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WEST AFRICAN VODUN

Vodún is a religion. The anthropologist Timothy R. Landry noted that, although the term Vodún is commonly used, a more accurate name for the religion was vodúnsínsen, meaning “spirit worship”. The spelling Vodún is commonly used to distinguish the West African religion from the Haitian religion more usually spelled Vodou. The religion’s adherents are referred to as vodúnsɛntó or, in a French version, Vodúnisants.

Vodún is “the predominant religious system” of southern Benin, Togo, and parts of southeast Ghana. It is part of the same network of religions that include Yoruba religion as well as African diasporic tradition like Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé.

As a tradition, Vodún is not doctrinal, with no central text. It is amorphous and flexible, adapting to different situations. It is open to ongoing revision, Vodún is eclectic and has absorbed elements from many cultural backgrounds, including from other parts of Africa but also from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. In West Africa, many individuals drew upon African traditional religions, Christianity, and Islam simultaneously to deal with life’s issues.

Beliefs

Vodún teaches the existence of a single divine creator being. Below this entity are an uncountable number of spirits who govern different aspects of nature and society. The term vodún comes from the gbé languages of the Niger-Congo language family. It translates as spirit, god, divinity, or presence. A common belief is that the vodún came originally from the sea. The spirits are thought to dwell in Kútmómɛ (“land of the dead”), an invisible world parallel to that of humanity.

The vodún spirits have their own individual likes and dislikes; each also has particular songs, dances, and prayers directed to them. When kings introduced new deities to the Fon people, it was often believed that these enhanced the king’s power.

Sakpatá is the vodún of earth and smallpox. Dàn is a serpent vodún associated with riches and cool breezes. Xɛbyosò is the spirit of thunder. Gŭ is the spirit of metal and blacksmithing.

Some Beninese acknowledge that certain Yoruba orisa are more powerful than certain vodún.

Also part of the Vodun worldview is the azizǎ, a type of forest spirit.

Prayers to the vodun usually include requests for financial wealth. Practitioners seek to gain well-being by focusing on the health and remembrance of their families.

Practice

Diana Rush noted that Vodun “permeates virtually all aspects of life for its participants”. As a tradition, it prioritises action and getting things done.

Vodun practitioners believe that many natural materials contain supernatural powers, including leaves, meteorites, kaolin, soil from the crossroads, the feathers of African grey parrots, turtle shells, and dried chameleons. Landry stated that a connection to the natural environment was “a dominant theme” in the religion. The forest in particular is important in Vodun cosmology, and learning the power of the forest and of particular leaves that can be found there is a recurring theme among practitioners. Leaves, according to Landry, are “building blocks for the spirits’ power and material presence on earth”. Leaves will often be immersed in water to create vodùnsin (vodun water), which is used to wash both new shrines and new initiates.

Shrines

The spirit temple is often referred to as the vodúnxɔ or the hunxɔ. A wooden carved statue is referred to as a bòcyɔ. A shrine often takes the form of an earthen mound that covers leaves and other objects buried within it. There are often also pots around it in which offerings may be placed. At many shrines, years of dried blood and palm oil have left a patina across the shrine and offering vessels. When praying at a shrine, it is customary for a worshipper to leave a gift of money for the spirits.

Plant material is often used in building shrines, with specific leaves being important in the process. An animal will often be sacrificed to ensure the spirit manifests within the shrine; it is believed that the animal charges the spirit’s acɛ, which gives the shrine life. For shrines to Lɛ̃gbá, for instance, a rooster force-fed red palm oil will often by buried alive at the spot where the shrine is to be built.

Animal sacrifice

Vodun involves animal sacrifices to both ancestors and other spirits, a practice called vɔ in Fon. Typically, a message to the spirits will be spoken into the animal’s ear and its throat will then be cut. The shrine itself will be covered in the victim’s blood. This is done to feed the spirit by nourishing its acɛ. Practitioners believe that this act maintains the relationship between humans and the spirits. The meat will be consumed by the attendees.

Among followers in the United States, where butchery skills are far rarer, it is less common for practitioners to eat the meat. Also present in the U.S. are practitioners who have rejected the role of animal sacrifice in Vodun, deeming it barbaric.

Initiation

Initiation can last from a few months to a few years. Initiation bestows a person with the power of a vodún. Practitioners believe that some spirits embody powers that are too intense for non-initiates. Being initiated is described as “to find the spirit’s depths”. Animal sacrifice is a typical feature of initiation. Initiation is expensive; especially high sums are generally charged for foreigners seeking initiation or training.

Trainees will often be expected to learn many different types of leaves and respective qualities.

Divination

In Vodun, a diviner is called a bokónó. A successful diviner is expected to provide solutions to their client’s problem, for instance selling them charms, spiritual baths, or ceremonies to alleviate their issue. The fee charged will often vary depending on the client, with the diviner charging a reduced rate for family members and a more expensive rate to either tourists or to middle and upper-class Beninese. Diviners will often recommend that their client seeks initiation.

Fá is a divinatory system originally adopted from the Yoruba. Fá diviners typically believe that the priests of other spirits do not have the right to read the sacred signs of Fá. A consultation with an initiate is termed a fákínan.

History

Landry noted that prior to European colonialism, Vodún was not identified as “a monolithic religion” but was “a social system made of countless spirit and ancestor cults that existed without religious boundaries.” From the early 16th century, waves of Adja and related peoples migrated eastward, establishing close ties with each other and forming the basis for the emergent Fon people. The Fon made contact with Portuguese sailors in the 16th century and subsequently also the French, British, Dutch, and Danish in the 17th and 18th centuries.

From circa 1727 to 1823, Dahomey was a vassal state of Oyo, the Yoruba-led kingdom to the east, with this period seeing considerable religious exchange between the two. Fon peoples adopted the Fá, Oró, and Egungun cults from the Yoruba. Fá was for instance present among the Fon by the reign of Dahomey’s fifth ruler, Tegbesú (r.1732-74) and by the reign of Gezd (r.1818-58) had become well established in the Dahomean royal palace.

Colonialism and post-colonial periods

In 1890, France invaded Dahomey and dethroned its king, Béhanzin. In 1894, it became a French protectorate under a puppet king, Agoli-agbo, but in 1900 the French ousted him and abolished the Kingdom of Dahomey.

In 1960, Dahomey became an independent state. In 1972, Mathieu Kérékou seized power of Dahomey in a military coup. He subsequently transformed the country into a Marxist-Leninist state, the People's Republic of Benin. Kérékou believed that Vodún wasted time, money, and resources that were better spent on economic development. In 1973 he banned Vodún ceremonies during the rainy season, with further measures to suppress the religion following throughout the 1970s. Under Kérékou’s rule, Vodun priests had to perform new initiations in secret, and the duration of the initiatory process was often shortened from a period of years to one of months, weeks, or days.

In 1989, Benin transitioned to democratic governance. After becoming prime minister in 1991, Nicéphore Soglo lifted many anti-Vodún laws. The Beninese government planned “Ouidah ‘92: The First International Festival of Vodun Arts and Cultures,” which took place in 1993. It also established 10 January as “National Vodún Day.” From the 1990s, the Beninese government increasingly made a concerted effort to encourage Vodún-themed tourism, hoping that many foreigners would come seeking initiation.

By the late 1960s, some American black nationalists were travelling to West Africa to gain initiation into Vodún or Yoruba religion. By the late 1980s, some white middle-class Americans began arriving for the same reason. Some initiates of Haitian Vodou or Santería still go to West Africa for initiation as they believe that it is there that the “real secrets” or “true spiritual power” can be found. Many of the spiritual tourists who arrived in West Africa had little or no Fon or French, nor an understanding of the region’s cultural and social norms.

Reception

In the view of some foreign observers, Vodún was Satanism and demon worship. Some Beninese regard Christianity as “less worrisome and less expensive”.

Landry, Timothy R. (2019). Vodún: Secrecy and the Search for Divine Power. ISBN 978-0812250749. Rush, Diana (2017) [2013]. Vodun in Coastal Bénin: Unfinished, Open-Ended, Global. Critical Investigations of the African Diaspora. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 978-0826519085.

NRM

Definition

In 1989, the sociologist of religion Eileen Barker defined the term "new religious movements" as "a disparate collection of organisations, most of which have emerged in their present form since the 1950s, and most of which offer some kind of answer to questions of a fundamental religious, spiritual or philosophical nature."

As noted by scholars of religion Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, "new religions are just young religions". In this they argued that NRMs are "not inherently different" from mainstream and established religious movements, with the differences between the two having been greatly exaggerated by the media and popular perceptions.

"Cults", "sects", and "alternative religions"

Since at least the early 2000s, most sociologists of religion have used the term "new religious movement" to avoid the pejorative undertones of terms like "cult" and "sect". These are words that have been used in different ways by different groups. For instance, from the nineteenth century onward a number of sociologists used the terms "cult" and "sect" in very specific ways. The sociologist Ernst Troeltsch for instance differentiated "churches" from "sect" by claiming that the latter term should apply to groups which stretched across social strata while "sects" were typically defined by containing converts who came from socially disadvantaged sectors of society.

As commonly used, for instance in sensationalist tabloid articles, the term "cult" has pejorative associations. According to the sociologist of religion David V. Barrett, the term "cult" was widely understood as meaning "one of those fake religions that brainwashes people into joining, takes all their money, then commits all sorts of abuse on them, and then they all commit suicide." Tabloid articles have repeatedly combined the word "cult" with other terms to make their coverage more sensationalistic, thus referring to various new religions as a "sex cult", "evil cult", or "suicide cult". Alternately, the term "cult" is also used in reference to devotion or dedication to a particular person or place. For instance, within the Roman Catholic Church devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus is usually termed the "Cult of Mary". It is also used in non-religious contexts to refer to fandoms devoted to television shows like The Prisoner, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Another term that has been employed for many NRMs is "alternative religion", something used to convey the difference between these groups and established or mainstream religious movements while at the same time evading the problem posed by groups that are not particularly new.

Barker stated that the majority of NRMs originated in either North America (particularly California) or Asia (particularly India), but that some are from Britain and France.

Beliefs and practices

As noted by Barker, NRMs cannot all be "lumped together" and differ from one another on many issues. Virtually no generalisation can be made about NRMs that will apply to every single group, with Barrett noting that "generalizatins tend not to be very helpful" when studying NRMs. For instance, a small number of new religions encourage illegal drug use; Rastafarians smoke ganja as a sacrament while some modern Pagans take entheogens. Conversely, ISKCON and the Brahma Kumaris strictly forbid the use of any drugs, with the Church of Scientology establishing Narconon to combat the illegal drug trade.

NRMs frequently claim justification for their beliefs and practices by insisting that these are not new, but rather had been forgotten truths that are only now being revived. New religions often utilise a range of older elements.

New religions often claim that they exist at a crucial place in time and space.

Conversion

The multi-coloured camouflage jacket (right) often worn as a Jesus Army "uniform" on the street

Those who convert to a NRM typically believe that in doing so they are gaining some benefit in their life. This can come in many forms, from an increasing sense of freedom, to a release from drug dependency, and a feeling of self-respect and direction. Many of those who have left NRMs still report have gained much from their experience.

There are various reasons as to why an individual would join and then remain part of an NRM. These consist of both push and pull factors.

A popular explanation for why people join new religious movements is that they have been "brainwashed" or subject to "mind control" by the NRM itself. This explanation provides a rationale for 'deprogramming', a process in which members of NRMs are illegally kidnapped by individuals who then attempt to convinced them to reject their beliefs. Professional deprogrammers therefore have a financial interest in promoting the 'brainwashing' explanation. Academic research however has demonstrated that these brainwashing techniques "simply do not exist". Other popular conceptions which are not supported by evidence hold that those who convert to new religions are either mentally ill or become so through their involvement with the groups.

An NRM may place considerable pressure on an individual to convert. This may entail "love bombing", in which an individual is given considerable attention and affection, or it may play upon the individual's sense of guilt; sometimes both tactics are adopted. Sometimes NRMs employ deception as part of their attempt to entice people to join them, typically through withholding information from those they seek to recruit, such as the identity of the group that they represent or the obligations and restrictions that will be expected of any convert. Some recruiters go beyond concealing the truth to actively lie about their group and its activities. Some new religions legitimise this deception by referring to "transcendental trickery" or "heavenly deception".

Most of those individuals who are exposed to an NRM's proselytizing efforts reject the beliefs and do not involve themselves in the NRM. For example, of the thousand individuals who attended a Unification Church event in London in 1979, around 90% had no further contact with the group. Approximately 8% joined as full-time members for at least a week, and less than 4% were still full-time members two years later.

Groups that promote celibacy require a strong recruitment drive in order to survive; the Shakers for example established orphanages to bring new individuals into their community.

Membership

A small number of new religions use harsh methods of indoctrination, or conditioning, to make its members more obedient to the demands of its leadership. This can include providing members with a poor diet, subjecting them to sleep deprivation, or encouraging members to spy upon each other.

The factors of friendship and socialisation within a group help new religions to retain people in the movements.

A number of groups, particularly those which are forms of occultism, have a prescribed system of courses and grades through which members can progress.

Leaving

Many members of NRMs leave these groups of their own free will. Some of those who do so retain friends within the movement. Some of those who leave a religious community are unhappy with the time that they spent as part of it.

Leaving an NRM can pose a number of difficulties for an individual. For instance, it may result in them having to abandon a daily framework that they had previously adhered to. It can also generate mixed emotions as ex-members lose the feelings of absolute certainty that they had held while in the group.

Leadership

Many NRMs are led by a charismatic leader. Some NRMS have instead been formed by groups of individuals, particularly those who have split from a pre-existing religious group.

The death of an NRM's founder represents a significant moment in any religion's history. Over the months and years following their death, the movement can die out, fragment into multiple groups, consolidate its position, or change its nature to become something quite different to that which its founder intended. In some cases a group moves closer to the religious mainstream after the death of its founder. A number of founders of new religions established clear plans for succession in order to prevent confusion after their death. For instance, Mary Baker Eddy, the American founder of Christian Science, spent fifteen years working on her book The Manual of the Mother Church, which laid out how the group should be run by her successors.

As these individuals grow older, many have children who are then brought up within the NRM.

Demographics

NRMs typically consist largely of first-generation believers, and thus often have a younger average membership than mainstream religious congregations.

In the Third World, NRMs most often appeal to the poor and oppressed sectors of society. Within Western countries, they are more likely to appeal to members of the middle and upper-middle classes, with Barrett stating that new religions in the UK and US largely attract "white, middle-class late teens and twenties". There are however exceptions, such as the Rastafari movement which has primarily attracted disadvantaged black youth in Western countries.

Examples

"The 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of a number of highly visible new religious movements... [These] seemed so outlandish that many people saw them as evil cults, fraudulent organizations or scams that recruited unaware people by means of mind-control techniques. Real or serious religions, it was felt, should appear in recognizable institutionalized forms, be suitably ancient, and – above all – advocate relatively familiar theological notions and modes of conduct. Most new religions failed to comply with such standards."

— Religious studies scholars Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein

Violence and criminality

The mass suicide and killing of 913 members of the Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978 brought the idea of "killer cults" to public attention. A number of subsequent events contributed to this image of new religions. In 1993, 80 members of the Branch Davidians were killed in a fire at their Texas compound when the federal authorities stormed their compound. In 1994, a number of members of the Order of the Solar Temple committed suicide in Canada and Switzerland. In 1995 members of the Japanese new religion Aum Shinrikyo murdered a number of people, including through a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. In 1997, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate group killed themselves in the belief that their spirits would leave the Earth and join a passing comet. There have also been cases where members of NRMs have been killed because they engaged in dangerous actions while believing themselves to be invincible; in Uganda several hundred members of the Holy Spirit Movement were killed as they approached gunfire because its leader, Alice Lakwena, told them that they would be protected from bullets by the oil of the shea tree. These events are extremely rare and very unusual. In those cases where large number of casualties resulted, the new religion in question was led by a charismatic leader.

There are also instances in which violence has been directed at new religions. In India, for example, there have been mob killings of members of the Ananda Marga group. Such violence can also be administered by the state. In Philadelphia in 1988, police bombed a house that killed members of the MOVE group. In Iran, the Ba'hai have faced persecution, while the Ahmadiyya have faced similar violence in Pakistan.

The practitioners of some new religions have engaged in illegal and criminal behaviour. For instance, in 1979 eleven leading Scientologists in the United States were convicted for the theft of government documents. Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church, served a sentence in the US for tax offences.

Opposition to new religions

Family members are often distressed when a relative of theirs joins a new religion. Although children break away from their parents for all manner of reasons, in cases where NRMS are involved it is often the latter that are blamed for the break.

A number of ex-members of various new religions have made false allegations about their experiences in such groups. For instance, in the late 1980s a man in Dublin, Ireland was given a three year suspended sentence for falsely claiming that he had been drugged, kidnapped, and held captive by members of ISKCON.

Anti-cult and counter-cult movements

The anti-cult movement actively seeks to discourage people from joining new religions (which it refers to as "cults"). It also encourages them to leave them, and at times seeking to restrict the freedom of movements. The first organised opposition to new religions in the United States appeared in 1972 with the formation of FREECOG (Parents Committee to Free Our Sons and Daughters from the Children of God). In 1973 FREECOG renamed itself as the Volunteer Parents of America, and then the Citizens Freedom Foundation (CFF), before becoming the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) in 1984. In 1979, another anti-cult group, the American Family Foundation (AFF) was founded; it began organising annual conferences, launching an information phone line, and publishing the Cult Observer and the Cultic Studies Journal. The CAN and AFF were separate organisations although fashioned a number of joint boards and programmes. In 1996 the CAN was sued for its involvement in the deprogramming of a member of the American Pentecostal Church. This bankrupted the organisation, and its name was purchased by a group which included a number of Scientologists. In the UK, the politician Paul Rose established an anti-cult group called FAIR (Family Action Information and Resource) in 1976. In 1987, Ian Harworth founded another such group, the Cult Information Centre.

Broadly separate but at times intersecting with the anti-cult movement is the counter-cult movement, which is closely associated with evangelical Christianity. The UK-based Reachout Trust was initially established to combat the Jehovah's Witnesses and what it regarded as "counterfeit Christian groups", but it came to wider attention in the late 1980s and 1990s for its role in promoting claims about Satanic ritual abuse. In the US, a Christian Research Institute was founded in 1960 by Walter Martin to combat opposition to evangelical Christianity and has come to focus on criticisms of NRMs. In Australia, the Concerned Christians Growth Ministries was founded by Adrian van Leen in 1979, which issued a magazine titled Take a Closer Look; in its first issue, it claimed that it wanted to "make you aware of the constant and growing threat of pseudo-Christian and non-Christian cults".

Some anti-cultist groups emphasise the idea that "cults" always use deceit and trickery to recruit members. The anti-cult movement adopted the term "brainwashing", which had been developed by the journalist Edward Hunter and then used by Robert J. Lifton to apply to the methods employed by Chinese to convert captured U.S. soldiers to their cause in the Korean War. Lifton himself had doubts about the applicability of his 'brainwashing' hypothesis to the techniques used by NRMs to convert recruits.

Scholars of religion have often critiqued anti-cult groups of un-critically believing anecdotal stories provided by the ex-members of new religions, of encouraging ex-members to think that they are the victims of manipulation and abuse, and of irresponsibly scare-mongering about NRMs.

Scholarship and research

Barker noted that there five sources of information on NRMs: the information provided by such groups themselves, that provided by ex-members as well as the friends and relatives of members, organisations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena. In Barker's view, academic research into NRMs had practical applications in dealing with the problems that people experience with regard to NRMs. It can, for example, provide accurate information about a particular religious movement that can help guide an individual's reactions to the group; "an awareness of the complexity of a situation might help people to avoid precipitous actions that would later have been regretted."

A sizeable body of scholarly literature on new religions has been published, most of it produced by social scientists. The study of new religions was initially confined largely to a narrow array of largely sociological questions. This came to change in later scholarship, which began to apply theories and methods initially developed for examining more mainstream religions to the study of new ones.

In 1988, the charity INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) was established by Barker, who was then a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics. The organisation was supported by the UK Home Office and the British established churches and was designed to conduct research and disseminate accurate information about new religions. Barker established INFORM due to her "conviction that a great deal of unnecessary suffering has resulted from ignorance of the nature and characteristics of the current wave of [NRMs] in the West." Also in 1988, the Italian scholar Massimo Introvigne established CESNUR (Centre for Studies on New Religions) in Turin; it brought together academics studying NRMs in both Europe and North America. In the United States, CESNUR gained representation through the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California, which was directed by J. Gordon Melton. Anti-cult groups have sometimes criticised scholarly groups such as these, claiming that they uncritically believe what NRMs tell them, that they are pro-NRM, or that they ignore the issues raised by ex-members.

Sources

• Barker, Eileen (1989). New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office. ISBN 978-0113409273.
• Barrett, David V. (2001). The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 978-0304355921.
• Hammer, Olav; Rothstein, Mikael (2012). "Introduction to New Religious Movements". The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–9. ISBN 978-0521145657.

UFO religions

Generally, UFO religions were not taken seriously by scholars of religion until after the Heaven's Gate suicides.

Sentes, Bryan; Palmer, Susan (2000). "Presumed Immanent: The Raëlians, UFO Religions, and the Postmodern Condition". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 4 (1): 86–105. doi:10.1525/nr.2000.4.1.86.

Saliba, John A. (2006). "The Study of UFO Religions". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 10 (2): 103–123. doi:10.1525/nr.2006.10.2.103.

Reece, Gregory L. (2007). UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture. New York: I. B. Tauris.

Porter, Jennifer E. "Spiritualists, Aliens and UFOs: Extraterrestrials as Spirit Guides". Journal of Contemorary Religion: 337–353.

Neoshamanism

Siv Ellen Kraft, Trude Fonneland, and James R. Lewis noted that neoshamans "turn to anthropologists and historians of religion in order to revive and reconstruct the religions of their ancient past, both with respect to descriptions of particular religions, and to what - more generally - shamanism is, as an ism."

