The Theological Root of White Supremacy

It is clear that theologians and pastors throughout the nation provided the moral and theological support for chattel slavery and structural racism in the US throughout US history. But on what basis? Theologians used Biblical texts and racialized re-interpretation of OT stories such as the “mark of Cain” in Genesis 4:15 and the “Curse of Ham (Canaan)” in Genesis 9:25 as well as the Bible’s seeming acceptance of slavery as a social condition. But while preparing for a discussion about race and the church with members of my congregation, I discovered an even more deeply disturbing theology—specifically British-Israelism (aka Anglo-Israelism).

Anglo-Israelism began to take shape in England in the early-mid 1600’s and peaked in popularity in the mid-late 1800’s. This theology forms the foundation for the doctrine of white supremacy and the theological support for all forms of race-based policies including chattel slavery, ethnocide and genocide that mark US history.

Anglo-Israelism is the claim (based on a re-interpretation of Old Testament texts and pseudoarchaeology) that the peoples of Northern Europe (and England specifically) are physically descended from the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and have been given Israel’s birthright (blessing of God). England and the white race are the “New Israel.” The doctrine was used throughout the 18th and 19th centuries to justify and promote imperial expansionism. Even if people didn’t embrace the belief that the British were physical descendants of the “lost tribes”, many embraced the understanding that the British were the spiritual heirs of the birthright and God’s blessing and they embraced the interpretation of Scripture that affirmed British/Anglo spiritual superiority.

For instance, though Puritan preacher and theologian John Cotton never made direct reference to British-Israelism, his sermon, “God’s Promise to His Plantation” centered on the belief that the Puritans’ possessed a divine right to occupy the land as if America was meant to be a “New Israel” in New Testament times, just as the land of Canaan would become the land of the twelve tribes of Israel in Old Testament times.

The bottom line: Anglo-Israelism provides the theological and sociological basis for white supremacy and white nationalism.

The elements of Anglo-Israelism doctrine can be seen in the ideas of Manifest Destiny –a term first used in 1845 to legitimize Western Expansion and Indian removal – and American Exceptionalism which was a prominent theme of elementary school textbooks such as “McGuffrey Readers” from 1840 – 1890. Many people believe Anglo-Israelism provided the theological foundation for the formation of the 1st Ku Klux Klan in 1865 at the height of Anglo-Israelism’s popularity.

The seeds of Anglo-Israelism have continued to be planted through Herbert Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God (aka Armstrongism) in the 1940s and small fringe groups like Church of God International located in Tyler, TX, and the current Christian Identity Movement.

One thing I’ve learned from dandelions is that in order to get rid of the weed, you must get the entire root.  Police brutality, criminal injustice, race-based policies, voter suppression, and the like are not rooted in individual sin but in an embedded (and therefore hidden) national theology created by twisting Scripture.  Out of this distorted theological root, a distorted self-identity flowers and bears the fruit of all kinds of evil including the subjugation of all those who are excluded from the Anglo-Israeli identity by ethnicity or race.  And it all seems perfectly reasonable. After all, doesn’t Scripture say to the people of Israel, “you will be the head and never the tail; always at the top and never at the bottom?” (Deuteronomy 28:13)