Mark Downey
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Mark Downey (1954–2018) was a white supremacist and Christian Identity leader from Kentucky, who led the racist hate groups Kinsman Redeemer Ministries and the Fellowship of God’s Covenant People.[1][2]
Downey occasionally dabbled in politics, running for the Washington state government in 1996 as a member of the Washington State Populist Party, an organization dominated by white supremacists and tied to the Ku Klux Klan.[1]
Downey expressed extreme homophobic viewpoints and described the LGBT movement as "antichrist queers."[1]
Downey explicitly claimed that the so-called "Chosen People" of the Bible are not present-day Jews, who it suggests are literally the children of Satan, guilty of draining the blood of 100,000 children a year, but instead the "Germanic, Celtic, Scandinavian, and Anglo-Saxon" peoples. In fact, the organization's very name implies that Jesus came to redeem only his "kinsmen," e.g. white people. However, as a Christian group they explicitly reject White nationalism, for fear of being lumped together with atheists and pagans, and instead support "Christian nationalism," which is a combo of white nationalism and dominionism.
Like many neo-Nazis, Downey attempted to hide from his movement's utter lack of real-world success by indulging in pure fiction. His website includes a desperately pathetic inaugural speech given by an imaginary future Christian Identity President of the United States.
Antisemitism[edit]
“”How many of the innocent youngsters you see on milk cartons have fallen prey to the ceremonial knives of rabbis and lie buried in secret graves or were ground up into dog food in some jewish-owned processing plant?
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| —Mark Downey[3][4] |
Conspiracy theories[edit]
Beyond the racist crap, Downey espoused lots of other woo as well. His website features a half-baked screed against evolution, though they also claim that YEC types are just as ignorant, so that's clear. KRM claims that all of the races were created separately, and (flying in the face of all known science) that each race (of which there are three or four, they can't make up their mind) represent not just different species, but entirely different genera.[note 1] He also supported the nonsense theory of abiotic oil.
Downey was also a 9/11 truther, and believed that the levees of New Orleans were purposefully destroyed.[note 2] At the same time, they believe that disasters have befallen the US for turning from God's laws, especially regarding race.
Appeal to Trumpism[edit]
In 2016, Downey addressed a screed to then President Donald Trump where he asked Trump to dump evangelical Christianity and embrace extremist Christian Identity beliefs.[2] The screed states:
The wolves in evangelical clothing will not tell you the following things to do, because for the most part, they are shabbez goi, which means they are the lackies for their Jewish masters...[5]
As Trump continues to cater to evangelicals, Downey's overture apparently went over like a lead balloon.
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Adam Sommerstein, Mark Downey, Christian Identity leader, dies at 63. Southern Poverty Law Center, 28 March 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kevin Eigelbach, With apparent ‘Christian Identity' leaning, 2 NKY churches' websites take on U.S. culture, politics. WCPO, 13 November 2016.
- ↑ Pastor Mark Downey, Fundies Say the Darndest Things.
- ↑ Mark Downey, Encyclopedia of American Loons, 12 July 2013.
- ↑ Travis Gettys, White supremacist 'Christian Identity' pastor begs Trump to crack down on Jews. Raw Story, 22 November 2016.