Blain, Jenny (2002). Nine Worlds of Seidr-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-25651-3.

Kraft, Siv Ellen; Fonneland, Trude; Lewis, James R. (2015). "Introduction: Nordic Neoshamanisms". In Siv Ellen Kraft, Trude Fonneland, and James R. Lewis (eds.) (ed.). Nordic Neoshamanisms. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1–9. ISBN 978-1-137-46139-1. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

Kürti, László (2001). "Psychic Phenomena, Neoshamanism, and the Cultic Milieu in Hungary". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 4 (2): 322–350. doi:10.1525/nr.2001.4.2.322. JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2001.4.2.322.

Kürti, Laszlo (2015). "Neoshamanism, National Identity and the Holy Crown of Hungary". Journal of Religion in Europe. 8 (2): 235–260. doi:10.1163/18748929-00802001.

Wallis, Robert J. (1999). "Altered States, Conflicting Cultures: Shamans, Neo-shamans and Academics". Anthropology of Consciousness. 10 (2): 41–49. doi:10.1525/ac.1999.10.2-3.41.

Wallis, Robert J. (2000). "Queer Shamans: Autoarchaeology and Neo-shamanism". World Archaeology. 32 (2): 252–262. doi:10.1080/00438240050131225. S2CID 17349988.

Yelinskaya, Yanina A. (2016). "The Problem Field of Neoshamanism Culture Research". Učenye Zapiski Komsomolʹskogo-na-Amure Gosudarstvennogo Tehničeskogo Universiteta. 2 (2): 61–66. doi:10.17084/2016.III-2(27).13.

Aleknaitė, Eglė (2017). "Baltic Paganism in Lithuanian Neoshamanic Communities: Neoshamanic Interpretations of a Local Indo-European Religious Tradition". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 20 (3): 13–35. doi:10.1525/nr.2017.20.3.13.

Rac

The term was applied to European colonialism as well as forms of racial segregation such as that in South Africa and the United States. During the 1960s, the United Nations issued the a convention condemning racial discrimination and in the latter half of the 20th century there were significant measures taken to eliminate racial segregation and colonial occupation.

From the 1960s onward, various political activists and academics in North America and Western Europe began using the term "racism" in an increasingly diverse series of ways. These were often influenced by ideas devised in new academic fields such as critical race theory and cultural studies. In the late 1960s the idea of "institutional racism" was developed to describe systemic discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnicity in organisations. The term "cultural racism" was created in the early 1980s to describe prejudices and discrimination based on cultural difference, and from there the term "racism" was extended to apply to Islamophobia, or prejudices and discrimination directed at Muslims. Critics suggested that the increasingly diverse uses of the word "racism" damaged its analytic utility.

Rodnover

The majority of practitioners of Slavic-oriented Paganism call their religion "Native Faith". This term appears in slightly different forms depending on the Slavic language in question: in Ukrainian, it is Ridnovirstvo, in Russian Rodnoverie, in Polish Rodzimowierstwo, and in Czech Rodnovĕří. The term has different histories and associations in each of these languages. The suffix -ism is usually avoided in favour of others that describe the religion as if it were a practice or craft, such as the Ukrainian and Russian -stvo. This is because, in the Slavic languages, -ism is a term usually used in reference to political ideologies and carries negative associations with Nazism and Stalinism for many living in Central and Eastern Europe. Sometimes the term Rodnoverie has also been interpreted as meaning "Faith of Rod", a reference to an eponymous deity found in ancient Russian and Ukrainian sources.

The earliest known usage of this term was by the Ukrainian émigré Lev Sylenko, who in 1964 established a mimeographed publication in Canada that was titled Ridna Vira ("Native Faith"). As an endonym, the term Ridnover was in use among Ukrainian Pagans by at least 1995. From Ukraine, the term began to spread throughout other linguistically Slavic countries. In 1996, it was adopted by a Polish group, Zrzeszenie Rodzimej Wiary ("The Association of Native Faith") and in 1997 by the Russian group Soyuz Slavyanskikh Obschin Slavyanskoi Rodnoi Very ("The Union of Slavic Communities of Slavic Native Faiths"). By the early 2000s, the term was widespread across Slavic language countries. The term also came to be applied to the Pagan religions of non-Slavic groups, with Lithuanian Romuva being referred to as Rodzimowierstwo litewskie ("Lithuanian Native Faith") and modern Celtic Paganism being referred to as Rodzimowierstwo celtyckie ("Celtic Native Faith"). This spread across the Slavic world reflected the degree of solidarity in establishing a broader brand despite the disagreements and power struggles that permeated the movement.

Another term employed by some practitioners has been "Practice of the Slavs", which appears informs like the Polish language Słowiaństwo and the Slovakian language Slovianstvo. The Eastern Slavic term Yazychnik is largely equivalent to the Latin-derived Pagan and—although often avoided by Pagans speaking Eastern Slavic languages for its negative connotations—has been adopted by some Pagans speaking Western Slavic languages, where it has no local connotations. Thus, Czech Pagan groups have used Jazyčnictví and Slovak Pagan groups have used Jazyčníctvo. Some Slovenian practitioners use the Slovenian language term ajd, which is a lone-word of the Germanic-language heathen. When using English language terms to describe their religion, some Rodnovers favour "Heathen", in part due to a perceived affinity with the modern Germanic Pagans who also commonly use that term.

By the mid-1930s, the term "Neopagan" had been applied to the Polish Zadruga group. It was widely adopted among Slavic Pagans in the 1990s—when it appeared in such forms as the Russian Neoyazychestvo and the Polish neopogaństwo—but had been eclipsed by "Native Faith" in the 2000s. However, the prefix -neo within "Neopaganism" is a divisive issue among Rodnovers. Some practitioners dislike it because they seek to minimize the differences between their own religion and the pre-Christian belief systems that they seek to emulate. Others embrace the term as a means of emphasising what they regard as the reformed nature of the religion; the Polish Maciej Czarnowski for instance encouraged the term because it distinguished his practices from those of the pre-Christian societies, which he regarded as being hindered by superstition and unnecessary practices like animal sacrifice. Many Rodnovers refer to their belief system as an "ethnic religion", and Rodnover groups were involved in establishing the World Congress of Ethnic Religions. Usage of this term suggests that the religion is restricted to a particular ethnic group. Some practitioners regard "ethnic religion" as a term synonymous with "Native Faith", but others regard there as being a distinction between the two terms.

The notion that modern Rodnoverie are tied to the pre-Christian belief systems of linguistically Slavic peoples is a very strong one among practitioners.

The ethnic dimension emphasised by Rodnovers easily becomes a form of nationalism.

As Dulov noted of Rodnovers in Bulgaria "their interpretations of history are rather fantastic".

In Slovenia, a group called Staroverska Župa Svetovid (Old Believer Parish Svetovid) was established circa 2005 through a union of an older group, Ajda, with the followers of military historian Matjaž Vratislav Anžur. As of 2013, it had between ten and fifteen members. The group organised an All-Slavic Council for August 2009, which was held at Struga Castle.

As of 2013, Pagan groups in Bulgaria were described as having few members and little influence.

During the 1990s and 2000s, a number of groups were established in Bulgaria, namely the Dulo Alliance, Warriors of Tangra, and the Bulgarian Horde 1938. These groups had strong political motivations, being extremely nationalistic, anti-Western, and anti-Semitic. Rodnover figures and groups played a prominent role in the 2002 establishment of Ongal, a Bulgarian far-right umbrella organisation.

Črnič, Aleš (2013). "Neopaganism in Slovenia". In Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson (eds.) (ed.). Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. Durham: Acumen. pp. 182–194. ISBN 978-1-844656622. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Dulov, Vladimir (2013). "Bulgarian Society and Diversity of Pagan and Neopagan Themes". In Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson (eds.) (ed.). Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. Durham: Acumen. pp. 195–212. ISBN 978-1-844656622. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Simpson, Scott; Filip, Mariusz (2013). "Selected Words for Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe". In Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson (eds.) (ed.). Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. Durham: Acumen. pp. 27–43. ISBN 978-1-844656622. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Nkrumah and Nyerere

At the OAU's founding conference, Nkrumah warned against structuring the organisation in a manner akin to the United Nations, noting that the members of the latter often ignored its decisions. At the conference, Nkrumah called for a swift unification of Africa, whereas Nyerere argued for a more gradual, step-by-step approach. Nkrumah expressed the view that a gradual approach would give the imperialists additional time to undermine the Pan-Africanist cause.

Nkrumah was an African nationalist, and an African socialist. Nkrumah stated that "there was no such thing as 'African Socialism'", and that the only real form of socialism was the scientific socialism understood by Marxists. Nkrumah described himself as a "Marxist socialist". He was also a Pan-Africanist. He called for the OAU to establish an African High Command and in his final years promoted the idea of an All-African People's Revolutionary Army. Nkrumah believed in the need for Ghana to become a one-party state.

Nkrumah characterised himself as "a non-denominational Christian" and that he felt there to be no contradiction between his adherence to Christianity and Marxism. He took Roman Catholic mass although in later life acknowledged that he felt stifled by Roman Catholicism's "strict discipline".

Nkrumah signed Ghana to the British Commonwealth, viewing this as a means of combating the apartheid system in South Africa. He spearheaded the ejection of South Africa from the Commonwealth.

Nkrumah became known as Osagyefo, an Akan language term meaning "warrior". However, his regime was also criticised for being corrupt and dictatorial. The ideological framework established by Nkrumah is known as Nkrumaism or Nkrumhism.

While in exile, Nkrumah was visited by African-American leaders like Stokely Carmichael. In October 1967, Nkrumah was awarded the first Black Power Award. While in exile, he wrote extensively, revising old works and producing new ones. In 1968, he published a book co-produced with Carmichael, The Specter of Black Power. In 1966 he published The Challenge of the Congo, a work discussing the coup attempt in the Congo which resulted in the overthrow and death of Patrice Lumumba.

In doing so, Nyerere—according to A. B. Assensoh—was "one of the few African leaders to have voluntarily, gracefully, and honourably bowed out" of governance. Nyerere did not leave the political arena altogether. He campaigned in support of the CCM candidates in Tanzania's 1995 presidential election. He also took part in the fifth Pan-African Congress, held in the Ugandan city of Kampala.

Nyerere signed his country to the British Commonwealth.

Nyerere was an African nationalist, and an African socialist. He was also a Pan-Africanist. Nyerere was remembered "in African nationalist history as an uncompromising socialist". He published widely over the course of his life. He gained recognition for the successful merger between Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Old Norse religion

Another term used in some scholarly sources is "Norse paganism".

The pagans of Scandinavia did not leave any conventional written records discussing their religion. They did have an alphabet, and some of the inscriptions appearing on material culture do mention the names of deities. These inscriptions are brief and ambiguous. A typical formation is "May Thor hallow this memorial", inscribed on the Virring Stone from Denmark.

Different types of material artefacts share a characteristic that neatly illustrates the problems we face if we try to reconstruct the myths of the pagan North: the closer in time that a source is to the pagan period, to the pagans themselves, and to the religions with which the myths were connected—the more authentic it is, in other words—the more difficult it is to understand. The physical remains of the Viking Age (and earlier periods) appear to put us in touch with their pagan creators, but they very rarely come with the sort of contextual information that enables us to make sense of them.

— Medievalist Christopher Abram

The medievalist Christopher Abram noted that archaeology was of "irreplaceable value for the study of pagan religion" among the Norse. Archaeological evidence is particularly useful for learning about Old Norse religion as it existed prior to the arrival of literacy, and for learning about cultic sites and burials. Unlike textual sources, it offers unmediated access to pre-Christian material, without having gone through the interpretations of Christian writers. However, archaeological material can also be difficult to interpret; this is particularly the case when trying to understand the relationship between material artefacts and mythological systems. Some pictorial evidence, most notably that of the picture stones, intersect with the mythologies recorded in later texts. These picture stones, produced in mainland Scandinavia during the Viking Age, are the earliest known visual depictions of Norse mythological scenes. It is nevertheless unclear what function these picture-stones had or what they meant to the communities who produced them.

The Lindby image from Skåne in Sweden is often interpreted as Oðinn because it has an eye missing. As noted by Abram, however, the Lindby image, like other figurines, is difficult to interpret with certainty; "it is impossible entirely to discount the mundane but unlikely possibility that the Lindby figurine represents to more than a man in a helmet, winking".

Textual sources do not connect Thor with the afterlife. A bronze figurine found at Eyrarland, Iceland in 1817 has been interpreted as a depiction of Thor because it is believed to be holding a hammer. The wide distribution of Mjöllnir pendants suggests that Thor was a particularly important and popular deity across Scandinavia in the Viking Age. They are most commonly found in graves from modern Denmark, south-eastern Sweden, and southern Norway, but are found across the Viking world. Mjöllnir has typically been interpreted as a protective symbol, although may also have had associations with fertility.

Norse tradition had several fully developed ideas about death and the afterlife. In the Viking Age in particular, Norse people were often buried with a range of grave goods. It is possible, although not certain, that these artefacts were intended to accompany the dead on a journey to the afterlife.

The fullest records of Norse mythology survive in textual records recorded by Christians during the post-pagan period. Prior to this, these narratives would have circulated in oral tradition, passed down verbally rather than in written form. Old Norse poetry is generally divided into the skaldic and the eddic, although this is an artificial division and the two categories overlap. The term "skaldic" is used to describe poetry designed for public performance at high-status gatherings like the royal court. It takes its name from the Old Norse word skáld, which simply meant "poet". Skaldic poetry was popular around the North Sea region in the late Viking Age, although continued to be produced into the Scandinavian Middle Ages, and witnessed a revival of popularity in thirteenth-century Iceland, at which point a number of these poems were written down. References to Norse mythological elements appear in some skaldic poems, often through the form of kennings, although these typically only provide a single image from a myth, relying on the assumption that their audience would already be familiar with the mythological narrative. Eddic poetry differs from skaldic poetry in providing fuller descriptions of myths. The term "Eddic poetry" was developed in the seventeenth century in reference to two texts, the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda. These texts were produced in the thirteenth century, during the high middle ages, and it is unclear how accurately they relate the mythological beliefs present in the pre-Christian period. As part of an oral tradition, these poems and the myths that they contained would not have been static but would have evolved and developed over the centuries.

Aside from the poetry is the Icelandic sagas, tales that often set during the island's pre-Christian past. Although written from 12th century onward, The Saga of Icelanders for example recounts events set between the mid-ninth to mid-eleventh centuries, during which Iceland underwent Christianisation. The Saga of Icelanders does not discuss any pre-Christian mythology, but does describe certain religious practices and attitudes. However, there are several centuries dividing the composition of the Saga and the pre-Christian period in which it is set, and the authors' main motivation is to present an image of the past that suits their own designs, namely in glorifying their ancestors. In his Ynglinga Saga, the Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson presented the pre-Christian deity Oðinn as a human being who, because he had supernatural abilities, was falsely worshipped as a god by his descendants. Snorri'sEdda provides the fullest account of the myths as they were known to medieval Icelanders. He wrote the text around 1225, with his intention being to assist readers in understanding the mythological references in skaldic poetry and to be able to compose their own skaldic poems. Although cautious to insist that the myths that he was recounting were untrue, Snorri did not dismiss the pre-Christian gods as demons or condemn his ancestors for worshiping them, as other Christian authors would do. Abram cautioned that Snorri's work "provides us with a fascinating long afterlife of myths beyond the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity, but we can only use it as a guide to what pagans actually believed or thought, or what stories they told, if we exercise considerably caution".

Sources written by foreigners to Scandinavia, who wrote in languages other than Old Norse, also produced sources discussing pagan religion and mythology in Northern Europe. The earliest of these sources is Germania, an ethnographic account of Germanic tribes written by the Roman historian Tacitus around 100 CE. This is one of the only contemporary accounts discussing Scandinavia in the Iron Age, at a point when the belief systems were developing into Old Norse religion. In the Middle Ages, a number of Christian commentators described the Norse belief system in languages other than Old Norse. As Christians, they were largely hostile to the pre-Christian beliefs, not fully understanding them, and often condemning them explicitly. One of the best known examples of these accounts was Adam of Bremen's History of the Archbishops of Hampburg-Bremen, written between 1066 and 1072. Here, Adam included an account of a pagan temple at Uppsala in Sweden, although had himself never been to the city and was relying on the accounts of others. A century later, references to pagan myths and practices were included in History of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus, an educated Danish Christian.

Place-names are an additional source of evidence for learning about Norse paganism. Settlements bearing the name of a deity suggest that that god or goddess was important for the people living in that area. Although it can be difficult to determine when a place-name first came into use, archaeological investigation can determine when a settlement first began. The pattern of place-names suggests that there was much regional variation, with some gods appearing more popular in certain areas than others. Some place-names contain elements indicating that they were sites of religious activity. For instance, place name elements like -vé, -horg, and -hof can all be translated as 'temple' or 'sanctuary'. In these instances, it is not easy to determine whether the place-name refers to a building or a non-built area of the landscape accorded religious uses.

In Norse paganism, myths may have been influenced by religious practices.

Old Norse religion grew out of a "common religious-cultural heritage" spread across the linguistically Germanic societies of northwestern Europe. Archaeological evidence is particularly important for understanding the religious belief systems and practices of these early periods. According to Tacitus, the belief systems of the Iron Age Germanic tribes were polytheistic. Tacitus interpreted these belief systems through a process of interpretatio romana, giving the Germanic deities the names of gods and goddesses whom his Roman readership would have been familiar with, such as Mercury, Hercules, Mars, and Isis. He described a group of sub-tribes known as the Suebi, stating that they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus who was associated with the Earth. The name "Nerthus" is phonetically similar to a god known as Njörðr who is recorded in later Old Norse sources. One possibility is that at some point between when Tacitus wrote and the Viking Age, the female Nerthus was transformed into the male Njörðr in Scandinavian mythology. An alternate possibility is that Nerthus and Njörðr were two separate deities in the Iron Age, but that knowledge of Nerthus had died out by the Viking Age.

Tacitus described the existence of a distinct priestly caste among the Germanic tribes, who were believed to have direct access to the deities. He portrayed sacrifice as a central facet of worship in this period, sometimes including human sacrifice. Tacitus mentioned a temple that was part of Nerthus' cult, but elsewhere stated that the Germanic tribes did not "confine gods within walls" or produce anthropomorphic depictions of them, instead selecting woods and groves as their sacred places. He also placed an emphasis on the practice of augury and fortune telling among these tribes. There are no textual sources describing belief systems or religious practices among the Germanic tribes in the centuries following Tacitus.

RB

People in Roman Britain typically believed in a wide range of gods and goddesses, and worshipped a range of them, likely selecting some local and tribal deities as well as some of the major divinities venerated across the Empire. The archaeologist Martin Henig suggested that to "sense something of the spiritual environment of Christianity at this time", it would be useful to imagine India, where Hinduism, "a major polytheistic system", remains dominant, and "where churches containing images of Christ and the Virgin are in a tiny minority against the many temples of gods and goddesses".

The archaeological evidence for Christianity in Roman Britain is not extensive.

In Roman Britain, the church primarily served as the place where the Eucharist was celebrated. It also had overlapping functions, for instance as a meeting place, a place of group worship, and a place for solitary prayer. Unlike later medieval Britain, Roman Britain lacked a dense network of parish churches. Instead, a range of different types of church structure were present across the region. One term for a church that was likely used in Roman Britain was altare, a term which appears in an inscription from the Christian Water Newton hoard and which was not commonly used for pagan cult sites.

Church buildings would have required an altar at which the Eucharist could be celebrated, a place from where readings could be made, space for the offertory procession, and room for the congregation. Comparisons from other parts of the Roman Empire indicate that Romano-British examples likely also had a cathedra chair where the bishop would sit, and a vestibulum, or room where the unbaptised could withdraw.

The sporadic persecution of Christians which occurred for several centuries prevented the construction of official, purpose-built churches. Instead, early Christian meeting places were often indistinguishable from residential houses. Although some of these church house (domus ecclesiae) have been recognised in other parts of the empire, none have so far been discovered in Britain.

After the fall of Roman imperial rule, Britain entered what historians call the early medieval period. During this period, there was an awareness that Christianity had existed in Roman Britain. Gildas, a British Christian monk living somewhere in Western Britain during the sixth century CE, discussed the issue in his De Excidio Brittonum ("The Ruin of Britain"). Many of the claims which Gildas made about the establishment of Christianity in Roman Britain are at odds with the information provided in other sources; he for instance claimed that the Empire Tiberius was a Christian who sanctioned the religion's spread, and that the British Church underwent a schism due to the influence of Arianism. The arrival of Christianity was later discussed by Bede, an Anglo-Saxon monk based in the Kingdom of Northumbria, in his eighth-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Here, he used Gildas' work among other sources to relate his narrative. Bede's agenda differed from that of Gildas in that he sought to present the British Church as heterodox and his own, English Church, as orthodox. The next early medieval source to discuss Romano-British Christianity was the ninth-century Historia Brittonum, later attributed—perhaps mistakenly—to the Welsh monk Nennius.

In the high and later middle ages, historical accounts continued to be produced which discussed the establishment of Christianity in Roman Britain. These were, according to Petts, increasingly "garbled and fanciful" in their narratives. Writing in his twelfth century Historia Regum Britanniae, Geoffrey of Monmouth for instance added new details to the conversion tale, for instance by naming Faganus and Duvianus as two of the missionaries who brought Christianity to Britain. He also claimed that the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, had been the daughter of a (mythical) ruler of Colchester, King Coel. Another twelfth-century writer, William of Malmesbury, added the claim that Joseph of Aramathea had arrived in Glastonbury in his Gesta Regum Anglorum. Such stories entered and influenced popular folklore, where they were further altered.

