Contemporary American Christian terrorism can be motivated by a violent desire to implement a
Reconstructionist or
Dominionist ideology.
[95] Dominion Theology insists that Christians are called by God to (re)build society on Christian values to subjugate the earth and establish dominion over all things, as a pre-requisite for the second coming of Christ.
[96] Political violence motivated by dominion theology is a violent extension of the desire to impose a select version of Christianity on other Christians, as well as on non-Christians.
After 1981, members of groups such as the
Army of God began attacking
abortion clinics and
doctors across the United States.
[97][98][99] A number of terrorist attacks were attributed by
Bruce Hoffman to individuals and groups with ties to the
Christian Identity and
Christian Patriot movements, including the Lambs of Christ.
[100] A group called
Concerned Christians was deported from Israel on suspicion of planning to attack holy sites in
Jerusalem at the end of 1999; they believed that their deaths would "lead them to heaven".
[101][102]
Eric Robert Rudolph carried out the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996, as well as subsequent attacks on an abortion clinic and a
lesbian nightclub.
Michael Barkun, a professor at Syracuse University, considers Rudolph to likely fit the definition of a Christian terrorist. James A. Aho, a professor at Idaho State University, argues that religious considerations inspired Rudolph only in part.
[103]
Terrorism scholar Aref M. Al-Khattar has listed
The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA),
Defensive Action, the
Montana Freemen, and some "Christian militia" as groups that "can be placed under the category of far-right-wing terrorism" that "has a religious (Christian) component".
[104]
In 1996 three men—Charles Barbee, Robert Berry and Jay Merelle—were charged with two bank robberies and bombings at the banks, a
Spokane newspaper, and a
Planned Parenthood office in
Washington State. The men were anti-Semitic
Christian Identity theorists who believed that God wanted them to carry out violent attacks and that such attacks will hasten the ascendancy of the
Aryan race.
[105]
In 2011, analyst Daryl Johnson of the
United States Department of Homeland Security said that the
Hutaree Christian
militia movement possessed more weapons than the combined weapons holdings of all Islamic terror defendants charged in the US since the
September 11 attacks.
[106]
In 2015, Robert Doggart, a former right-wing Congressional candidate, was arrested by the FBI while planning a terror attack on New York Muslims. The FBI says Doggart was planning to firebomb and burn down a mosque, school, and other buildings, and to use an
M-4 assault rifle, a handgun,
Molotov cocktails, a pistol, and a
machete to kill anyone who resisted him. He faces five years in prison and was released on $30,000 bail after pleading guilty to a single count of interstate communication of threats. As noted by the criminal complaint, Doggart spoke of his willingness to sacrifice his life to prove his "commitment to our God". He also exhorted his followers to be "cruel" to Muslims, to burn down their mosque, kill them, and even to cut them to shreds with a machete. Doggart's defense attorneys said that their client is an ordained minister in the
Christian National Church, has numerous degrees and certificates, and is a veteran. According to court documents, Doggart is a member of several "private militia groups"
