for a period of up to 42 months.

T

Theocracy: A system where the only appropriate political leaders are persons who see themselves as devoted to carrying out the will of God as interpreted by a common religion.

Theonomy: A system where the civil government, the church, and the family, are ruled under Biblical law by Christian leaders carrying out the will of God.

Tribulations – In some Christian apocalyptic timetables, the idea that the end times bring great troubles such as wars, plagues, and famine that can last as long as seven years. Variation include:

--Pre-Tribulationism – The faithful remnant are saved before the troubles.

--Mid-Tribulationism – The faithful remnant are saved after experiencing some but not all of the troubles.

--Post-Tribulationism – The faithful remnant are saved after experiencing all of the troubles.

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W

White Separatism: A developing tendency emerging from White supremacy that seeks the total separation of the races, rather than the segregation or expulsion of people of color. White separatists generally claim to be “racialists” rather than “racists,” but almost invariably hold White supremacist views while claiming to desire racially separate nation states based on mutual respect for racial difference.

White supremacy: The term is used in various ways to describe a set of beliefs; organized White hate groups; or a system of racial oppression that benefits White people. As an ideology, it is the belief that the socially constructed “White race” is superior to other “races.” As a system, White supremacy in the U.S. is maintained when White people defend, deny, or ignore the reality of the continued systematic subordination and oppression of people of color. White supremacy is the most powerful form of racism in the US, and it has two major forms: racism by Whites used to justify the oppression of people of color; and the racialized construct of antisemitism in which Jews are falsely claimed to be a distinct non-White race, and are then deemed a sinister race.

X

Xenophobia: Fear of or distaste for people, ideas, or customs thought to be strange or foreign.

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