There was a revived interest in Romano-British Christianity in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, where it occurred against a backdrop of the arguments between adherents of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. An Italian writer, Polydore Vergil, came to England in 1501 and befriended King Henry VIII; he wrote the Historiae Anglicae, which dealt with the arrival of Christianity. Following the English Reformation, in which the Church of England switched its allegiance from Roman Catholicism to the Protestant-influenced Anglicanism, there were a growing number of English theologians who turned to the first arrival of Christianity in Britain to argue that the island had preserved an older, purer form of Christianity separate from that which had been corrupted by the Church in Rome.

In the early eighteenth century, archaeology began to develop as a discipline in Britain. A number of Romano-British Christian artefacts were discovered at this time, although their origins were not always recognised. In some cases items were recognised as being Romano-British, but not as Christian; in others they were recognised as being Christian, but not Romano-British. For example, the ploughing of a field in Risley, Derbyshire in 1729 revealed a lanx plate featuring a Chi-Rho symbol. It was investigated by the antiquarian William Stukeley, who noted its Christian symbolism but who thought that it had likely originated in France and been brought to England by fifteenth-century soldiers. In another instance, a Romano-British beaker decorated with Biblical scenes was discovered in a child's grave within the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire during excavations led by John Yonge Akerman in the 1850s. Akerman regarded it as being early medieval and of Gaulish origin. The first attempt to synthesise archaeological and historical material to understand Romano-British Christianity was an academic paper published in the English Historical Review; written by Francis Havrfield in 1896, it remained little known among scholars.

It was in the twentieth century that more significant quantities of Romano-British Christian material was discovered. Various hoards, such as that from Mildenhall, were found that contained Christian material. The excavation of various Roman villas, such as that at Hinton St Mary, Dorset, revealed Christian symbolism on mosaics. The excavation of St Paul-in-the-Bail in Lincoln resulted in the discovery of a Romano-British church that had once existed on the site. By the latter half of that century there was sufficient material available that archaeologists could discuss Christianity in Roman Britain independently of the historical record. A major attempt to discuss the archaeological evidence was in a paper by the art historian Jocelyn Toynbee in 1953, which focused primarily on attempts to recognise Christian motifs and symbols on artefacts. Following Toynbee, the most important contribution to the subject was Charles Thomas' Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500; published in 1981, it discussed historical, archaeological, and linguistic evidence.

There remains divisions among scholars in their understanding of Romano-British Christianity. This divide is often based on disciplinary divisions, with scholars of Roman archaeology and history on one side and scholars of Celtic studies or of early medieval archaeology and history on the other.

Henig, Martin (1984). Religion in Roman Britain. New York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-67059-1.

PP

In April 1975, the Red Khmer seized Phnom Penh. Half a million people had died in the civil war.

The Red Khmer initiated a program of social transformation. People were driven out of the cities into rural areas. The newly arrived urban Cambodians were described as "new people" or "April 17 people", contrasted with the long-established peasants, who were known as "base people".

In January 1976, the Red Khmer dissolved the United Front government. The country was officially renamed "Democratic Kampuchea". A new constitution was produced, which made no mention of the terms "socialism" or "communism". At the time, very little was publicly known about Pol Pot, including his real name and identity. In adopting "Pol Pot" as a pseudonym, he was imitating other prominent Marxist-Leninist leaders, among them Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Josip Broz Tito, and Ho Chi Minh.

Elections were held for the national assembly. Only "base people" were permitted to vote, and all candidates had been selected by the Red Khmer.

Pol Pot approved the torture and execution of nearly 20,000 people. In the four years of his government, around one million Cambodians, or a seventh of the country's population, died. The French writer Jean Lacouture coined the term "autogenocide" to describe the situation.

In 1979, Pol Pot openly acknowledged his identity as Saloth Sar.

He had a thirst for power. Pol Pot was introspective, and highly reclusive. He displayed what Chandler called a "genteel charisma". As a child, his brother characterised him as having been sweet tempered and equable, while fellow school pupils recalled Pol Pot as having been mediocre but pleasant. As a teacher, he was characterised by his pupils as having been calm, honest, and persuasive. He had a nationalistic attitude and displayed little interest in events outside Cambodia. In later life he concealed and falsified many details of his life.

SA

Of these, Alban was the most famous of the three.

HOGD

The Golden Dawn was designed as a secret society. According to Butler, the Golden Dawn practiced "a unique form of ceremonial magic". Its system is also a form of "high" or "learned" magic due to the central role it accorded to literature and books. Their magical system drew upon a range of earlier practices and ideas while adding new elements. In practicing magic, the Golden Dawn stood apart from other esoteric traditions active in Victorian Britain like Freemasonry, Spiritualism, and Theosophy. The magico-religious system of the Golden Dawn drew heavily upon older manifestations of magical practice, such as that found in the Soc. Ros. group. Its underlying basis were the esoteric ideas that developed in Renaissance Europe. MacGregor Mathers in particular also drew upon other, more obscure elements from Western esotericism, such as the Enochian language developed by the seventeenth-century magician John Dee.

Butler has argued that it can be seen as a form of "invented tradition".

History

Origins

Much mystery surrounds the foundation of the Golden Dawn. It was founded in March 1888. It was influenced by a range of older Masonic and quasi-Masonic orders that flourished in England from the 1860s onward. The immediate inspiration behind the group's formation was the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA), a Rosicrucian Masonic group founded in 1867. Woodman was born in 1851 and had served as a volunteer surgeon during Napoleon III's 1851 coup d'état in France. Back in England, he worked as a general practitioner in Stoke on Trent before becoming a police surgeon. Woodman was also a keen gardener whose skill in that field was recognised in horticultural circles. He was interested in Freemasonry and initiated into the SRIA in October 1867, soon rising to become its Secretary-General and then assistant editor of its journal, The Rosicrucian, when it was launched in July 1868. After the SRIA's Supreme Magus, Robert Wentworth Little, died in April 1878, Woodman took over both that position and Little's role as editor of The Rosicrucian. It is unclear how much input Woodman had in the formation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Westcott was also a medical practitioner. Born in Leamington in 1848, he was raised in Martock but later moved to London with his wife and three children, fathering two further children in the city. There, he studied the writings of the French occultist Éliphas Lévi and other esoteric literature. He became the deputy coroner for Central Middlesex and Central London and in 1894 the coroner for Northeast London.

The manuscript was influenced by the mythology surrounding Rosicrucianism. The cipher used in the manuscript had been adopted from Johann Trithemius' Polygraphiae, a source that was readily available in Victorian Britain. Internal evidence in the manuscript indicates that it composed no earlier than 1870 and likely closer to 1880. To give the impression of greater age, it had been written on paper bearing a watermark from 1809.

It was not long after the Order's foundation that its early members were doubting the truthfulness of this origin account.

MacGregor Mathers likely fleshed out these rituals using material he had learned through his wide readings at the library of the British Museum.

Formation and early years: 1888–1891

On 12 February 1888, the trio signed pledges of allegiance to their new Order. The pledge was soon amended to stress the primacy of Christian symbolism within the group and to keep Spiritualists out.

The group's original charter was drawn up by Mina Bergson, then a student at the Slade School of Art, who became the new temple's first initiate. Around fifty others soon joined, the majority of whom were men, largely from masonic circles; some alternately came from the Theosophical Society, especially the women members. Most of these early members had likely heard about the group through word of mouth. Around sixty members existed before the group publicly announced its existence. Wescott did so with a short announcement published in Notes and Queries on 9 February 1889. Some of those who joined lived outside of the capital and wanted temples in the areas in which they resided. In October 1888, Westcott issued a decree authorizing the formation of the Osiris Temple in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, to be overseen by Benjamin Cox. This temple never gained more than twelve members and disbanded following Cox's 1895 death. Also in October 1888, the Horus Temple was established in Bradford, Yorkshire, at the urging of an SRIA member, T. H. Pattinson. In 1893, the Amen-Ra Temple formed in Edinburgh and in 1894 the Ahathoor Temple appeared in Paris.

The London Temple was its "most popular and most controversial", according to Butler.

The head of the Theosophical Society, Helena Blavatsky, recognised that the Golden Dawn might entice away members of her own organisation desiring a more practical approach to occultism. To prevent such departures, she established the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society in October 1888, a group that focused on what she termed "the acquisition of occult powers". She initially forbade membership of both the Theosophical Society and Golden Dawn but relented after several of her group's members protested. Issues of dual membership posed some issue for the Golden Dawn. In the Bradford-based Horus Temple for example, a split developed between those who were also Theosophists and those who were not. Westcott sent Annie Horniman to the city to deal with the issue. In her report, she highlighted two temple members as being particularly disruptive and they were duly expelled. Two months later, Westcott visited the Horus Temple to give a speech; Mathers did the same in March 1893.

In January 1890, one of Mina's close friends from the Slade, Annie Horniman, joined the Golden Dawn. She was from a wealthy Quaker background and although she did not like Mathers, secured him employment with her father, Frederick Horniman. Horniman ascended quickly through the Order, becoming Sub-Praemonstratrix of the Isis-Urania Temple in 1895.

In June 1890, Mathers and Mina married at a church in Chacombe, Oxfordshire, a location selected because its vicar was a member of the Order. Their marriage appears to have remained unconsummated because Mina had a loathing of sex, but she remained loyal to him. The Mathers' relied more upon Annie Horniman's financial support then they cared to admit.

On 23 August 1890, Westcott received a letter reportedly from Frater ex Uno Disces Omnes telling him that Sprengel had died. It added that the other German adepts did not approve of his formation of Isis Urania and that they would no longer contact him.

In December 1891, Woodman died. Westcott took over his position as Supreme Magus of the SRIA while Mathers took charge of the Golden Dawn.

Creating the Inner Order: 1892–

In 1892, the Golden Dawn's creators put together rituals for an Inner Order, the Rosae Rubeae at Aureae Crucis. Most Golden Dawn members would never enter this Inner Order. Most of its activities took place at the vault, initially located in Thavies Inn, Holborn, and later moved to Clipstone Street. Its activities were all recorded in an Order diary.

Horniman had been providing Mina with funds to support her artistic career and in 1892 offered to finance her move to Paris, there to continue her studies. Mathers decided to go to and expected Horniman to finance his activities in the city as well. This exacerbated a growing mutual irritation between Horniman and Mathers. She had been angry that one of the Golden Dawn's members, E. W. Berridge, had been espousing sexual doctrines she considered immoral. She believed that Mathers was encouraging Berridge's ideas, a claim that Mathers took umbrage with; he disliked Berridge's beliefs and at one point temporarily suspended his membership of the Order. Horniman was also angry that Mathers was channelling money she provided into Celtic political campaigns with which she disagreed. She decided to cease providing the Mathers with money, at which he made false accusations against her. In protest, she resigned her post as Sub-Praemonstrator from the Isis Urania temple in September 1896. Mathers then issued a manifesto in which he demanded that all members of the Inner Order swear submission to him. Horniman refused to resume payments to Mathers, at which he expelled her. Thirty members signed a petition calling for her reinstatement, but it was never delivered to Mathers himself.

In March 1897, Westcott resigned from the Golden Dawn. His involvement in the group had become known to his employers and he decided to step down from it rather than jeopardise his career. He nevertheless remained informed on the development of the Order through friends who remained members.

The Amen-Ra Temple in Edinburgh had split into two camps. By the start of the twentieth century, there were members of Isis Urania arguing that the temple should be closed down.

Aleister Crowley was initiated into the Golden Dawn in November 1898 and soon progressed through the grades of the Outer Order, becoming 4 = 7 Philosophus in May 1899. He desired entry to the Inner Order, but was denied by its London members. He proceeded to Paris, where Mathers initiated him into the Inner Order in January 1900.

Decline and schisms: 1900–

In January 1900 the Horos couple met Mathers in Paris and convinced him that Laura Horos was Sprengel herself and that they were members of the Order's American Thoth Hermes Temple. The couple were invited to witness a neophyte ceremony at Mathers' Ahathoor Temple. There, they stole several documents belonging to Mathers before heading to South Africa. Mathers warned his former colleagues about the couple, admitting to Crowley that he was "pitifully in distress at having been fooled". The Horos travelled from South Africa to England in November, where Theo Horos—using the pseudonym "Mr Cornish"—asked to meet with Westcott. He refused to meet with Horos personally, sending F. L. Gardner and Percy Bullock in his place; at the meeting, Horos claimed to be a member of the (non-existent) Thema Temple in India, at which Gardner and Bullock informed him that "we know all about you" and ended the encounter.

In September 1901 the Horos were arrested for conspiring to defraud a young woman, Vera Croysdale; in October, they were also charged with the "procurement for immoral purposes" of Croysdale and two other young women, Olga Rowson and Daisy Adams, and the rape of the latter. During the trial, the police revealed that the Horos had made use of Golden Dawn material taken from Mathers in constructing their group's ceremonies. The trial was covered in the press. The Horos affair "irrevocably damaged the Order". After the trial, Mathers wrote to Light magazine distancing the Golden Dawn from the Horos.

In February 1900, Mathers wrote Florence Farr a letter in which he revealed that Westcott had forged the letters which were reportedly from the Secret Chiefs. In this letter, he added that "every atom of the knowledge of the Order has come through me alone from 0-0 to 5-6 inclusive, and that it is I alone who have been and am in communication with the Secret Chiefs of the Order." Farr informed a few Inner Order members of Mathers' claims regarding Westcott. Aware of the repercussions of such a revelation, they formed an investigative committee but found nothing; both Westcott and Mathers refused to tell them anything. Why Westcott refused to refute Mathers' accusations is not clear; it may be that he feared a public scandal that would jeopardise his career and Masonic activities. Mathers was furious that the investigation had been launched and ordered its termination. News of Macgregor Mathers' denunciation of the cipher "dropped like a bombshell" on the British temples of the Order.

The London Inner Order then cut all links with Mathers. They reverted to a system of organisation with three Chiefs rather than one, to be assisted by a council of ten. With the link to Mathers severed, Gilbert later noted, "the old Golden Dawn was dead". A growing rift appeared among British members. With Mathers gone, Horniman re-joined the Order. She left the organisation again in February 1903, after which she devoted the rest of her life to the theatre.

In 1902, Mathers was also expelled from the SRIA for the non-payment of money the organisation had loaned him; he had not attended a meeting of the group since 1893. He died in Paris in 1919. When he died, Brodie-Innes wrote a positive obituary of him for the Occult Review.

By 1896, the Order has initiated over 300 members.

Initiation and grade system

The administrative structure and form of the GD's ceremonies were Masonic in basis. Documentary evidence suggests that the Golden Dawn's rituals became more ornate over time, as new additions were made. Initially the Golden Dawn consisted of only one Order, although in 1891 MacGregor Mathers established a Second Order within the group.

New members of the Order went through the neophyte ceremony, at which they signed an obligation and were told of the Order's traditional history. The neophyte initiation was designed as an introduction to the Golden Dawn, enabling the candidate to gain membership and to take on their own magical motto. Such mottos could reflect the personality of the individual using them as well as reflecting the reasons why they wanted membership of the group. Examples of mottos used by group members include Westcott's "Non Omnis Moriar" ("I shall not wholly die"), MacGregor Mathers' "Deo Duce Comite Ferro" ("With God as my leader and the sword as my companion"), Woodman's "Vincit Omnia Veritas" ("Truth rules all"), Annie Horniman's "Fortitier et Recte" ("Bravely and justly"), and Crowley's "Perdurabo" ("I will endure").

In addition to the initiation of the neophyte, there were four grade rituals in the First Order. The outline of these grade initiation rituals was first provided in Westcott's cipher manuscript. The initiation ritual through which a Golden Dawn member could move from one grade to another were largely educational and ceremonial rather than magical in content. They were largely based on the system found in Freemasonic groups, including such Masonic elements as a hoodwinked initiate, the revelation of passwords, signs, and handgrips, and an oath of secrecy. The names of the grades was borrowed from the Soc. Ros., which in turn had adopted them from a late eighteenth-century German Freemasonic group, the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross. Each initiation served as a rite of passage and displayed the overarching theme of progress, with the light of knowledge overcoming the darkness of ignorance.

Each degree was also associated with a new "Knowledge Lecture" in which they would be given new information about the Order's doctrines. The information given to those who became neophytes was limited and caused frustration for some newcomers, like Crowley, who had already learned such information through their reading.

Progression to the next grade required demonstration that the member had learned set requirements; entry to the zelator grade for example required the neophyte to learn the names and alchemical symbols of the four Classical elements, the names and astrological symbols of the 12 zodiac signs and the seven planets, the names and numerical values of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the names and meanings of the ten sephiroth.

The Inner Order

The Second Order was known as the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, sometimes abbreviated as the RR et AC. It was more exclusive than the First Order, with membership by invitation only. Most members of the Golden Dawn never entered the Second Order; by the end of 1896 for instance, less than a third of the organisation's members were part of this Order. Of those who had joined the Second Order, not all remained actively involved in its activities. The rituals that enabled entry into the Second Order were developed by MacGregor Mathers in 1891.

Prior to

This accomplished, the prospective Inner Order member would be loaned the "Adept Addresses" book, which listed the ideals that they were expected to uphold; if they agreed to do so, they would be allowed to proceed to the initiation. The Ceremony of the 5 = 6 Grade of Adeptus Minor was regarded not as a progression akin to previous degrees, but rather as a new initiation. The initiation rituals for the Second Order differed from the First, being based on accounts of Christian Rosenkreuz, the legendary founder of Rosicrucianism. These rituals included the symbolic death and resurrection of the candidate, and also incorporated the Enochian system that greatly interested Mathers. The Inner Order's structure and mythos was based upon the three Rosicrucian manifestos which appeared in the early seventeenth century.

Members of the Inner Order also engaged in various private magical practices. An example of this was Farr's "Sphere Group", which focused on astral projection.

Ritual practices

The temple space in which Golden Dawn ceremonies took place was carefully laid out.

While the Outer Order rituals closely echoed those of the SRIA and Freemasonry more broadly. The Inner Order's workings were very different.

Membership

Unlike many of the Masonic groups which influenced it, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was open to both male and female members. However, as a result of greater interest among men, several of its temples lacked any female members for a number of years. Gilbert noted that the Golden Dawn appealed largely to "esoterically-minded freemasons". It also appealed to members of the Theosophical Society who had grown dissatisfied with that organisation over its growing emphasis on Indian religious beliefs as well as the controversies that hit the Society's leader, Helena Blavatsky, while she was at Adyar in India in 1885.

Reception and legacy

As noted by Gilbert, in broader British society, the rituals of the Golden Dawn were simply "an object of derision".

Butler described the Golden Dawn as "the most significant and influential occult organisation of its era". Similarly, Robert A. Gilbert regarded it s the "foremost esoteric, and later magical, initiatic Order of the late 19th and early 20th centuries."

Members of the Golden Dawn were allowed to copy the group's ritual documents but were forbidden from making them public. There were nevertheless members, like Crowley, who did publish details of them. He began publishing the ritual texts of the Order in his periodical, 'The Equinox, launched in 1909. Mathers claimed that the material was copyrighted and sought to prevent Crowley continuing by bringing a legal injunction against him. Mathers unsuccessfully approached Westcott to see if the latter would assist him. Mathers' injunction ultimately failed.

Between 1937 and 1940, the occultist Israel Regardie began publishing a four-volume series laying out the Golden Dawn rituals, as he had learned them through his membership of the Stella Matutina. In doing so, he hoped that the ritual structures could be of assistance to other ceremonial magicians, firmly believing that they should be available to all. The publication made little immediate reaction. Regardie's work was republished in 1969, after which various occult groups appeared claiming to be direct survivors of the original British order. Further source material from the Golden Dawn was published by Francis X. King in his Ritual Magic of the Golden Dawn and then by R. G. Torrens in their 1973 book The Secret Rituals of the Golden Dawn. Although much of the Golden Dawn's written material has now been published, there is also much that has not, with the original documents contained in private collections.

Gilbert stated that the Golden Dawn "has been responsible, more than any other esoteric body, for ensuring the survival of much of Western esotericism into the 21st Century." The Golden Dawn system of ceremonial magic continues to be practiced by hundreds of thousands of occultists. Gilbert noted that "the warring bands of magicians who variously claim to be the heirs of the Golden Dawn do not represent its true legacy". The Golden Dawn also influenced Yeats' work and inspired the development of the psychic detective sub-genre of fiction.

Butler, Alison (2011). Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic: Invoking Tradition. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-22339-4.

Gilbert, R. A. (1997). Revelations of the Golden Dawn: The Rise and Fall of a Magical Order. London: Quantum. ISBN 0-572-02258-1.

Gilbert, Robert A. (2006). "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn". In Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Leiden: Brill. pp. 544–550. ISBN 978-9-004-15231-1.

B-L

Franklin noted that Bulwer-Lytton's "metaphysical novels" "drew upon and combined virtually all of the occultisms and mysticisms from the history of ancient, medieval, and contemporary practices" and that they were "influential conduits" through which ideas drawn from esoteric traditions "disseminated into popular discourse".

Franklin thought that "perhaps more than any other single person in the first half of the century, Bulwer-Lytton was representative of that period's enthusiasms, reservations, and deep-seated fears concerning occult spiritualities".

Isl

Islamophobia refers to prejudice and discrimination against Muslims, practitioners of the religion of Islam. Some regard Islamophobia as a form of racism, although this idea remains disputed.

There remains no clear agreement on what "Islamophobia" is or what the term should mean. Definitions of the concept are contested. The academic philosopher Brian Klug expressed the view that it is "wrong – I shall say simplistic – to imagine that there can be only one valid answer to the question 'What is Islamophobia?'." Some regard Islamophobia as a form of racism, although others—including many academic specialists in the study of racism—do not.

In 1997, the United Kingdom-based Runnymede Trust published a report titled Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All. It was this publication that brought the term "Islamophobia" into wider public discourse. From this point on, use of the term proliferated, being used by academic scholars in books and journal articles, as well as by public commentators using op-eds and blogs. The concept became sufficiently common that in 2012, Brian Klug remarked, because it had come to function "as an organizing principle for scholarship and research", the concept had "come of age".

The scholar of International Relations Fred Halliday—in a 1999 article that became the most cited academic study of Islamophobia—suggested that the term "Islamophobia" was not an appropriate descriptor for anti-Muslim prejudice because said prejudice was directed not at Islam as an ideology, but at Muslims as a people. He thus proposed "anti-Muslimism" as a more accurate term. Additionally, he thought that the term "Islamophobia" implied that Islam was a single, homogenous phenomenon, whereas in reality it is highly diverse and open to many interpretations and variations. In turn, he argued, the use of "Islamophobia" bolstered claims by conservative Islamic clerics that there was only one real form of Islam, as represented by their own selective interpretation. Halliday was also of the view that use of "Islamophobia" stifled both criticism of Islam by non-Muslims, and internal criticism of more conservative interpretations of Islam by their fellow Muslims. In his view, the word "Islamophobia", like the word "imperialism", "can too easily be used to silence critics of national states and élites" within Islamic countries, even when those critics are themselves Muslim. Although acknowledging that conservative Muslims might use accusations of "Islamophobia" to silence critics, Klug thought that the Halliday's idea that "Islamophobia" intrinsically presented "Islam" as a homogenous entity was unwarranted. He also thought that Halliday's distinction between Muslims and Islam as the object of prejudice was "hard to sustain".

Writing for Prospect, Kenan Malik concurred, stating that the term "Islamophobia" "confuses hatred of, and discrimination against, Muslims on the one hand with criticism of Islam on the other", and that it was being used to "silence critics of Islam, or even Muslims fighting for reform of their communities". Kenan believed that, in Britain, many Islamic leaders inflated claims of Islamophobia so as to "consolidate their power base, both within their own communities and wider society". At the same time, he thought that many mainstream politicians, particularly from the Labour Party, also inflated levels of anti-Muslim prejudice to assume "some of the moral high ground" and regain support within the country's Islamic community lost due to the Iraq War.

There are two broad approaches to defining and understanding "Islamophobia", one viewing it as personal, the other as structural. The distinction between these two understandings of Islamophobia is not absolute.

Structural understandings of Islamophobia in turn sub-divide into two forms, that which emphasises the imaginary, and that which emphasises interests. The former focuses on examining Islamophobia as a cultural form of othering in various discourses, such as politics, law, and the media. It therefore focuses on how societies cultivate their own identities by juxtaposing themselves against a Muslim 'other'. The second, interests-based approach, focuses on examining how ruling elites cultivate and promote Islamophobia to suit their own interests.

S. Sayyid suggested that rather than seeking a single definition of Islamophobia, it could instead be understood as exhibiting a family resemblance, with different forms of Islamophobia having a range of overlapping similarities. To accommodate the different approaches, some scholarly publications containing multiple contributions have allowed each academic to produce a stipulative definition of Islamophobia that is suitable to their own research.

Kundnani argued that in focusing on specific interests and power relations, structural understandings of Islamophobia were better placed to understand the underlying causes of Islamophobia. Endorsing this framework, Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller stated that understanding Islamophobia as a "structural phenomenon" was a "materialist and realist" perspective which evaded the idea that Islamophobia was just a "free-floating" idea without concrete application. In their view, specific acts could be intrinsically Islamophobic in themselves, rather than being acts simply motivated by Islamophobic ideas.

Massoumi, Mills, and Miller argued that in Western countries during the twenty-first century, "five pillars of Islamophobia" could be identified, all of which contributed to the promotion of Islamophobic ideas and Islamophobic acts. The first of these pillars was the state and specifically its counter-terrorism apparatus, which Massoumi et al called "the backbone" of Islamophobia. Their second pillar was the neoconservative movement, their third was parts of the Zionist movement, the fourth was the counter-jihad movement and the Western far-right, and the fifth was sectors of the Western left, liberal, feminist, secularist, and New Atheist movements.

Proponents of structural understandings of Islamophobia often see it, in whole or in part, as a form of racism. Understanding structural Islamophobia as a form of racism poses problems, namely in that Muslims come from a wide range of racial and ethnic groups and thus the Muslim identity does not readily allow itself to form the basis of racialization. To evade this problem, some view Islamophobia as a form of cultural racism, as opposed to biological racism, with racial significance being applied to signs of cultural difference (such as dress or language) rather than bodily difference (such as skin colour). Defending the view that Islamophobia is a form of racism, Massoumi, Mills, and Miller argued that because 'race' is a fluid and socially constructed category, it was not ontologically different from religious identity.

Structural approaches to Islamophobia face difficulties due to the presence of anti-Muslim prejudice and actions in very varied historical and geographical contexts. The structures underpinning Islamophobia in twenty-first century Europe—where most Muslims are migrants or their recent descendants—and going to differ from the structures underpinning Islamophobia in India, where Muslims have been present for centuries. Similarly, the structures underpinning Islamophobia in the twenty-first century will differ from those underpinning the expulsion of Muslims from fifteenth-century Spain, for example.

In Islamophobic thought, Muslims can be seen as both a controlling force above, as with claims that Muslims secretly control the European Union or the U.S. Presidency of Barack Obama, while at the same time being portrayed as a savage threat below, with Muslims regarded as backward and medieval. This dual approach mirrors older anti-Semitic thinking which portrayed Jews as both a lowly sub-human group and as a cosmopolitan conspiracy in control of powerful forces above.

Islamophobia can also resonate and link in with other, older forms of racism. Kundnani cited an example of a poster he had seen in a restaurant in Houston, Texas. It depicted a lynching on which the face of a Middle Eastern man had been superimposed onto the head of the hanged man; a slogan on the poster declared "Let's play cowboys and Iranians". As argued by Kundnani, this poster combined Islamophobia with racist references to both the Euro-American subjugation of Native Americans and with the violence perpetrated against African-Americans in the South.

Halliday, Fred (1999). "'Islamophobia' Reconsidered". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 22 (5): 892–902. doi:10.1080/014198799329305. PMID 20499467.

Malik, Kenan (February 2005). "Islamophobia Myth". Prospect.

Klug, Brian (2012). "Islamophobia: A Concept Comes of Age". Ethnicities. 12 (5): 665–681. doi:10.1177/1468796812450363. S2CID 147537623.

Kundnani, Arun (2017). "Islamophobia as Ideology of US Empire". In Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller (eds.) (ed.). What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State. London: Pluto Press. pp. 35–48. ISBN 978-0-7453-9957-7. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

Massoumi, Narzanin; Mills, Tom; Miller, David (2017). "Islamophobia, Social Movements and the State: For a Movement-Centred Approach". In Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller (eds.) (ed.). What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State. London: Pluto Press. pp. 3–32. ISBN 978-0-7453-9957-7. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

Ali, Y. (2012). "Shariah and Citizenship - How Islamophobia is Creating a Second-Class Citizenry in America". California Law Review. 100 (4): 1027–1068.

Ali, W.; Clifton, E.; Duss, M.; Fang, L.; Keyes, S.; Shakir, F. (2011). Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America. Washington D.C.: Center for American Progress.

Bail, C. A. (2012). "The Fringe Effect: Civil Society Organizations and the Evolution of Media Discourse about Islam since the September 11th Attacks". American Sociological Review. 77 (6): 855–879. doi:10.1177/0003122412465743. S2CID 146899773.

Cesari, J. Why the West Fears Islam: An Exploration of Muslims in Liberal Democracy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Grosfoguel, R. (2012). "The Many Faces of Islamophobia". Islamophobia Studies. 1 (1): 10–33.

Ibrahim, N. (2009). "The Origins of Muslim Racialization in US Law". UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law. 7 (1): 121–155.

Kumar, D. (2012). Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire. Chicago: Haymarket Books.

Kundnani, A. (2014). The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror. New York: Verso.

Klug, B. (2014). "The Limits of Analogy: Comparing Islamophobia and Antisemitism". Patterns of Prejudice. 48 (5): 442–459. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2014.964498. S2CID 144363181.

Lee, S. A.; Gibbons, J. A.; Thompson, J. M.; Timani, H. S. (2009). "The Islamophobia Scale: Instrument Development and Initial Validation". International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. 19 (2): 92–105. doi:10.1080/10508610802711137. S2CID 146757435.

Love, E. (2009). "Confronting Islamophobia in the United States: Framing Civil Rights Activism among Middle Eastern Americans". Patterns of Prejudice. 43 (3–4): 401–425. doi:10.1080/00313220903109367. S2CID 145794602.

Malik, K. (2005). "Are Muslims Hated?". Index on Censorship. 34 (2): 167–172. doi:10.1080/03064220500157905. S2CID 145763418.

Meer, N. (2013). "Racialisation and Religion: Race, Culture and Difference in the Study of Antisemitism and Islamophobia". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 36 (3): 385–398. doi:10.1080/01419870.2013.734392. S2CID 144942470.

Meer, N. (2014). "Islamophobia and Postcolonialism: Continuity, Orientalism and Muslim Consciousness". Patterns of Prejudice. 48 (5): 500–515. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2014.966960. S2CID 145722256.

Meer, N.; Modood, T. (2009). "Refutations on the Muslim Question". Patterns of Prejudice. 41 (5): 61–81.

Meer, N.; Modood, T. (2011). "The Racialisation of Muslims". In S. Sayyid and A. Vakil (eds.) (ed.). Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives. London: Hurst. pp. 69–84. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Modood, T. (2003). "Muslims and the Politics of Difference". Political Quarterly. 74 (1): 100–115. doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.2003.00584.x.

Samman, K. (2012). "Islamophobia and the Time and Space of the Muslim Other". Islamophobia Studies. 1 (1): 107–130.

Sheehi, S. (2011). Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims. Atlanta: Clarity Press.

Vakil, A. (2011). "Whose Afraid of Islamophobia?". In S. Sayyid and A. Vakil (eds.) (ed.). Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives. London: Hurst. pp. 271–278. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Werbner, P. (2013). "Folk Devils and Racist Imaginaries in a Global Prism: Islamophobia and Anti-Semiticism in the Twenty-First Century". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 36 (3): 450–467. doi:10.1080/01419870.2013.734384. S2CID 146294987.

Christian Right

The sociologist Steve Bruce noted that the New Christian Right was a "general social movement" as opposed to a "specific social movement organisation". He noted that even many of the organisations active in the movement, such as Moral Majority Inc, comprised "loose federations and alliances" of activists.

The NCR overlapped with the broader U.S. conservative movement. It was not always easy to distinguish the Christian Right from the broader New Right which existed in U.S. society during the 1980s. The Christian Right for instance shared the New Right's desire for greater military spending, a more aggressive anti-communist foreign policy, less central government control, and less welfare spending. At the same time it differentiated itself from the broader New Right through its strong emphasis on conservative Christian socio-moral attitudes, which sometimes conflicted with the libertarian attitude to those same issues embraced by some New Right ideologues and activists.

The movement had two key messages; the first was that the United States had become "degenerate", while the second was that fundamentalists "can and should act to reverse that degeneration". The movement was not unified around a single set of policies, however there was what Bruce termed a "cluster of desires" common to various movement members. There is no clear line demarcating the goals of the Christian right from those of other conservatives in the U.S.

The innovation of the NCR was not in converting large numbers of people to fundamentalist Christianity, but in politically mobilizing fundamentalist Americans on a scale not seen before.

Adherents of the Christian Right typically accepted the separation of church and state and did not want the formation of an explicitly political party; rather, they wanted both the Republican and Democratic parties to adopt attitudes to socio-moral issues that fitted with conservative Protestant views. Early statements from the movement insisted that it was bipartisan, although Christian rightists made little attempt to cultivate support from the Democrats. Barring a few Southern Democrats like Larry MacDonald, the Democratic Party generally distanced itself from the Christian Right. Instead, the movement became closely associated with the more conservative wing of the Republican Party and particularly with support for the Republican Presidency of Ronald Reagan. The absorption of the Christian right into the Republican Party helped to ensure that some of its views came to be regarded as mainstream conservative opinions, thus giving them greater public legitimacy.

Christian right figures were often keen to display photographs of themselves with Reagan and members of his administration to give the impression that they were in positions of influence.

The NCR believed that the judiciary had become too powerful in the United States. As a remedy, they urged for judicial restraint, calling on judges to confine themselves to a narrow and traditionalist understanding of their role and to interpret the constitution through the lens of its "original intent". By restricting the role of the judiciary, the Christian Right hoped that it could advance local autonomy in areas with fundamentalist Protestant majorities, thus allowing them to use fundamentalist ideas as the basis of much public policy, such as in education.

Bruce noted that some viewed the rise of the Christian Right as "simply one element of a general shift to the right in American politics and culture", reflecting most prominently by the election of Reagan, however he cautioned that such a rightward shift was not reflected in opinion polls of the period, which instead suggested a growth in social liberal attitudes in the period.

Opposition to "secular humanism"

The New Christian Right typically accused what they referred to as "secular humanism" as being the cause of many of the things they despised. There was much simplification in the way that movement members understood this concept. According to Bruce, the NCR used "secular humanism" to describe "an agglomeration of anything fundamentalists no not like which is not already some other religion". NCR members for instance often linked secular humanism to the behaviour or views of anyone they disliked. In its discourse, the movement repeated the notion that the United States had once been a great country when it had obeyed God, but that it had degenerated to the machinations of "secular humanists" who dominated the government, media, and big corporations.

Bruce argued that the NCR belief that there was a "secular humanist" conspiracy in the U.S. was factually untrue. In his words: "Godless America of the 1980s is no more the creation of secular humanists than the America of the 1950s was the creation of communists". He noted that as a self-defined movement, secular humanism was actually restricted to a small and not particularly influential group of intellectuals and had nowhere near the social influence than the Christian Right ascribed to it. Bruce's argument was that the cause of fundamentalist Protestant grievances had more to do with the unintended effects of modernity rather than any conspiracy. He observed that modernity brought with it increasing pluralization, as individuals gained access to a wider range of ideological and lifestyle choices. Democratic nation-states that wanted the broad support of their populations therefore had to push religious and ethnic particularism out of the public arena and into the private sphere. This resulted in the privatization of religion, with religious beliefs and practices increasingly being viewed as something that should be restricted to the home and not displayed in public. This offended fundamentalist Protestants, who were previously used to publicly displaying their faith in places like schools within those areas in which they were numerically dominant.

One approach adopted by the Christian Right was to claim that secular humanism represented a religion. For instance, 624 fundamentalists—with the aid of Pat Robertson's National Legal Foundation—filed a suit against the Alabama State Board of Education claiming that it had violated their constitutional rights by teaching the religion of secular humanism. Their case was rejected at the appeal court. The logic of this argument was based on the premise that all knowledge falls into two competing camps: theism, and everything else, the latter representing secular humanism. The U.S. courts recognized that if pushed to its logical conclusion, this argument would force U.S. public schools to avoid teaching anything that was not explicitly linked to fundamentalist Protestantism. One cartoonist satirized this position with an image of a child asking its fundamentalist mother: "My mathematics homework doesn't mention Jesus. Does that mean I don't have to do it?".

Issues of sexuality and gender

The movement opposed abortion. It also expressed its support for traditional American family structures.

Members of the movement favored a continuation of the traditional gendered division of labor. For this reason, they opposed the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. constitution. The movement's members were opposed to the acceptance of open homosexuality as a legitimate alternative lifestyle, although members of the movement held differing views on whether homosexuals should be permitted basic civil rights. Falwell called the HIV/AIDS virus "God's judgement on homosexuals".

Creationism and prayer in public schools

Education policy is of considerable concern to the New Christian Right due to its part in either helping or hindering the transmission of parental values to their children. In contrast to some other Western countries, where education policy is decided by national bodies, in the United States considerable control over the school curriculum is exerted by authorities at the state and county levels.

For fundamentalists, the belief that God created the world in the manner described in Genesis is of great importance; they therefore belief that God created the world in six days and the Earth itself is about 10,000 years old. They also oppose the idea of evolution, believing that in denying any radical separation between humanity and other animals the idea encourages people to act in a bestial—and in their view sinful—manner. NCR adherents called for school textbooks to be screened for any "secular humanism" and argued that they should present Biblical creationism as a valid explanation of the history of humanity alongside, or in stead of, evolution. By the late 1960s, U.S. Biblical creationists had abandoned the overtly anti-intellectualist stance they had previously used in the 1925 Scopes Trial, and began presenting their views as "creation science", in doing so claiming that their beliefs had some scientific credibility. To encourage school textbooks to include information on Biblical creationism, they argued that there needed to be "equal time" given to the teaching of evolution and creationism in school biology lessons. This tactic was effective in gaining widespread public support across much of the South; one survey of white middle-class Texans found that 73% wanted creationism taught in school biology lessons, to only 62% who said the same about evolution.

In Arkansas, a small fundamentalist group called Citizens for Fairness in Education introduced a draft bill to the state legislature which would give evolution and creationism "equal time" in school biology classes. The bill passed both houses of the state legislature and was signed into law as Act 590 by Democratic Governor Frank D. White, himself a fundamentalist. The law was challenged in the case of McLean v. Arkansas, where the creationists were unable to prove their claim that creationism was separate from religion. The presiding judge, William Overton, ruled that Act 590 was unconstitutional because it required public schools to teach a particular religion; the Arkansas Attorney General decided not to appeal the ruling. A similar "equal time" bill was passed by the state of Louisiana. Again, it was taken to court and found unconstitutional. The Louisiana Attorney General appealed the verdict, and in June 1987 the Supreme Court ruled by 7 to 2 that it was unconstitutional.

Bruce argued that while the Christian Right was unable to change federal law, it was more successful on localized campaigns, and that it was here that it may have had its greatest impact. For instance, in 1974 in Kanawha County, West Virginia, Alice Moore, the wife of a fundamentalist Church of Christ minister and the member of the local school board, launched a campaign against what she called the "secular humanist slant" in the textbooks of local schools. She organized pickets of school board meetings and blockades of schools, with many fundamentalists withdrawing their children from the schooling system. The Ku Klux Klan joined the demonstrations, three schools were firebombed, and guns were fired at teachers and officials. The most controversial books were ultimately withdrawn and in subsequent elections Moore's supporters took most of the seats on the local school board. In another incident, in St David's, Arizona in 1982, an organizer for Schlafly's Eagle Forum gave a public meeting devoted to exposing the purported effects of "secular humanism" being promoted in schools. Concerned parents pressurized the local school board into establishing a committee that would review its teachers and the books available in the school library. As a result, a teacher was dismissed, as was another colleague who had publicly supported him, while various books were banned from the library, including the work of John Steinbeck, William Golding, Joseph Conrad, and Mark Twain.

The movement wanted to reverse the Supreme Court decision that made it unconstitutional for public schools to openly hold prayers. In 1983, Judge William Brevard Hand of Mobile, Alabama passing a ruling that permitted school prayer in the state. He argued that the Supreme Court judgement relied upon the constitutional separation of church and state which—he believed—was only applicable at the broad federal level and did not apply at the state level. His ruling was overturned on appeal, but he continued to advise the plaintiffs on how they could reframe their case.

The NCR also desired tax reforms that would make it cheaper for parents to send their children to private Christian schools.

Foreign and military policy

In other issues, the New Christian Right typically promoted heavy defence spending and an aggressive foreign policy.

On economic issues, the NCR typically called for the curbing of trade unions and the dismantling of legislation considered restrictive for business. On social issues, it typically called for the reduction in welfare spending and an end to affirmative action hiring for ethnic minorities. It also opposed any legal restrictions on gun ownership. Its general approach was to call for "either less government or a more conservative government".

The Christian Right often expressed support for Israel, but this emerged not from a commitment to Zionism but because of a fundamentalist belief in dispensationalism.

The Christian Right typically sought, according to Bruce, "to frame their religiously produced concerns in a non-religious rhetoric". For instance, they promoted the teaching of Biblical creationism in schools as "creation science" to mask its explicitly religious basis.

History

Background

Protestant fundamentalism emerged as a distinct social and religious movement in the United States during the early 20th century, taking its name from a series of pamphlets, The Fundamentals, which were published between 1910 and 1912. These fundamentalists emerged in reaction to broader changes in American Protestantism towards accepting higher criticism in Biblical scholarship and embracing progressive social causes. The fundamentalist Protestants rejected these new developments, maintaining that the Bible was the literal word of God and that its account of history is literally true. They also maintained that unless one experienced a religious conversion and was "born again" then one was destined to be sent to a literal Hell after death. Initially, these fundamentalists could be found across all Protestant denominations, although as they failed to sway their respective groups toward fundamentalist ideas, they split to form their own exclusively fundamentalist denominations. In many of the Southern states, these fundamentalist churches were sufficiently strong to dominate a range of societal institutions. In other areas of the U.S., where they were not numerically dominant, they created their own institutions, such as schools, colleges, and universities, as well as newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and later television shows. The fundamentalists were, according to sociologist Steve Bruce, "working to create social institutions which would permit them to reproduce their own culture sheltered from modernizing influences".

During the 20th century, and particularly during the First and Second World Wars, the U.S. central power gained increasing power from the state authorities. This expansion of central control contributed to the Southern states' increasing exposure to cosmopolitan and liberal values from which they had previously remained largely isolated, largely through the decisions passed by the Supreme Court and by Congress.

During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, a series of court rulings prohibited prayers from being said in public schools, regarding them as a contravention of the constitutional separation of church and state. This move greatly offended conservative Protestants. The legal framework which judged all religions as equally worthy of protection while favouring none was perceived by many fundamentalist Protestants as the equivalent of saying that Protestantism was a false religion. These legal rulings contravened the conservative Protestant desire to see their religious culture in a position of social pre-eminence above all others. In many fundamentalist-dominated areas of the U.S., schools ignored the Supreme Court ruling and continued to hold prayers in public schools. Others abandoned the public school system altogether and established independent Christian schools. These grew rapidly; between 1970 and 1980, there was a 95% increase in the number of such schools. Critics of these claimed that although ostensibly designed to educate children on an explicitly Christian basis, these schools also served as places where white parents could send children to avoid the desegregation of schools.

White American fundamentalist Protestants typically regarded the growth of societal permissiveness in the 1960s onward to be a threat to their way of life. The 1960s also saw the increasing promotion and acceptance of the concept of group rights, particularly for socially disadvantaged groups like women, African-Americans, and gay people. This offended white fundamentalist Protestants by running counter to their ethos of individualism, expressed through the idea that only individuals, and not whole groups, could be saved. It also threatened to result in a shift in power, influence, and authority in U.S. societal which could put white fundamentalist Protestants at a disadvantage. The sociologist Steve Bruce noted that that it was "the displacement of those beliefs, symbol, and patterns of behaviour which fundamentalists held dear" during these decades which provided much of the impetus behind the organisation of the New Christian Right.

Emergence

Bruce argued that while fundamentalist Protestants had long had grievances about society, it was only the "identifiable increase in the intensity" of social threats that resulted in the creation of the New Christian Right movement. Fundamentalist Protestants could have become increasingly insular in the face of these changes, being self-assured of their own salvation while the rest of U.S. society faced damnation. That they instead chose to actively mobilise against secularizing liberal culture reflected that there were elements of the political structure which offered activists hope of success and that there had been broad socio-cultural changes which had enhanced the power and influence of the South. The decline of northern industry and the rising prices of oil shifted power to the American "Sunbelt" across the South and Southwest. The low levels of labor unionization, lower taxes and lower local government regulation made the area appealing for many industries to establish themselves there. The election of Jimmy Carter as the first president from the South since the Civil War might be a reflection of that shift.

Fundamentalists had also seen their numbers rise in the mid twentieth century decades; the main beneficiaries of this growth had been the Southern Baptist Confederation and various independence fundamentalist Baptist groups. Fundamentalists had also experienced growing success with televangelism, the use of television to engage in proselytization and fundraising. One of their major successes in U.S. policy came before the emergence of the Christian Right itself; their ability to scupper the Equal Rights Amendment, which sought to enshrine equal rights for women in the U.S. constitution. The amendment had been approved by Congress in March 1972 and looked likely to be ratified by the required three-quarters of states. At this point, the conservative Roman Catholic activist Phyllis Schafly launched a campaign of letter writing and petitioning to convince five states to reverse their endorsements and others to oppose it.

It was a triumvirate of professional right-wing organizers who were the catalyst for Moral Majority Inc and the broader New Christian Right: Richard Viguerie, Howard Phillips, and Paul Weyrich. This trio were distinguished from many other American rightists by their frustration with the Republican Party and their firm opposition to the growth of social and moral liberalism since the 1960s. They had been willing to support third party conservatives, and in 1974 Viguerie and Phillips had formed the Campaign for the Removal of the President, a group intent on removing Republican President Richard Nixon from office because they considered him too liberal. In 1976, Viguerie had supported the American Independent Party after Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan appointed a liberal, Richard Schweiker, as his running mate.

The triumvirate chose fundamentalist Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell to head the Moral Majority Inc. Based in Lynchburg, Virginia, Falwell ran an independent school, a Bible college, and a television gospel show. His show gave him a ready-made audience for an attempt to politically mobilize fundamentalists. Bruce later described Falwell as "the predominant figure" in the NCR. Many of those who joined Moral Majority Inc had prior experience in political activism; Greg Dixon had for instance long been involved in Indiana politics. By 1986, the Moral Majority had chapters in all fifty U.S. states, although the oldest and largest were in the southern and southwestern parts of the country.

Many prominent televangelists did not openly endorse a particular organization although used their television shows to promote the aims of the NCR by raising concerns about social, political, and legislative issues. One of the most prominent was Pat Robertson, who was the head of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of the 700 Club television show. Robertson was regarded by both supporters and detractors as a standard bearer for the New Christian Right. The greater the exposure that Robertson's campaign got, the less popular it became. Polling results consistently reflected his lack of popularity, even in areas with high numbers of fundamentalists. Another prominent supporter of the NCR was Jesse Helms.

In the 1980 presidential election, many in the Christian Right did not publicly back Republican candidate Ronald Reagan despite viewing him as favourable to the incumbent Jimmy Carter. In the 1980 elections to the House of Representatives, 23 of the 27 liberal candidates whom the Christian Right had explicitly campaigned against were defeated, something that the Christian Right claimed credit for. The fact that conservatives did not do well at the 1982 Senate elections led some on the Christian Right to claim that it was because the Republicans had failed to sufficiently address the movement's agenda. Various Christian Right figures claimed that the re-election of Reagan as President in 1984 was also due to Reagan's increasing incorporation of elements of the Christian Right agenda into the Republican Party platform. When a number of low level functionaries in the Reagan administration tightened the availability of federal funds for abortion referral clinics, the Christian Right saw it as a being in support of their politics.

By the 1984 presidential election, Christian right support for Reagan was far more vocal than it had been in 1980. Many NCR leaders attended the Republican nomination convention in Dallas, Texas. In the 1986 mid-term elections, the Democratic Party increased their majority in the House of Representatives and took control of the U.S. Senate. Some Republican politicians who had been linked to the NCR, like Paula Hawkins and Jeremiah Denton, lost their seats. According to many political analysts, whose views were presented in the media, was that the New Christian Right was no longer a serious electoral force.

In November 1987, Falwell resigned as president of the Moral Majority. Robertson ran for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.

Tactics

What is novel [about Christian rightists] is their willingness to campaign publicly and politically against things they find offensive. Although fundamentalists have always found something to complain about—after all this world is the world of fallen and sinful man—their environment has grown increasingly hostile. The unregenerate part of the world has become ever more obviously unregenerate. One need not follow fundamentalists in their uncritical attitude to the past, their blanket condemnation of the present, nor in their explanation of the ways in which the world has changed to accept that divorce is now common, as is drug addiction, that homosexuality is accepted in many circles as an alternative life-style, that 'housewife' is a devalued status, that the separation of church and state (once interpreted as denominational neutrality) is now taken to imply secularity, and so on.

—Bruce, 1988

Moral Majority Inc. is made up of millions of Americans, including ministers, priests and rabbis, who are deeply concerned about the moral decline of our nation, and who are sick and tired of the way many amoral and secular humanists and other liberals are destroying the traditional family and moral values on which our nation was built.

— Moral Majority brochure, c.1983

There were distinct differences between the New Christian Right as it existed at the broader federal and the more localized level.

Various NCR groups publicly issued "report cards" on politicians to whom they were hostile, listing non-conservative measures that said figures had backed. These were designed to encourage voters sympathetic to the movement's aims not to vote for these politicians. This was a tactic that had previously been used by older campaign groups in the U.S. Helping to ensure that opponents of the NCR could be accused of having voted against specific conservative issues, Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina repeatedly added amendments on socio-moral issues to entirely unrelated bills; when various politicians voted against these bills, the Christian Right could then truthfully claim that these individuals had voted against the socio-moral amendments.

The self-image of fundamentalist Protestants is that of the "moral majority".

The NCR operated in ways similar to other U.S. political campaign movements, for instance by lobbying legislators and encouraging voter registration among those considered likely to support the movement's agenda. The movement paid little attention to trying to convert liberals to its viewpoints, rather its focus was on trying to encourage conservatives to mobilize around particular issues.

Political action committees—which emerged as an unintended consequence of the 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act—played an important role in the rise of the NCR.

The NCR paid for television and newspaper advertising through which it sought to influence electoral outcomes. According to Bruce, these Christian Right adverts took part in the longstanding use of "sleaze" advertising but "achieved new depths of vituperation" in its denigration of liberal politicians.

The low turn-out in many U.S. elections—only 35% of eligible voters for instance took part in the 1978 mid-term elections—made it easier for well-organised groups to swing the result in their favor. The use of primary elections by both the Republican and Democratic Parties also made it easier for members of groups like the NCR to get sympathetic figures elected to office.

America was founded by men of faith on Biblical principles! Virtually all of our founding fathers recognized the critical importance of religious morality as the foundation for our liberty and social well-being... Unfortunately, our Christian values and morality are today being drastically undermined... Not only is it our civic duty but, more importantly, our Biblical imperative to be God's standard bearer in the affairs of our nation. We cannot, in other words, rely on the unrighteous to safeguard morality in our government!

— A 1982 report card issued by the Christian Voice group

Bruce noted that while fundamentalists made up a significant minority of the U.S. population, sufficiently powerful to "place some of their concerns on the agenda of public debate", they "are not themselves united on socio-moral issues, on policies which might advance their socio-moral positions, on the value of the accommodations necessary to work in alliance with other groups, or on the priority that such concerns should have in their political choices."

Many Republican politicians played down the role of the Christian right in getting them elected.

Some NCR activists were appointed to the Reagan administration, but mostly in low positions.

The Moral Majority encouraged its members to stand for election at the local level, hoping that it could build ground that way. The NCR also sought to built influence within the Republican Party, hoping that it could become an established interest group within the party in a similar manner to how Jesse Jackson's "Rainbow Coalition" had become an interest group within the Democratic Party.

The Christian Right proved successful at raising large sums of money through many small donations. Most NCR groups allowed incumbent politicians whom they supported to look after themselves at elections, instead directing their funds to conservatives who were challenging a liberal incumbent. Most chose not to channel their funds into Republican campaigns directly, but instead to use them to independently campaign against the Democratic candidate and to engage in voter registration drives among those sectors of the electorate whom they thought likely to vote Republican. There are instances where Christian Right campaigns may have backfired by encouraging the mobilization of liberal voters against them; at the 1986 Senate election for Maryland, for example, NCR criticisms of the liberal trade union activist Barbara Mikulski may have aided Mikulski's victory over the incumbent conservative Linda Chavez, who previously held a strong lead in the polls.

Some Christian rightists discussed the idea that if their attempts to influence the Republican Party failed, they should consider the formation of a new party to articulate their views. Given the barriers to third party success in the U.S. political system, this would likely have taken the form of a surrogate party for the Republicans, akin to the Conservative Party of New York State.

Support base

The NCR's leadership proved successful in transcending denominational divisions, incorporating not just Protestants but also conservative Roman Catholics like Phillips, Viguerie, and Phyllis Schafly and even Jews like Weyrich. This was a fact that Christian Right organisations were often keen to stress. Organisations like the Moral Majority denied being "religious" organisations so as to try and attract support from different denominational backgrounds. Conversely, the movement's grassroots remains overwhelmingly comprised of evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants.

Some commentators suggested that the emergence of the Christian Right reflected a growth in the number of fundamentalist Protestants in the U.S. Bruce cautioned that there was no evidence for any major growth, instead identifying the Christian Right as a growth in "public awareness of fundamentalism" coupled with "the growth of evangelical and fundamentalist self-confidence". He proposed that many commentators had been taken by surprise because "liberals had simply forgotten that large numbers of people did not share their beliefs and values. The cosmopolitans and intellectuals who supervised the media and ran the bureaucracies of the major denominations had concentrated on the struggles for the rights of women and blacks, on the student movement, and on the protests against the Vietnam war, and neglected the American conservative Protestant."

Roman Catholic protests were under the control of the Church hierarchy, which did not endorse the Christian Right, and which might have prevented some Roman Catholic clergy from taking a more active role in supporting the movement. At the same time, many Roman Catholics in the U.S. were likely aware that a number of Christian Right figures had links to anti-Catholic organisations such as the Ku Klux Klan and that historically, fundamentalist Protestants had been at the forefront of promoting anti-Catholic prejudice in the U.S. Similarly, many Jews who might have shared the Christian Right's socio-moral stance were likely put off by the fact that many fundamentalist Protestants had a history of anti-Semitism. Falwell for instance once told an audience of Virginia fundamentalists that "A few of you here today don't like Jews. And I know why. He [i.e. the Jew] can make more money accidentally than you can on purpose." The chair of the New York state chapter of the Moral Majority was quoted as saying that "God has given [the Jewish people] talents he has not given others. They are His chosen people. Jews have a God-given ability to make money, almost a supernatural ability to make money... they control the media, they control this city." The NCR-linked televangelist Jimmy Swaggart described the Holocaust as God's punishment of the Jews for their rejection of Jesus.

Many black Protestant Christians might also have been off-put by the fact that many NCR-linked individuals and groups, such as Jesse Helms and the John Birch Society, had a history of opposing the African-American civil rights movement. Bruce noted that "the NCR has limited appeal outside the WASP [White Anglo-Saxon Protestant] world because its arcadia—the one nation under God which was blessed—is white and Protestant. There are no parts for Catholics, Jews, or blacks in the sacred history of the new Christian right."

To achieve political change, fundamentalist Protestants needed to build alliances with other religious groups, such as Mormons, Roman Catholics, Jews, and secular conservatives, to build majorities; alone, they were too small and too regionally concentrated to shift policy on a federal level. They also needed to compartmentalize, for instance by presenting their arguments against abortion as being separate from their fundamentalist Protestant beliefs; this proved difficult to achieve, for most Protestant fundamentalists were used to having their religious and political views closely intertwined.

Although some Christian rightists sought to present fundamentalist Protestants as an oppressed minority, Bruce noted that unlike other minority groups claiming victim status—such as African-Americans, gays, and women—there was no evidence that fundamentalist Protestants had been socio-economically disadvantaged because of this facet of their identity. Where fundamentalist Protestant individuals were socio-economically disadvantaged, Bruce noted, it was because they were working-class, poorly educated, or living in marginalised regions, rather than because they were fundamentalist Protestants. He noted that the disadvantage that fundamentalist Protestants were experiencing by the 1970s was in the decreasing extent to which the state was willing to accommodate their religious culture.

Bruce noted that it was difficult for fundamentalist Protestants to change their self-image from that of the "moral majority" to being just one minority among many campaigning for their interests. Further hindering the Christian right's ability to campaign alongside other minority interest groups was the fact that white fundamentalist Protestants had historically been involved in anti-black, anti-gay, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, and anti-feminist campaigns, and that whenever they had been dominant in a region other minorities had been poorly treated. There was therefore little trust of fundamentalist Protestants among many other sectors of U.S. society. There were also concerns that fundamentalist Protestants generally had imperialist ambitions over the rest of U.S. society, with its self-designation as the "moral majority" being interpreted by some outsiders as a fundamentalist desire to impose their views across society.

Reception and legacy

Repeatedly, representatives of capital supported the mainstream Republican Party establishment against the NCR.

Most of the Christian Right's gains during the 1970s and 1980s—such as receiving supportive comments from President Reagan and having activists appointed to his administration—were symbolic rather than legislative. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Christian Right failed to achieve many of its objectives. Most bills sponsored by members of the Christian Right died at the committee level. It lacked sufficient support in either the House of Representatives or the Senate to see its bills passed into law. The Christian Right's attempts to outlaw abortion across the U.S. failed.

Observing the rise of the NCR, many commentators believed that it was the result of 'secular', non-fundamentalist conservatives manipulating fundamentalists to encourage the growth of a right-wing movement that would benefit their own interests. Some liberals downplayed the importance of NCR to discourage giving it greater credibility. Other U.S. liberals, such as the People for the American Way, tried to amplify what they perceived as its threat to the country in order to solicit greater funds for its campaigns.

Bruce thought the NCR had "a great deal in common" with other third party movements in U.S. history, such as the Know Nothings, the American Protective Association, the second Ku Klux Klan, and the People's Party, in that it faced the same structural issues they experienced.

Bruce, Steve (1990) [1988]. The Rise and Fall of the New Christian Right: Conservative Protestant Politics in America 1978–1988. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

TP

The Tea Party has been described as a "broad social movement fighting for tax reductions and a small government." It was not a political party. The movement was based on a loose coalition of three groups: grassroots associations, right-wing media such as Fox News, and anti-tax foundations such as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks. David Niewert described the movement as being "overtly right-wing populist" in nature.

Beyond the movement's unified anti-tax and anti-government stance, there is much internal diversity among Tea Party activists and supporters regarding social and economic issues. Some Tea Party proponents have endorsed conservative social views, while others take socially libertarian stances on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, and freedom of religion. There are also differences between grassroots Tea Party groups and the major "astroturf" anti-tax organisations like Americans for Prosperity which financially back the movement. The diversity of the movement led the political scientist Nadia Marzouki to state that it would be "more accurate to speak of 'Tea Parties'."

Background

The Tea Party movement emerged several weeks following the election of Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama as U.S. President. This was a low-point for the conservative movement: Republican President George W. Bush was leaving office with high disapproval ratings, Obama's defeat of John McCain in the presidential election left the party without a clear leader, and the Democrats had made considerable electoral gains across the board. In the early months of his presidency, Obama had widespread public approval, and some pundits were talking about long-term decline for the Republicans. Obama had been elected on the promise of enacting various reforms, and many conservatives expressed their intent to stop these. Among the most notable exponents of this view was conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh, who stated that Obama's "failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding." This attitude of opposition created the impetus for the Tea Party movement.

In the final years of Bush's presidency, the U.S. was hit by a financial crisis. Under Bush, the U.S. Congress discussed measures to deal with the situation by bailing out the financial industry; they reached an agreement after Obama took over, on February 11, 2009. There were early conservative protests against this package. On her blog Redistributing Knowledge, the schoolteacher Keli Carender—who used the pseudonym "Liberty Belle"—encouraged conservatives to protest, organizing a demonstration in Seattle for February 16; around 100 attended. Financed by Americans for Prosperity, a right-wing think tank funded by the billionaire David Koch, the conservative blogger Michelle Malkin followed Carender's example and held a protest in Denver on the same day, attracting around 200 participants.

Formation: 2009

On February 18, 2009, Obama's government announced the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, designed to assist homeowners facing foreclosure. On 19 February, the CNBC analyst and financial executive Rick Santelli delivered an angry monologue on television to protest this stimulus package. Standing at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he invited "capitalists" to go there and have a "Chicago Tea Party". Santelli's speech went viral on YouTube, and gained widespread coverage in the U.S. media. A website, "officialchicagoteaparty.com", was soon launched. Alluding to the Boston Tea Party of 1773—a defining event in the build up to the American Revolutionary War—his "Tea Party" reference proved a rallying cry for many conservatives.

Conservative bloggers picked up Santelli's reference and encouraged people to protest under the "Tea Party" banner. Protests took place in various cities on February 27, although remained small. Over March and early April, Fox News gave much favorable coverage to the movement, helping to boost support for it. On Tax Day (April 15), larger protests occurred; demonstrations were held in over 750 cities, attracting tens of thousands of Tea Party supporters. The largest was in Atlanta, Georgia, which attracted between 7000 and 15,000 protesters. From the spring of 2009 through to 2010, movement members formed a range of local groups throughout the United States, typically meeting on a weekly or monthly basis. As Obama's proposed healthcare reform was discussed in town halls across the country, these Tea Party groups regularly turned up to disrupt proceedings, shouting down Democrats and those supporting reform. Such tactics had been encouraged by the movement's corporate backers, including FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, who sent private memos to grassroots groups outlining how to best disrupt proceedings.

At Fox News, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Tea Party movement was the anchor Glenn Beck. He drew on many of its themes with his "9/12" project, an attempt to bring the American people back to the feelings they experienced on the day after the September 11 attacks of 2001 while espousing the "9 Principles and 12 Values" he drew from W. Cleon Skousen's 1972 far-right conspiracist text, The Five Thousand Year Leap. On September 12, 2009, between 60,000 and 70,000 Tea Party protesters marched in Washington D.C. as part of Beck's "9/12" event.

Despite Tea Party opposition, Obama's healthcare reform bill—in the form of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—passed into law in March 2010.

In the November 2010 mid-term elections, the Republicans gained a majority in the United States House of Representatives after winning 63 additional seats. Many of these newly elected Republicans were aligned to the Tea Party. Various large free market advocacy groups—such as FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity—recognized the opportunity present in a grassroots movement calling for lower taxes and smaller government. Following the 2010 midterms, these free market advocacy groups convened the newly elected Republicans and encouraged them to support their agenda of lower taxes, large public sector cuts, and the elimination of much government regulation.

According to the political scientist Nadia Marzouki, the use of right-wing populist rhetoric by Republican hopefuls Ben Carson and Donald Trump "indicates the extent to which [Tea Party] populist rhetoric has become acceptable in the mainstream" of American society. Trump's populist anti-Islam rhetoric proved popular among Tea Party supporters.

Beliefs

Skocpol and Williamson noted that the views of Tea Party members were "toward the far right of the U.S. political spectrum".

The Tea Party made use of populist rhetoric. The "others" whom the Tea Party rallied against were Muslims, migrants, and African-Americans.

The rhetoric of the Tea Party movement sought to spread sentiments of self-righteousness and outrage among its support base. Prominent socio-cultural events were repeatedly portrayed as "crises" within the movement's discourse.

Marzouki expressed the view that the Tea Party "essentially developed a religion based on the foundation of the United States", with the U.S. constitution presented as "a sacred symbol of the nation".

A major component of Tea Party rhetoric is its emphasis on the idea that the United States has a specific Christian identity and that this is under threat.

Some evangelical Christians were concerned about affiliating themselves with the movement because of its libertarian elements.

Marzouki stated that the Tea Party was a "key actor" in promoting the populist idea of a division between "'good, American' Christians and 'bad, other' Muslims".

In closely association Christianity with national identity, while placing little emphasis on Christian belief and virtues, the Tea Party movement displays strong similarities with right-wing populist groups active across Europe.

Islamophobia

In Tea Party rhetoric, all Muslims—whether "radical" or "moderate"—are typically presented as a threat to the American people. Most Tea Party supporters refuse to consider Islam to be a religion, instead referring to it as a political or military ideology. The Tea Party's promotion of conspiracy theories about an Islamic threat to the United States followed on from a long tradition of such thinking in American culture. Previously, such conspiracies had varyingly been attributed to Freemasons, Jews, Roman Catholics, and Mormons.

Islamophobic speech had existed in the United States prior to the emergence of the Tea Party, but following the movement's growth in 2010 the number of controversies surrounding Islam in the United States proliferated. According to Marzouki, the Tea Party's "success has undoubtedly played an important role in the spreading and normalisation of Islamophobic statements and acts" in American society. Tea Party figures involved themselves in various Islam-themed controversies. For instance, in June 2010 a controversy emerged in Murfreesboro, Tennessee when several of the town's inhabitants protested against the zoning commission's decision to authorise the construction of a mosque. Lou Ann Zenelik, a Tea Party candidate in the November 2010 midterm elections, joined these pre-existing protests.

The Tea Party's Islamophobic rhetoric has also fed into the emergence of the anti-sharia law movement in the United States. This movement began with Newt Gingrich's July 2010 conference in which he presented sharia law as a threat to the U.S. constitution and called for a federal law that would ban any mention of it. Gingrich's idea soon spread among conservative pundits, bloggers, and activists and gained support from two lobbies for conservative lawyers, the American Public Policy Alliance and the American Center for Law and Justice. In the November 2010 midterm elections, voters in Oklahoma were presented with state question 755, which would amend the state constitution to ban Ohio courts from taking "international or Sharia Law" into account during cases. The measure was passed by 70% of Ohio voters although in January 2012, the Court of Appeal rejected the amendment as unconstitutional due to its specific targeting of Islam.

Within the Tea Party, Islamophobic sentiment was closely linked with birtherism, the conspiracy theory that Obama was not born a U.S. citizen and thus was not legally eligible for the presidency. In this, the Tea Party tied in its anti-Islam stance with its criticism of Obama. Prominent Tea Party figures like Michele Bachman claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the U.S. government with the assistance of Democratic politicians. Such alarmism was strongly condemned by senior Republicans like John McCain, Marco Rubio, and John Boehner, who warned of a return to McCarthyism.

The rise of Islamic State enabled the Tea Party's message to enter the American political mainstream, in part because the Islamic State, like the Tea Party movement, insist on conflating Islam as a whole with violent Islamist ideologies.

Links to racism and anti-Semitism

Some of the signs displayed at Tea Party events reflected racist sentiments. For instance, in protesting Obama's health care reform, one placard depicted the president as an African witch doctor with a bone through his nose.

There are also explicitly anti-Semitic elements within the Tea Party movement. For instance, the chairman of the 1776 Tea Party group and host of the Tea Party Radio Hour, Dale Robertson, invited anti-Semitic activist Martin Red Beckman onto his show, and endorsed Pastor John Weaver, who is closely linked to neo-Confederate and Christian Identity groups. Anti-Semitic and other racist ideologies have also been promoted among the movement's grassroots by the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white nationalist organisation.

Links to violence

After Obama's health care reform passed into law, Palin tweeted images of Democratic politicians who had supported the bill as viewed through the cross-hairs of a sniper rifle; the graphs featured the wording: "Don't retreat, instead, RELOAD". Shortly after doing so, the Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, although survived. Her assailant was a young man who—although not linked to the Tea Party movement—had been immersed in the conspiracist 9/11 Truth movement.

Skocpol and Williamson noted that the Tea Party movement was "neither a top-down creation nor a bottom-up explosion". In contrast to some stereotypes promoted by leftist opponents of the movement, the billionaires and advocacy groups were not the movement's creators and nor were they responsible for generating the grassroots.

Most local and regional groups had some internet presence.

Signs carried at Tea Party protests on Tax Day 2009 included: "Obama = Socialist", "Obama's Socialism: Chains We Can Believe In", "Stop Obama's Marxist Agenda", "Marxism: Obama Embraces It, Reagan Defeated It", "Anatomy of a Liberal Fascist Coup (Ninety Years in the Making)", "Government Control of Business is Fascism", "OBAMA — Who Gave You Permission to Steal My Country? Not Me!", "Save the American Dream", "Where's the Birth Certificate?", and "Even Hitler Was Elected—Once!".

Many social surveys were undertaken to understand Tea Party supporters and how they differed from other Americans. Membership of the Tea Party movement was largely demographically homogenous. Supporters were overwhelmingly white, over the age of fifty, and from middle or upper middle-class backgrounds. The early development of the movement relied heavily on those not in full-time employment, namely retirees and "stay-at-home moms". Skocpol and Williamson noted that it consisted of "mostly older middle-class Americans".

Skocpol and Williamson noted that Tea Party member's statement that they "want my country back" was "perhaps the most characteristic and persistent theme in grassroots Tea Party activism". Skocpol and Williamson found that, despite the comparatively high rates of educational attainment among Tea Party members, misinformation was prevalent among them. They also observed that members of the movement "more readily subscribe to harsh generalizations about immigrants and blacks" than other conservatives or average Americans more broadly. Tea Party leaders were nevertheless often keen to encourage people of color to join the movement or to speak to their groups, and they often sought to marginalize any overtly racist members at events.

The Tea Party remained unpopular within the U.S. Jewish community. The Rabbi David Saperstein, who headed the Washington office of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, noted that the movement's attacks on the government, coupled with its "high identification with Christian conservatives" alienated most Jewish Americans.

The Tea Party received a mixed reception from established Christian church groups. The movement's views on tax, finance, and healthcare have concerned various Christian organisations. For instance, in July 2011, seventy Roman Catholic priests, nuns, and theologians from Ohio wrote to the Republican Speaker John Boehner—himself a Catholic—urging him to "reject the reckless path urged by many Tea Party leaders in Congress" regarding their desire to default on U.S. debt. In 2013, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the Republican Party's Tea Party-influenced plan to deal to national debt, believing that it would harm the poor.

Tea Party members derisively referred to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as "Obamacare".

According to Skocpol and Williamson, the Boston Tea Party "signifies authentic patriotism, and has visceral meaning to people who feel that the United States as they have known it is slipping away."

Marzouki suggested that as its "quasi-official banner", the Tea Party movement had adopted Jon McNaughton's painting "One Nation Under God". In this image, Jesus Christ is depicted holding the U.S. constitution, with 'good' Americans—including Ronald Reagan, Abigail Adams, a farmer, a policeman, a mother, and a student—surrounding him, and 'bad' Americans—a journalist, a Supreme Court judge, and a professor holding a copy of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species—to his left.

Skocpol and Williamson noted that the Tea Party movement had a "major impact" on the Republican Party, shifting it politically to the right and thereby shifting the focus and center of U.S. political discourse. They noted that it "challenged assumptions about how U.S. politics would play out following the big Democratic victories in the 2008 elections." Niewert suggested that the Tea Party movement was "perhaps the single most significant manifestation of right-wing populism in the nation's history, certainly since the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s."

Commentators on both the left and right often exaggerated and distorted the nature of the movement. Those on the right often presented it as being more revolutionary than it really was, and downplayed its corporate backing to emphasize its grassroots elements. Those on the left often depicted it as being either a corporate creation whose grassroots were the dupes of billionaires, or as a small movement whose influence was greatly exaggerated by Fox News and other right-wing media. In liberal circles, Tea Party members were often stereotyped as uneducated, racist, rednecks.

Marzouki, Nadia (2016). "The Tea Party and Religion: Between Religious and Historical Fundamentalism". In Nadia Marzouki, Duncan McDonnell, and Olivier Roy (eds.) (ed.). Saving the People: How Populists Hijack Religion. London: Hurst and Company. pp. 149–166. ISBN 978-1-84904-516-2. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

W

The most widespread and commonly used definition of "witchcraft" defines it as the causing of harm through harmful magic. This is the term usually employed by historians and anthropologists. In 1978, the anthropologist of religion Rodney Needham defined a witch as "someone who causes harm to others by mystical means"; in 2017, the historian Ronald Hutton noted that Needham's was the "standard scholarly definition" of the term. Similarly, the historian of early modern Europe Wolfgang Behringer described witchcraft as "a generic term for all kinds of evil magic and sorcery, as perceived by contemporaries". In 2017, Hutton noted that the use of "witch" in reference to "a worker of harmful magic" was "the mainstream scholarly convention".

Hutton nevertheless suggested that there were at least three other definitions of "witchcraft" extant in Anglo-American society by the early twenty-first century. One applies the term "witch" to any practitioner of magic, with benevolent practitioners often referred to as "good witches" or "white witches". This use of the term may have arisen from the attempts of medieval Christian churchmen to smear all folk-magical practitioners by claiming that all of their activities were linked to harmful practices. A further definition of the term "witch" uses it in reference to a practitioner of certain Modern Pagan religions. A fourth definition of "witch" uses it as "a symbol of independent female authority and resistance to male domination."

Hutton, Ronald (2017). The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Newhaven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300229042.

Rit

Ritual is a category usually used to describe actions which are repeated in a formalised manner and which are regarded as being different from other, more ordinary actions. The term has been applied to actions carried out by humans for both religious and non-religious intent, and sometimes also to activities conducted by other animal species. The concept has been adopted by scholars in the humanities and social sciences, who have proposed various different definitions of the term.

The term ritual derives from the Latin word ritualis, which in medieval Roman Catholicism referred to a book laying out the structure of a liturgical service. In Latin, the term ritus was used for the prescribed order of the service itself. These terms had entered the English language by the mid-seventeenth century. By the early twentieth century, the term ritual was no longer associated so closely with Christian practice and was instead being used to describe various actions carried out people all over the world. Scholars began studying ritual in the late nineteenth century, presenting various different theories as to what it is and what it does. At the time, ritual was often associated with "primitive" behaviour and regarded as being inferior to belief and reason. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, this research coalesced into the distinct field of ritual studies.

Although various activities—such as weddings, funerals, and inaugurations—are widely recognised as being rituals, there remains debate as to how to best define the term. The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith argued that certain actions became rituals when they occurred in a special place.

Many different theories as to why humans conduct rituals have been put forward by scholars. Functionalist explanations stress the idea that rituals are carried out because they serve a useful purpose in a community. The sociologist Émile Durkheim argued that rituals serve to create a sense of social cohesiveness, while the anthropologist Max Gluckman proposed that they provided a means of enacting and relieving social tensions, thus preventing the outbreak of conflict.

A "ritual," in its broadest secular sense, is usually taken to mean anything done in a habitual manner, like brushing your teeth before bed or having a cup of coffee in the morning, or it is used to describe what members of the animal kingdom do to attract the attention of the opposite sex when mating season has arrived.

—Scholar of Asian studies John K. Nelson

Academics in various different disciplines have approached the topic of ritual and have defined it in many different ways.

There remains little consensus regarding what ritual is. In 1968, the anthropologist Edmund Leach noted that "there is the widest possible disagreement as to how the word ritual should be used and how the performance of ritual should be understood." Some view "ritual" as only being a scholarly construct that was loaded with Western assumptions and biases.

Barry Stephenson defined ritual as "a quality of action potentially available across a spectrum of behavior." Stephenson stated that "ritual is first and foremost a doing", although people also "think, write, and read about ritual".

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the scholarly field of ritual studies emerged, drawing upon studies in ethology, anthropology, sociology, history of religion, and the sociology of religion.

The term "ritualization" has different meanings and uses. The concept was devised by the ethologist John Huxley in his 1914 article on the courtship habits of the Great Crested Grebe. Huxley applied the term to this bird behaviour because he believed that human rituals had similar functions and purposes to similar habits among non-human animal species.

The scholar of religion Barry Stephenson noted that ritual was "a fuzzy concept", while scholar of religion Catherine Bell related that it was "a particularly complicated phenomenon" for scholars to understand. There is no clear and widely shared understanding of what "ritual" is. Instead, there are many different definitions of ritual, often applied by adherents of different scholarly disciplines. The study of ritual is an interdisciplinary field of research; among the academic disciplines that have examined the topic have been anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, and religious studies.

The concept of ritual is a modern Western development. Some scholars have argued that the concept of ritual is loaded with Western assumptions and biases. Others have questioned its utility given how it has been used in so many competing ways.

Most definitions of ritual stress its formality and traditionalism. Stephenson noted that "ritual is typically distinguished as special, non-ordinary behavior", and stressed that it "is first and foremost a doing, something done with the body". He thought that the term ritual was being used in three separate ways: to describe a kind of action; to describe a cultural domain akin to theatre or sport in which people take part; and to describe an actor in its own right with its own power and agency.

The American anthropologist Talal Asad suggested that most ethnographers "recognize a ritual when he or she sees one, because ritual is[…] symbolic activity as opposed to the instrumental behaviour of everyday life".

The anthropologist Barry Stephenson noted that "ritual is first and foremost a doing". The term has commonly been employed to describe a broad range of human activities, among them weddings, funerals, birthdays, inaugurations, graduations, festivals, parades, and gift exchange. Ritual blurs into other categories of human activity, such as play, games, performance, and theatre. Stephenson suggested that ritual was a "constituent element" of being human.

Related to the term "ritual" is "ritualistic", which Bell noted carried connotations of the "thoughtless and dogmatic" in common parlance. Another term that has been used is "ritualization", although this has been given various different meanings.

Ritual can be both religious and non-religious. It can be used to sway public opinion and mobilise public support for government policies.

Academic definitions

Most definitions of ritual have assumed that it is a universal phenomenon with several distinctive features. Barry Stephenson defined "ritual" as being "not a particular kind of discrete action, but rather a quality of action potentially available across a spectrum of behaviour."

The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith stated that "ritual is a means of performing the way things ought to be in conscious tension to the way things are in such a way that the ritualized perfection is recollected in the ordinary, uncontrolled course of things". Smith's argument relies on the idea that certain actions become ritual by virtue of the location in which it took place.

The concept of "ritualization" was first systematically developed by ethologists, scholars who study animal behaviour. Ethologists have applied the term "ritual" to animal behaviours that were patterned, repetitive, and communicative. The term "ritualization" was introduced by the ethologist Julian Huxley in his 1914 academic paper on the Great Crested Grebe.

For Huxley, ritualization was a process of creating communicative behaviour from acts that were originally instrumental.

Ethologists' arguments about ritualization indicate that ritual was present before the evolution of homo sapiens. It thus suggests that ritual was likely present from the origins of the human species. However, suggestions as to what the earliest human rituals entailed and why they were carried out remain highly speculative. This is because there is very little data for ritual in the Palaeolithic ("Old Stone Age").

The historian of religion Jonathan Z. Smith proposed that "ritual is, first and foremost, a mode of paying attention. It is a process for marking interest". He also expressed the view that "ritual is a means of performing the way things ought to be in conscious tension with the way things are". As Smith stated, "the role of place [was] a fundamental component of ritual: place directs attention".

The anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss argued that ritual ultimately pursued a resolution of the inherent conflict between nature and culture.

Etymology and conceptual history

The modern English word ritual derives from the older Latin terms ritus, which described the prescribed ceremonial order for a Christian liturgical service, and ritualis, which referred to the book which laid out this order. Prayer manuals called rituals are known to have been in use in Christian monasteries by the ninth century. In the mid-seventeenth century the term ritual entered the English language as a substantive term. It thus appeared in the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1771. Here, a ritual was defined as "a book directing the order and manner to be observed in celebrating religious ceremonies, and performing divine service in a particular church, diocese, order, or the like." By the third edition of the encyclopaedia, published in 1797, additional text had been added stipulating that rituals, meaning the acts rather than the texts, had also been present in the Classical world.

The term ritual began to be used in its modern sense in the early twentieth century when it was employed by various scholars who were trying to understand the origins of religion. By the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1910, ritual was being defined in a completely different manner. No longer was it treated as a term with specific associations with Christianity, and instead it was presented as a form of action that was present in all religions and also in non-religious settings. References to a ritual being a type of Christian prayer group were absent.

In Europe, ritual was being increasingly derided due to the influence of Protestantism and the Age of Enlightenment. This Protestant mistrust of ritual had an impact on modernist views of the concept, and were part of the reason why Western scholars often associated ritual largely with what they regarded as "primitive" forms of religion. There was a shift from the term ritual referring to a text and onto it referring to actions instead. By this point, the idea of a ritual as a prayer manual was no longer found in common parlance but continued to exist, as with the Roman Ritual.

During the Age of Enlightenment in Western countries, ritual increasingly came to be regarded as a superstitious remnant of a primitive past. In this context, reason was increasingly privileged as the main way of acquiring knowledge. Stephenson expressed the view that "overly suspicious and negative conceptions of ritual remain part of the intellectual and cultural milieu in Europe and North America". Stephenson argued that the proliferation of fears about a "Satanic Ritual Abuse" during the 1980s and 1990s reflected how the term "ritual" often carried negative connotations in Western countries.

In the late nineteenth century, various scholars began exploring ritual as a subject of their research. An academic field of research termed ritual studies emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, influenced by earlier work in ethology, anthropology, sociology, the history of religion, and the phenomenology of religion. In the 1980s, ritual studies was increasingly influenced by critical theory and cultural studies, and because of this it switched focus from theorising how ritual works to critiquing the actual theory and practice of ritual. This new approach was particularly apparent in Ronald Grimes' 1990 book, Ritual Criticism.

Functionalist approaches

The functionalist approach generally assumes that ritual has a socially useful purpose. It was the dominant interpretation of ritual among anthropologists and sociologists during the first half of the twentieth century. The main functional view at that time held that ritual binds groups together by cultivating and maintaining shared group values and meanings and thus ensuring that the group functions harmoniously.

One of the key exponents of the functionalist interpretation of ritual was the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. He set forward his ideas in his 1912 book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, in which he argued that ritual played a major role in establishing the social order of a given society. For Durkheim, ritual was all about tradition. Durkheim also argued that ritual had the power to produce effervescence, meaning that it can cause a feeling of well-being, collective joy, and exuberance.

A different functionalist interpretation was advanced by the American anthropologist Roy Rappaport. Rappaport thought that ritual was the original and primary means through which systems of meaning were created that would ground society. In contrast to Durkheim, who believed that ideas came before actions, Rappaport argued that ideas were actually the product of ritual actions. Rappaport's ideas have been criticised for overlooking the role of conflict within ritual as well as ritual's use for purposes of exerting power and control. They have also been critiqued for failing to explain why rituals change. Rappaport defined ritual as "the performance of more or less invariant sequences of formal acts and utterances not entirely encoded by the performers." Rappaport saw ritual as having two features: first, it had a formal, invariant structure, and second, it must be performed.

Other functionalist approaches have emphasised the idea of ritual as a mechanism of social control. The South African anthropologist Max Gluckman argued that ritual allows a community to highlight and enact its internal differences in such a way as to reduce the likelihood that they will result in open conflict. As an example, he highlighted a series of rites among the Zulu of southern Africa in which women dressed as men and walked through the streets herding cattle, an otherwise male occupation, while acting in a lewd and provocative manner. At the same time, the community's men stayed in their homes, thus symbolically taking on a female role. Gluckman argued that such rituals allowed women to air their grievances and frustrations, thus periodically releasing their tensions that could otherwise result in active conflict between the sexes. A similar example are the carnival traditions of late medieval Europe, in which people took on roles different from their established social classes and in which a community celebrated, for a short period, a "world turned upside down".

Under the influence of performance theory, the aesthetic and dramatic qualities were increasingly emphasised.

Various classificatory schemes for categorising different rituals have been put forward. Different categories that have been used include rites of passage, sacrifice, magic, secular ritual, interaction ritual, and seasonal rites. The contents of these categories often overlap.

Archaeologists examine past ritual through the material remains left by ritual actions. There are many elements of ritual—such as the colours, smells, sounds, speech, and participants' emotions—which typically remain inaccessible to archaeological investigation. What archaeology can offer, according to Vasiliki G. Koutrafouri, is "a long-term overview of ritual practices within a given sociocultural system", with archaeological evidence able to pick up on "variations, gradual shifts, and also sharp distinct changes."

• Asad, Talal (1993). "Toward a Genealogy of the Concept of Ritual". Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 55–79.
• Bell, Catherine (2009) [1992]. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bell, Catherine (2006). "Ritual". In Robert A. Segal (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion. Malden: Blackwell. pp. 397–411.
• Smith, Jonathan Z. (1987). To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
• Stephenson, Barry (2015). Ritual: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fasc

Fascism is a political ideology located on the far-right of the political spectrum. Precise definitions of fascism differ, although commonly included traits include ultranationalism, militarism, and an emphasis on the need for the rebirth of the nation.

The term fascism was developed as a self-descriptor by Benito Mussolini and the Italian Fascists in the 1920s, and later adopted by various other groups across the world. Although groups and individuals that self-identify as fascist still exist, since the end of Second World War this self-descriptive term has become less common. Most post-war far-right groups abandoned the label fascist—particularly in contexts where the pejorative connotations of the term might hinder their electoral prospects—although political scientists argue that many, although not all of them, remain sufficiently similar to self-described fascist groups to be included in the same category.

Scholars of fascism frequently disagree as to what to exclude and include in that category. Academic debates as to the definition of fascism have developed from the 1960s onward.

Most contemporary theorists regard fascism as a product of modernity.

NN

Neo-Nazism refers to a range of fascist and far-right groups existing after 1945 which adhere to the ideology of Nazism or are otherwise heavily influenced by its example. They are chronologically separated from the original Nazism of the German Nazi Party, which was banned in 1945 following the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. Many of this ideology's adherents do not refer to themselves as neo-Nazis, instead favouring the terms National Socialists or Nazis.

Although it had sympathisers and imitators across the world, the original Nazism of the German Nazi Party was focused on the situation in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Neo-Nazism differs in having a more transnational character, focused on building an international alliance of groups which share a desire to replace liberal democracy with an authoritarian Fourth Reich. As with the original Nazis, neo-Nazis are biological racists and believe in the existence of a distinct, inherently superior Nordic race, which they regard as the purest survival of an ancient Aryan race once dominant across much of the world. In some forms, particularly in Eastern Europe and Asia, neo-Nazi groups have instead claimed a separate, non-Nordic descent from the ancient Aryans. Embracing anti-semitic conspiracy theories, they believe that Jews are the enemies of the Aryan race and have continually worked to undermine it. They view Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler and the other Nazis as heroic figures who attempted to retake Nordic-Aryan control from the Jewish conspiracy. They typically claim that the Holocaust—the extermination of around six million Jews by the Nazi government—never occurred and is a lie designed to discredit Nazi Germany in world opinion. Other neo-Nazis accept the Holocaust occurred but praise it as a victory for the Nordic-Aryan race and express a desire to restart it to eradicate Jews, people of color, homosexuals and other groups. Forms of neo-Nazism, such as Esoteric Hitlerism, combine Nazism with occultism, Heathenry, and Satanism; others, which are part of the Christian Identity movement, combine it with Christianity.

After the defeat of Nazi Germany and their Axis allies in the Second World War, various Nazis either escaped to Latin America or were rehabilitated within German society. Some of these met up with sympathisers elsewhere in the world and continued to promote Nazi ideas. In the United Kingdom and United States, younger individuals took up the cause, and in 1962 formed the World Union of National Socialists, an international umbrella organisation bringing together neo-Nazi groups like the U.S.-based American Nazi Party and British National Socialist Movement. Due to widespread social stigma against Nazism, neo-Nazi groups were unable to achieve electoral success, with some neo-Nazis seeking to gain greater acceptance by forming far-right political parties from which overt Nazi references were absent; these often faced active opposition from anti-fascist groups. Other neo-Nazis formed paramilitary groups and engaged in acts of violence, including bombings and assassinations targeted largely toward minority groups and leftists. In the 1970s and 1980s, neo-Nazism established a presence within the skinhead subculture and began to promote its message through white power music. Neo-Nazi groups also sought to build links with various neo-fascist, white nationalist, and identitarian groups as part of broader far-right groupings like the alt-right movement.

Neo-Nazism remains a fringe movement, even within the broader far-right. In various countries, including Germany, the display of Nazi imagery and Holocaust denial are criminal acts, and may neo-Nazi groups and individuals have faced legal restrictions and bans because of their activities.

The prefix "neo" denotes how the movement is not exactly the same as the Nazism of the 1930s and 1940s and has been revived "in new forms" post-1945. As noted by the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, the original Nazis saw their ideology in terms of the situation in 1930s-40s Germany, whereas for neo-Nazis, their ideology is "detached from the historic context of the Third Reich and re-presented as a global, racist ideology of white supremacism." In being connected to highly emotive topics, the term neo-Nazism is itself an emotive one, which complicates attempts by historians and other scholars to use it for analytic purposes.

Neo-Nazism is a strain or sub-type of fascism. Although chronologically existing alongside neo-fascism, neo-Nazism is distinguished from the latter through its tendency to be "more mimetic" of interwar fascism than the various neo-fascist groups, which have undergone greater alteration in their ideas and form. Neo-Nazism draws eclectically on other sources, from which it draws elements to attach to its main Nazi ideas. In embracing overtly revolutionary approaches, neo-Nazism positiones itself on the most extreme end of the far-right.

The Neo-Nazi movement is not internally homogenous, with different individuals and groups displaying differences from one another. It consists largely of small groups which sociologists refer to as groupuscules and which operate in a network known as a cultic milieu. The neo-Nazi network is transnational, with members communicating with others who share their views in other countries.

The neo-Nazi vision of an ideal future is one in which the inclusive society has been replaced by a New Order that continues the ideas promoted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party during the 1930s and 1940s. Although neo-Nazis idealise many elements of the past, their world-view is also focused on the future, seeking to create an environment in which Nazi ideas are accepted and dominant. Neo-Nazis have imagined communities through which they make sense of the past, present, and future.

The Aryan Race

Global flows of racist news information, music, histories, conspiracy theories, military tactics, religions, mythologies, dating services, and stories of heroic martyrs give even the loneliest Aryan a sense of belonging. He becomes part of a grand narrative that tells of a once-glorious race sinking into a corrupting morass of decay and filth, surrounded by enemy forces. With imagery drawn from pagan mythologies and fantasy novels, the few remaining warriors are urged to lift their swords in defense of race and honor and fight to protect the beauty of the white woman. Braving the apocalypse, few will survive to see the Aryan race rise again out of the ashes, but the slain will be immortalized in the annals of racial heroes. Such warrior dreams summon Aryans from all over the world and provide a sense of unity of purpose and identity, but have so far only occasionally erupted into seriously violent activities.

Historian Mattias Gardell on typical neo-Nazi views of themselves

The imagined community of neo-Nazis crosses borders, forming the idea of a transatlantic, pan-Aryan homeland.

Jews and the Holocaust

Neo-Nazis adhere to conspiracy theories and conceive of Jews as being both evil and an existential threat to themselves. They believe that globalization is a project designed to bring about global racial homogenisation and is being masterminded by the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG). Non-Western influences in Western countries, whether that be in the form of migrants, traded commodities, arts and religion, are seen as having been introduced as part of a plot to exterminate the Aryan race. In seeking to support their claims of a Jewish conspiracy, various neo-Nazi and other anti-Semitic far-right groups have published lists of Jewish-owned corporations and the names of Jewish individuals in prominent positions within the government, entertainment industry, and media. The neo-Nazi assumption is that all of these Jewish individuals are collectively working towards the extermination of the Aryan race through their positions of influence.

The Nazis' traditional method of claiming that a Jewish conspiracy dominated Western governments proved less successful after the Second World War because of a widespread awareness that anti-Semitic politics could lead to events like the Holocaust. In the 1970s, growing numbers of neo-Nazis in both Europe and the U.S. began denying that the Holocaust had ever occurred. These views were initially promoted in publications with a small circulation, but attempts were later made to push these ideas into a mainstream audience, particularly during the 1980s through Willis Carto's Institute for Historical Review. Holocaust deniers typically refer to themselves as "revisionist historians". The historian Mattias Gardell noted that it was difficult to determine how much Holocaust deniers really believe that the Holocaust did not occur and how much they are promoting it as a means of rehabilitating Nazism in the public imagination. In a 1996 article, Harold Covington of the National Socialist White People's Party outlined why he thought promoting Holocaust denial was important: "The destruction of the Myth of the Six Million in the minds of the Aryan peoples worldwide is one of the most important tasks the Movement faces. It may be said that when we have won the battle on the Holocaust, we will have made National Socialist revolution certain."

Some neo-Nazis reject Holocaust denial, acknowledging that the Holocaust occurred yet celebrating it. Gardell recorded one neo-Nazi Heathen in the U.S. who asked: "Why deny one of our rare victories? We should celebrate the Holocaust!" Among those Gardell encountered, however, he found that the majority did not care about the issue, something he termed "Holocaust-denial fatigue".

Environmentalism and ecology

Various neo-Nazis—such as Else Christensen and Jost Turner of the National Socialist Kindred—emphasize the ideal of living in decentralized communities. Turner for example stated that "National Socialism is simply a modern-day revival of Aryan tribalism", and in northern California during the mid-1980s established the Volksberg commune, where members sought to be economically self-sufficient.

Religion

Neo-Nazi groups like the U.S.-based Aryan Nations embrace Christian Identity, promoting Nazi ideas along with a form of Christianity. Christian Identity adheres to the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was not a Jew, but in reality an Aryan, an idea that had originally been promoted in the early 20th century by far-right thinkers like Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, and Alfred Rosenberg.

In the neo-Nazi current, there has been an undercurrent of interest in the Vedic traditions of India. At the forefront of Esoteric Hitlerism was Savitri Devi, a Frenchwoman born to Greek parents who had spent time in India and became convinced that Hinduism was the best survival of the ancient Aryan beliefs.

Since the 1970s, Esoteric Hitlerist ideas became increasingly influential within the neo-Nazi movement.

In sectors of the modern Pagan religion of Heathenry, neo-Nazism has also taken hold, with many such Heathens adopting the idea that the veneration of ancient Germanic deities is part of the "folk soul" of Northern Europeans and thus has been handed down in a biological fashion to their descendants. These far-right Heathens often draw upon ideas from Ariosophy, an eclectic occult movement that developed in Germany and Austria in the Völkisch movement of the late 19th century. A seminal figure in Ariosophy was the Austrian occultist Guido von List, who believed that the pre-Christian belief systems of Northern Europe were the best preserved survival of an ancient Aryan religion. During the 1990s, Ariosophic ideas gained increasing popularity within parts of the U.S. Heathen community; the U.S.-based Heathen group Wotansvolk for instance presented itself as continuing the Ariosophic tradition.

In Britain, the country's self-image of itself as a bulwark of liberal democracy after the Second World War, coupled with widespread public awareness of Nazi atrocities, posed difficulties for the far-right at large. Far-right groups were forced into choosing to either disassociate themselves from Nazism, or seeking to rehabilitate it. Some groups sought the latter path, which led them to become even further isolated from mainstream British public opinion. These groups typically downplayed the British nationalism that had been a central figure of much of the British far-right, and instead focusing on cultivating a pan-Northern European, Aryan-centred identity. In 1962, Colin Jordan and John Tyndall formed the National Socialist Movement (NSM). Jordan declared that "the light which Hitler lit is burning... National Socialism is coming back." In July 1962, the NSM held a rally in London's Trafalgar Square, where Jordan declared that "Hitler was right" and that Britain should not have fought Nazi Germany, but rather should have fought its "real enemies", "world Jewry and its associates in this country". Tyndall added that "in our democratic society the Jew is like a poisonous maggot feeding off a body in an advanced state of decay". Both Jordan and Tyndall were sentenced to short prison sentences for seeking to breach the peace.

The NSM organised a summer conference in which Rockwell attended. This resulted in the formation of the World Union of National Socialists. Membership was restricted to groups which openly acknowledged "the spiritual leadership of Adolf Hitler". The group stated that it wanted to unite "all white people in a (National Socialist) world order with complete racial apartheid", which would "protect and promote the Aryan race and its Western Civilization" across the world and to "find and accomplish on a world-wide scale a just and final settlement of the Jewish problem." The organisation elected Jordan to be world fuhrer.

In 1964, Jordan and Tyndall split, partly over personal rivalries regarding the courting of Francoise Dior and partly over tactical differences; Tyndall wanted a revived focus on British nationalism. He split from the NSM to form his Greater Britain Movement. The split reflected a wider division within the neo-Nazis between those who wanted an explicitly internationalist perspective, and those who desired a more nationalist-centred approach.

As noted by Goodrick-Clarke, in the United States, neo-Nazism emerged as "an extremist response to communism, liberalism and more especially the desegregation of African Americans and colored immigrants."

In the early 1990s, the far-right British National Party formed a paramilitary group, Combat 18, but the latter split acrimoniously from the party and in 1994 formed its own, short-lived political vehicle, the National Socialist Alliance. In 1998, a new British National Socialist Movement was formed; after one of its organisers, David Copeland, planted three nail bombs in London in 1999, the group was shut down. In the 21st century, the openly neo-Nazi National Action formed in Britain.

In Britain and the United States, neo-Nazis turned to Nazi ideology as part of their opposition to liberalism and to the presence of non-white ethnic groups in their countries. Although the presence of non-white populations was an abiding concern, they did not drop the original Nazi emphasis on the Jews as the main adversary of an Aryan race. For these Anglo-American neo-Nazis, a Jewish conspiracy was presented as the cause of multi-racialism in Western countries.

Not all neo-Nazis approved of the white power music scene; Jordan for example was dismissive of it.

Some far-right groups make efforts to distance themselves from neo-Nazism. Thomas Robb's faction of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for example expressed objections to both neo-Nazis and the skinhead subculture. Journalistic accounts of neo-Nazism have often sought to over-exaggerate its size and impact or have portrayed it only as an object of ridicule. Jackson suggested that neo-Nazism had often been ignored by historians because of its marginalised nature.

Copsey, Nigel (2008). Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy (second ed.). London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-230-57437-3.

Gardell, Matthias (2003). Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4.

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2002). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-3124-6.

Jackson, Paul (2016). Colin Jordan and Britain's Neo-Nazi Movement: Hitler's Echo. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Sykes, Alan (2005). The Radical Right in Britain: Social Imperialism to the BNP. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-59924-2.

CJ

History=

The counter-jihad movement took its cue from the War on Terror launched by the U.S. government of President George W. Bush. In adopted the name of "counter-jihad" to reflect its opposition to jihadism.

As the older biological racism typical of the far-right in the twentieth century was increasingly superseded by cultural racism, so sectors of the far-right underwent a transformation. The counter-jihad movement developed in Western countries, particularly in the United States and Northern Europe.

Breivik's manifesto revealed that he was deeply committed to counter-jihad ideology.

Beliefs

The counter-jihadi movement is often considered part of the broader far-right by observers. The counter-jihadist movement differed from older forms of the far-right by specifically targeting Muslims as an object of opposition. At the same time, in the early 21st century, many older elements of the far-right—such as neo-fascists and neo-Nazis—adopted Islamophobic perspectives, sometimes eclipsing their former anti-Semitism in doing so.

Within the movement, there are various internal differences. The movement features a range of different currents, including neo-conservatives, the Christian Right, sectors of the established populist and far-right, and Revisionist Zionism.

Although considered such by academic observers, the counter-jihad movement typically eschews the term "far-right" in reference to itself. The counter-jihad movement typically seeks to conceal its far-right identity by claiming to be centrist or moderate, seeking to achieve this by presenting itself as a counterweight to what it calls "Islamofascism". The French far-right politician Marine Le Pen similarly referred to Islam as "green fascism". The use of the term "Islamofascism" allows, according to Aked, "the new far right to usurp the language and legacy of anti-fascism". It also helps to distract attention from the far-right's own longstanding association with fascism. In this, parallels have been drawn with how interwar fascist groups gained respectability in Europe by presenting themselves as a counterweight to revolutionary Bolshevism. The counterjihadist narrative has been given some legitimacy when terms like "Islamofascism" have ben adopted by mainstream political figures, as the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls did in 2015.

The counter-jihad movement typically claims to be defending liberal values. It also presents itself as the champion of "Enlightenment" or "Western values". Various counter-jihad groups refer to themselves as "human rights" groups, among them the Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa, founded in Germany in 2008. Counter-jihadists typically also disavow the term "racism". They seek to distance themselves from older forms of the far-right, for instance by disavowing anti-Semitism and stressing their support for Israel, the Jewish state.

The counter-jihad movement borrows from the rhetoric and ideology expressed by state counter-extremist agencies in Western countries. Some counter-jihad groups even refer to themselves as "counter-extremism" movements. To disguise their focus on Islam, several counter-jihad groups claim to oppose all forms of extremism or violence. The German PEGIDA group for instance featured a logo in which a human form was dropping a star and crescent moon (Islam), swastika (Nazism), and hammer and sickle (Marxism-Leninism) into a bin.

The counter-jihad movement rarely fundamentally opposes the state, but rather encourages the state to introduce more authoritarian and exclusivist policies. There are a few exceptions to this; individuals like Breivik have called for supporters to seize control of the state in Western nations.

A recurring trait among counter-jihadists is their insistence that Muslims must reform Islam and that they need to take responsibility for the actions of all of those in their community. Counter-jihadists typically believe that a civil war pitting Muslims against non-Muslims throughout the West is likely if not inevitable. The counter-jihad movement's preoccupation with the perceived threat of "Islamisation" was influenced by Bat Ye'or, who popularised the idea.

The counter-jihad movement has used the term "jihad" loosely, for instance by referring to "welfare jihad", "rape jihad", and "demographic jihad". The idea of "Muslim rape" or of gangs of Muslim men sexually preying upon white women has become a key trope in counter-jihadi discourse.

Counter-jihadists sometimes refer to the existence of a "red-green alliance", meaning an alliance between left-wing and Islamic groups.

The media studies scholar Andrew B. R. Elliott argued that the counter-jihad movement often made use of what he called "banal medievalism", specifically in the way that its adherents often referred to Islam as "medieval" as a means of belittling it. At the same time, counter-jihadists also drew upon medieval imagery in reference to themselves, for instance by harking back to medieval European figures who fought Islamic powers, such as Charles Martel and Vlad the Impaler.

Tactics

Aked argued that, in influencing the mainstream both from below (with its street movements) and above (with its parties and think tanks), the counter-jihad movement exerts "a radicalising influence on the mainstream". She also argued that the counter-jihad movement not only advances Islamophobia but also contributes to "the rightward shift of the political mainstream".

In talking about Western society as a whole, the counter-jihad movement seeks to overcome the national parochialist common to the far-right and enable transnational collaboration and imitation.

The counterjihadists' filter bubble can lead to a kind of immersive radicalisation. The sheer wealth of content available on video hosting sites such as YouTube, coupled with the filter-bubble algorithms used to recommend related content, can create a self-contained and immersive loop of extremist propaganda. A user might easily follow links from one extremist video to the next for hours on end — potentially indefinitely, given the vastness of the available video content — without necessarily hearing any contradictory opinions..

Andrew B. R. Elliott, 2017

Counterjihadists typically mistrust mainstream media sources. To bypass the traditional news sources which are often unsympathetic to its claims, the counter-jihad movement has relied heavily upon social media and web forums to disseminate its message. Elliott referred to the existence of a "counterjihad filter bubble", whereby counter-jihadists form largely online networks in which they interact with like-minded people and very few who have alternate opinions. As they become exposed almost exclusively to media messages that support their pre-existing beliefs, they come to view these beliefs as being "the middle ground", and thereby view those with more liberal or left-wing views—rather than themselves—as being the extremists.

The counter-jihad movement comprises different forms of organisation: street-based protest groups, political parties, and think tanks. Examples of counter-jihadi political parties include the Dutch Party for Freedom, the Danish People's Party, and the Freedom Party of Austria.

The counter-jihad movement's street protest groups are complemented by its intellectual wing.

A counter-jihadist group based in the UK, Britain First, attracted publicity for its "mosque invasions" in which members entered mosques and disrupted proceedings. There are often links between the different components of the counter-jihad movement; members of political parties such as the AfD and PVV have for instance attended street rallied organised by PEGIDA.

Counter-jihadist groups have collaborated with sympathetic individuals in the political mainstream. In the UK, for example, two members of the House of Lords, Baroness Cox and Lord Pearson, have invited the prominent Dutch counter-jihadist Geert Wilders to speak to the British Parliament. Cox sits alongside John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, on the board of the counter-jihadist Gatestone Institute based in New York City. In Germany, Thilo Sarrazin, a former finance minister, published Germany Abolishes Itself in 2010, a book promoting many counter-jihadist ideas. Counter-jihadists have worked in particular with sympathetic neo-conservatives to implement policies that discriminate against Muslims. The political influence that counter-jihadists have been able to accrue stands in contrast to the comparative dearth of political influence that Islamists have been able to obtain in Europe during this same period.

Influence of state policies

The researcher Hilary Aked argued that state counter-extremist policies in Western nations have helped to foster the counter-jihad movement. She argued that state counter-terror programs typically emphasised the threat from Salafi jihadis above that of the far-right and had helped to cultivate a climate of suspicion around all Muslims. In doing so, Aked argued, the state provides "fertile ground for the paranoid conspiracy theories of the far-right counterjihad movement".

Aked, Hilary (2017). "Islamophobia, Counter-extremism and the Counterjihad Movement". In Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller (eds.) (ed.). What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State. London: Pluto Press. pp. 163–185. ISBN 978-0-7453-9957-7. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

Elliott, Andrew B. R. (2017). Medievalism, Politics and Mass Media: Appropriating the Middle Ages in the Twenty-First Century. Medievalism Volume 10. Woodbridge: Boydell. ISBN 978-1-84384-463-1.

Kumar, Deepa (2017). "Islamophobia and Empire: The Intermestic Approach to the Study of Anti-Muslim Racism". In Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller (eds.) (ed.). What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State. London: Pluto Press. pp. 49–73. ISBN 978-0-7453-9957-7. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

Massoumi, Narzanin; Mills, Tom; Miller, David (2017). "Islamophobia, Social Movements and the State: For a Movement-centred Approach". In Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller (eds.) (ed.). What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State. London: Pluto Press. pp. 3–32. ISBN 978-0-7453-9957-7. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

Green's "Who Speaks for Europe's Muslims".

Sp

Spiritualism is an esoteric religious movement established in the United States during the 1840s. Some forms of Spiritualism are considered to be denominations of Christianity; others are independent and not Christian. There is no centralized authority in control of the movement and much heterogeneity exists among practitioners, who are known as Spiritualists.

Central to Spiritualism is the belief that human beings have a spirit which is immortal and survives death. Spiritualism further teaches that these spirits of the dead can communicate with living humans, particularly certain individuals known as mediums. Spiritualism typically also entails a monotheistic belief in a single God, although interpretations of this entity vary among Spiritualists. Many Spiritualists also identify as Christians and embrace forms of Christian theology, including the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the incarnation of God in human form.

Spiritualism emerged in the United States during the 1840s and spread rapidly throughout North America until the late 1850s. It was influenced by older esoteric systems such as Swedenborgianism, Mesmerism, and the teachings of Andrew Jackson Davis, which had been spread through the U.S. in the early nineteenth century. The American Civil War hindered Spiritualism's spread.

Spiritualism has influenced later esoteric movements such as Theosophy and New Age.

Scholars who have studied Spiritualism have termed it a religion, and more specifically as a new religion. Spiritualism has been characterised as a form of occultism. Within the movement itself, there has been debates as to what it represents. In 19th century Britain for example, some Spiritualists argued that it was a new religion, while others insisted that it reflected the essence of all religions. Many practitioners refer to it as "Modern Spiritualism" as a means of differentiating the movement emerging in the 19th century from what they believe are similar practices of spirit communication that have occurred throughout human history.

Some Spiritualists are also Christian, but others are not and some of the latter have been openly critical of Christianity. Nelson noted that in the U.S., Spiritualism "was never wholly Christian and at times and places was even anti-Christian". Some Christian Spiritualists perceive it as a movement to revive and stimulate Christianity; they often see themselves as returning to an older and purer form of Christianity than they believe has been lost by the other established Christian churches. Christian Spiritualists are generally not fundamentalists nor Biblical literalists. Some Spiritualists have been Unitarians and others have been Universalists. In 1919, a Jewish Spiritualist Society was formed in London.

The sociologist of religion Geoffrey K. Nelson suggested that a distinction within Spiritualism could be drawn between "religious Spiritualists" who organize through churches and include worship of God as a key part of their activities, and "scientific Spiritualists" whose main interest is in investigation and who organize through psychic research groups.

The belief that living human beings can contact the spirits of the dead—or other spirits—has been found across the world throughout history and is not unique to Spiritualism. However, never before in Western countries had a movement emerged that was solely devoted to communing to the spirits of the dead. The scholar of religion Cathy Gutierrez noted that while Spiritualism's "basic structures" display similarities with "religious communication transhistorically and cross-culturally", at the same time it bears the markers of the "specific cultural circumstances" in which it developed.

The scholar of religion Anne Kalvig used the lower-case "spiritualism" to refer to broader beliefs in communicating with spirits of the dead and the upper-case "Spiritualism" when discussing "communities of faith".

Beliefs

The Spiritualist system of beliefs is extremely complex and varied. Spiritualism is far from being a homogenous religion, and there are many 'schools' of thought within the movement. There are numerous groups, each with its own beliefs, which differ in some degree from those of other groups in the movement. Spiritualism in its belief structure is a very individualistic religion and many of these groups are small and tend to cluster around an individual, usually a medium, with distinctive teachings.

— Geoffrey K. Nelson, 1969

There is no uniformly accepted body of teachings within the Spiritualist movement, and little agreement on doctrine beside the basic points about the existence of spirits and the ability of living people to communicate with them. Th doctrines and teachings of Spiritualism largely derive from the experiences obtained during circles. Throughout Spiritualism's history, there have also been individuals who have held additional beliefs not shared by the majority of Spiritualists. Spiritualist organisations sometimes seek to codify their beliefs; the UK-based Spiritualists National Union for instance espouses what it calls the "seven principles", although it permits its members the freedom to interpret these in their own way.

Spiritualism generally adheres to the idea spiritual knowledge should be freely disclosed to all. Spiritualism denies the idea that spiritual knowledge or salvation is reserved for the select few.

Spirits and mediumship

Core to the Spiritualism movement is the belief that human beings have a spirit which is immortal and survives bodily death. In addition, Spiritualists believe that these spirits of the dead have the capacity of communicating with living humans. In this, Spiritualism claims to provide proof that the afterlife exists, and Spiritualists see survival after bodily death as a fact of nature of which there is demonstrable proof. While there are many religious groups that believe that the human personality survives death in the form of a spirit, Spiritualism is unique in the Western world for placing such strong emphasis on the ability of living people to communicate with these spirits of the dead.

Spiritualists believe that mediums' experiences can be subjected to scientific examination, both by checking their claims against known facts and by examining physical phenomena like levitation, materialisation, and healing. Nelson thus noted that Spiritualism "arose as an attempt to use scientific methods (in a broad sense) to establish the existence of the supernatural". In this, it deliberately contrasted itself with the emphasis on faith that was present in Christianity and which had been criticised by the growing scientific establishment since the Age of Enlightenment.

In the early years of Spiritualism, the most common form in which practitioners believed that spirits interacted with humans was through rappings and table tippings.

In other instances, Spiritualists believe that certain individuals have the capacity to interact more directly with the spirits. Many mediums are for instance believe to be clairvoyant, having the ability to physically see the spirits, or clairaudient, having the ability to hear them. Some mediums are believed to undergo spiritual impersonation, in which they adopt the physical appearance and traits of a spirit. Another way in which Spiritualists communicate with the dead is through entering into trance states and engaging in trance mediumship, through which the spirit is believed to take partial control of the body and speak through it. Some Spiritualists purport an ability to communicate with spirits by staring into a mirror, crystal, or into water. While Spiritualists believe that mediumship typically derives from an innate ability, they also typically adopt the view that this talent needs to be developed through training and practice. Mediums are usually held in great respect within the Spiritualist community as conduits of communication with the spirit world. Those who are viewed as having mediumistic abilities tend to exert considerable influence within Spiritualist churches, although said abilities are not typically seen as a prerequisite for holding positions of authority within the church structure.

Another recurring feature in Spiritualism is the belief in luminous phenomena which appear at seances and which are signs of a spirit presence. Another feature is the appearance of visible and tactile manifestations, which are considered appearances of spirits. The appearance of music at seances was also attributed by many Spiritualists to the presence of spirits.

Most messages that Spiritualist mediums provide, claiming that they come from the spirits of the dead, are not focused on intellectual or philosophical issues but rather are designed to prove the identity of the spirit to a member of the congregation or audience. These messages typically features assurances to friends and family that the spirit is fine, and that those living should not feel guilt or remorse. Love, forgiveness, and reconciliation are key recurring themes. When the messages given are more specific and detailed, they are viewed as better "proof" by Spiritualists. The medium may employ humor during their seances to lighten the mood and entertain their audience. When mediums have produced teachings presented as having been gained from the spirits, the content and quality varies; some are rambling and incoherent, others fluent and erudite.

The medium believes that they "tune in" to the "energies" of the spirit world, through which they receive messages, which are expressed through sensations, images, smells, tastes, and worded messages. The medium then seeks to find the member of the audience whom the messages are for; this can raise difficulties, with various individuals believing that the message pertained to them. The medium must then be more specific to ascertain whom the message is actually for. The sitter is then expected to answer either "yes", "no", or "I don't know" in response to the medium's comments. Ethical issues can arise for the medium when they feel that the messages they are given contain sensitive information about issues like economic problems or drug addiction, topics which the sitter may not wish disclosed in a public space. In this context, some mediums withhold some of their information. For the sitter, receiving these spirit messages can be a form of emotional healing; some are brought to tears of relief and joy by the messages. It is these messages that have been the catalyst for many individuals converting to Spiritualism, although at the same time some who have attended demonstrations of mediumship have been put off by what they regard as the apparent triviality of most of the spirit messages received.

At the local level, a medium's charisma is often central to the structure of a Spiritualist group. Most mediums attribute their charisma to the influence of the spirits. The failure of mediums to live up to their espoused principles is not seen as invalidating the messages or the teachings of spirits. Nelson noted that "no Spiritualist would deny that the movement has almost from its inception been plagued by frauds".

In contrast to the Christian doctrines dominant at the time of Spiritualism's creation, the Spiritualist movement did not teach that some human souls were destined for eternal punishment in Hell. It nevertheless accepted that wrong-doers would face punishment for their actions, either in this world or the afterlife.

Spiritualists do not believe that spirits are automatically all-knowing or eminently wise, but rather believe that they retain all of the preconceptions, ideas, and beliefs which they held during life. In various cases, mediums have claimed that the spirits of individuals who were sceptics or materialists have come to them and admitted the errors of their belief. Spiritualists typically believe that the longer an individual remains a spirit, the more that they learn, but that at the same time the harder it becomes for them to communicate with living humans. Some practitioners hold to the view that there are advanced spirits who voluntarily delay moving on to higher plains of the spirit ream in order to remain closer to humans and able to interact with them.

In many cases, the alleged teachings of these spirits have been collected and published. Among the most influential of these have been the teachings of the spirit Silver Birch, produced by the circle run by the medium Hannen Swaffer. Some of these spirit guides link to broader forms of esotericism; in 1957, for instance, a Spiritualist group emerged in London claiming to have received messages from Melio-Archanoplues, the spirit of a man who had lived on the ancient city of Atlantis. For many non-Christian Spiritualists, these spirit messages replaced the authority of the Bible, while for Christian Spiritualists they instead were perceived as complementing and supplementing Biblical scripture as a source of spiritual knowledge.

Whether bad or malevolent spirits exist or not is an issue of disagreement among Spiritualists. Some old to the view that spirits transcend ego and thus are unable to display the bad behaviors exhibited by the living.

The existence of reincarnation remains a matter of debate among Spiritualists; some practitioners believe in it, others do not.

Spiritual healing

Spiritual healing is also a recurring feature of the Spiritualist movement. Spiritualists differ in how they believe this healing works; some attribute the power to heal to an innate ability on behalf of the healer, others suggest that the healer channels healing power either from the spirits or from God. Unlike one of its contemporary healing-oriented new religions, Christian Science, Spiritualism does not typically reject the place of scientific medicine. Instead, Spiritualists typically view spiritual healing and conventional medicine as complementary means of alleviating ailments. Some Spiritualists have set up organisations to specifically focus on the promotion of spiritual healing; in Britain, Harry Edwards for example established the National Federation of Spiritual Healers.

Many mediums also practice forms of healing not linked to spirit contact, such as reiki and Theta healing. Since the formation of the social media website Facebook, various Spiritualist healers have used it to form "events" through which they organize healing for anyone who requests it.

Theology and worship

A vague belief in the existence of God is a recurring feature of Spiritualism. In Spiritualism, theological beliefs about the nature or existence of God vary, from forms agnosticism through to Unitarian perspectives and on to mainstream Christian theological views. The spirits whom Spiritualists believe mediums are communing with often give different views on the nature of God; Spiritualists often attribute this to the idea that when an individual dies, their spirit retains many of their earthly preconceptions for some time, and that as a result spirits are not omniscient.

Nelson observed that in mid-20th century Britain, non-Christian Spiritualists typically followed their Christian counterparts in believing in a personal God, although did not identify this deity as Jesus of Nazareth.

In Britain, it was during the late 1860s and early 1870s that various Spiritualist groups began holding Sunday morning services in a similar manner to established Christian groups.

Morality and ethics

Spiritualism's ethos is, according to Kalvig, "distinctly antiauthoritarian".

In the movement's first century, Spiritualists were often involved in various social reform movements. This connection between the religion and social reform was less prevalent by the mid-20th century, by which point—Nelson argued—it had become increasingly indifferent to socio-political issues, as opposed to embracing staunch conservative positions. Spiritualism was at the vanguard of progressive politics on issues regarding gender and race. Gutierrez noted that Spiritualism exhibited a "multicultural and progressive spirit that is inclusive of all humanity but still not entirely exempt from the pitfalls of stereotyping, racism, and colonialism."

In the 19th century, many female spirit mediums had a higher degree of autonomy than other women. Spiritualism offered women a means of escaping gender confinements of the time and the lack of opportunity for economic independence. There was a longstanding association between Spiritualism and socialism. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Spiritualist press regularly discussed the issue or whether one could be a Spiritualist without also being a socialist.

The Spiritualist movement was also associated with a longstanding opposition to capital punishment and a belief that the criminal justice system should emphasise the reform over the punishment of criminals. Many Spiritualists also indicated a keen interest in animal welfare, with some arguing that Spiritualists should become vegetarian to better adhere to the religion's principles.

During the 1890s and early 20th century, most Spiritualists also had sympathies with the-then popular temperance movement which sought to curtail or prohibit alcohol consumption.

Various Spiritualist groups have engaged in philanthropic endeavours; for example the UK-based Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association opened shelters for homeless women in Lambeth in 1933 and then Leeds in 1935.

While individual Spiritualists may express criticism or ridicule of other religions, they generally seek peaceful co-existence with them. Spiritualists do not consider non-Spiritualists to be damned or destined for punishment; they merely regard them as individuals who are ignorant of the true nature of the universe.

Practices

In the early years of the movement, it did not develop a unified ritual framework adopted across the different groups.

Writing in 1960s Britain, Nelson noted that most Spiritualist churches lacked their own buildings, and instead rented a hall or other premises in which to hold their events. Where specially-constructed Spiritualist churches do exist, they are usually austere in design, resembling the chapels of nonconformist Christian sects.

In Spiritualist churches, it is common for the elected president to lead prayers and give readings during services, while spirit mediums invited to the event provide the address and give a demonstration of mediumship. In some cases, the medium conducts the entire service. Typically, a different medium will be invited to take part in each service. Spiritualist church services take a form that is akin to those of nonconformist Christian groups. They typically open with a prayer, after which a hymn is sung. A reading is then given, often from the Bible, after which further prayers and hymns may take place while a collection of monetary contributions is taken. Often, a visiting speaker then gives an address, either in the form of a normal sermon or while in a state of trance. The service then concludes with a hymn and a prayer of blessing. At this juncture a demonstration of mediumship may take place.

To help Spiritualists develop their mediumistic abilities, many Spiritualist churches run development circles in which comparatively small groups of individuals meet regularly to focus on this task. Churches also often run open circles which anyone can attend, and healing circles for those specifically desiring spiritual healing. Spiritualist churches also often put on lectures, classes, and discussion groups.

The hymns used in Spiritualist churches often represent amended versions of standard 19th century Christian hymns; others are original compositions, but often base themselves on 19th century hymn types.

Various Spiritualists commemorate 31 March—the day on which the Fox sisters reportedly first encountered spirit phenomena—as "World Spiritualists' Day".

There are also links between Spiritualism and Neo-shamanism; some Spiritualists refer to themselves as "shamans". The neoshaman Michael Harner was initially sceptical that the two are linked, but in later life expressed the view that mediumship was "an important aspect of shamanic knowledge".

Structure

Spiritualist is not a unitary movement, and it lacks any centralised authority. As it spread rapidly in the 1840s and 1850s, it was largely disorganised, rather than being promoted by any single organisation or group. In the movement's early period, opposition to organisation was particularly strong. Many Spiritualists feared that greater organisation would destroy the spontaneity and freedom present in the movement and would lead to the rise of bureaucracy and an oligarchy within it. Many of the Spiritualists Nelson encountered expressed fears of institutionalisation of the movement and a resistance to the formation of organisations.

Many Spiritualists meet in small groups in people's homes. Based on his research in 1960s Britain, Geoffrey K. Nelson noted that it was the "Home Circle" which still formed the "basis of Spiritualism". In Britain, the first recorded instance of the term "Spiritualist church" being used was in 1868, reflecting the idea that Spiritualism should be considered an explicitly religious movement. By the 20th century, most British Spiritualist societies were calling themselves churches.

The academic J. Jeffrey Franklin later suggested that Spiritualism's emphasis on the control of the individual was "a logical outcome" of the "emphasis on individual faith" espoused in the Protestant Reformation.

The organisation and structure of Spiritualist churches differs. Some are run democratically, with officials being elected into position by the church's membership, while others are run autocratically, with one individual being in sole, un-elected control. Some broader organisations, such as the UK-based Spiritualists National Union, insist that all churches that affiliate with them operate on a democratic basis.

In democratically-run Spiritualist churches, there is no ordained priesthood in the manner of the Roman Catholic Church or Anglican churches. Rather, they are organised in a manner much closer to that of the Congregationalist churches. Individual churches sometimes appoint a resident minister, but these individuals do not have official hierarchical power over the church members. Most Spiritualist churches do not however appoint a minister, and services are instead seen by an elected president. The non-professional or semi-professional mediums who appear at church services are usually paid their expenses or a small fee. There are also a range of professional mediums who charge for their services. They earn a living from public shows and seances put on for a paying audience. The ethics of this practice has been much debated within the Spiritualist communist, some of whom believe that mediums should never charge for their services.

History

Influences

Many of the ideas central to Spiritualism have been present in older human societies. The idea of human beings communicating with spirits is for instance central to the concept of shamanism. The belief that spirits can possess human bodies is also present in religions like Haitian Vodou. Beliefs in spirits making noises and moving objects to interact with the living was also central to poltergeist beliefs which had been present for centuries in European culture. The period in which Spiritualism emerged also witnessed various other new religions appearing in the United States, such as Mormonism and Millerism, both of which had significant followings in the western districts of New York State, where Spiritualism itself would also emerge. This was an area known as the "burned over district" for the various Christian revivalist movements that had swept through it.

Often cited as the most important movement which paved the way for Spiritualism was the animal magnetism developed by the Austrian doctor Franz Mesmer in the eighteenth century. Mesmer believed in an invisible fluid permeating the universe and believed that he could use magnets to manipulate this fluid and thereby cure people of their ailments. Initially promoting his ideas in Vienna, in 1779 he moved to Paris, where he attracted greater numbers of followers. His techniques were popular among the aristocracy and spread throughout France, Germany, and Scandinavia. Mesmerism had reached the U.S. by about 1837. Mesmer's treatments involved the patient entering what the Mesmerists called a somnabulic sleep, sometimes termed a "rapport", at which point they came under the influence of the Mesmerist. Mesmerism formed "the necessary backdrop to early Spiritualism" according to Gutierrez, with its concept of trance states providing the environment in which mediums would later claim to contact the spirits. When Spiritualism developed, many American Mesmerists were among its early adherents.

Another key influence on Spiritualism was the ideas promoted by the Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. In the late eighteenth century, Swedenborg's followers in England founded the New Church, which had spread to the United States by the early nineteenth century. The New Church's promotion of Swedenborgian teachings allowed many Americans to become familiar with the idea of humans communicating with spirits and angels.

Some of the influences upon early Spiritualism emerged in the U.S. itself rather than being imported from Europe. Accounts of human communications with the spirits had emerged from various Native American religious traditions, which also may have had some influence on the developing Spiritualist movement. Another significant influence was Andrew Jackson Davis. Born in rural New York, in the 1840s he became a professional clairvoyant, presenting himself as someone who could use his powers for medicinal purposes. He gave a number of lectures and in 1847 saw publication of his book The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and Voice to Mankind, which was widely successful. According to Nelson, Davis "played a major part in preparing the American public for the advent of Spiritualism". In the early decades of the nineteenth century, itinerant lecturers influenced by Mesmerism, Swedenborgianism, and the writings of Davis travelled through the U.S. spreading ideas about trance states, clairvoyance, and spiritual healing, helping to produce a more receptive environment in which Spiritualism was able to emerge.

Early years

Spiritualism began in 1848. Its origins are often traced to the events surrounding the Fox family, who lived in Hydesville, a village in the U.S. state of New York. After moving into a new house in December 1847, the family claimed that they heard mysterious noises, usually bangs and raps, that disturbed them during the night. The family's two daughters, 15 year old Margaretta and 12 year old Kate then purported that these were being produced by a spirit of a pedlar named Charles B. Roena who had been murdered in the house several years before. Many visitors came to see the phenomena, leading Mrs Fox to take her two youngest daughters away from Hydesville and move in with their elder, married sister in Rochester; there, the knocking continued. In Rochester, the Foxes developed a group of friends who formed the first Spiritualist circle. In the following years, three separate investigations were established to investigate the Rochester phenomenon—the last by avowed skeptics—but none found any evidence that the noises had been fraudulently produced.

As news of the Rochester circle spread, others were formed in other parts of the United States, many without direct contact with the Fox family. Other circles were established in areas where members of the Fox family visited to discuss their experiences; the Auburn Circle was for instance established after Catharine Fox visited Auburn. The Foxes had repeatedly faced accusations of fraudulence, and in December 1850 were investigated by three academics from Buffalo University, who concluded that the Fox sisters may have been producing the sounds through movements in their knee joints. In April 1851, a relative of the Foxes, Mrs N. Culver, informed The New York Times that Catherine Fox had confessed to her that the raps had been produced by their knees and toes. In 1888, Margaret and Catherine confessed that they had fraudulently produced the rappings, but the latter subsequently recanted her confession.

The Spiritualist movement spread rapidly through the eastern states of the country, and from there to other regions of North America. It was initially unorganized, spreading in the form of private circles and irregular public meetings and demonstrations rather than through churches or permanent societies. It was estimated that by 1851, there were fifty Spiritualist circles in Brooklyn and 100 in Williamsburg. By 1850 Spiritualism had a presence in Canada, by 1853 in Guatemala, and by 1854 in Cuba. Spiritualist groups established newspapers and magazines, with either six or seven being active by 1851. The growing popularity of Spiritualist mediums in the 1850s led many fraudsters who did not believe that they had mediumistic abilities to pretend that they had, for financial purposes. Various mediums in this period were exposed as engaging in deliberate trickery, which drove some Spiritualists away from the movement. Nelson suggested that the movement reached its high point in 1854–55, after which it entered a decline.

The mainstream press gave much coverage to the new movement, although this was often sensationalistic and hostile in nature. As well as much press ridicule, Spiritualism also faced strong opposition from established Christian denominations, which sometimes resorted to violence; in 1850 a group of Irish Catholics attacked Margaret Fox on her visit to Troy, New York. Various Spiritualists faced persecution for their beliefs; in Chicago in 1852 for example a wealthy man named Ira B. Eddy converted to the movement and invested money to build a hall for Spiritualist meetings. In response, several relatives had him incarcerated in a Lunatic Asylum, where he remained till friends secured his release through a court action. Opposition was strongest in the Southern United States, where Spiritualist meetings were sometimes broken up and attendees threatened with lynching; in 1860, Alabama passed a bill declaring that anyone giving a Spiritualist demonstration would be liable to pay a $500 fine. Much of this Southern hostility stemmed from Spiritualism's associations with liberal thinking and with ideas about racial and gender equality, beliefs that were anathema to mainstream white Southern society.

Among those who became adherents were prominent figures in U.S. society, including Horace Greeley, the editor of The New York Tribune, the wealthy merchant Charles Partridge, and J. W. Edmonds, a former Justice of the Supreme Court. Eventually, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was reported to have become a Spiritualist. In November 1851, the members of a Spiritualist circle in New York City organised a conference, holding weekly meetings which after two years became public Sunday meetings. In 1854, Spiritualists gathered 15,000 signatures for a petition calling on the United States Congress to set up a commission to investigate Spiritualist phenomena, although the latter declined. That same year, New York Spiritualists formed the Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge, which issued The Christian Spiritualist magazine and ran until 1857. In Philadelphia, the Harmonial Benevolence Society was formed in 1852 and then the First Association of Spiritualists in 1864.

Spiritualists also established their own settled communities. In 1851, members of the Auburn Circle set up a community at Mountain Cove in Fayette County, Virginia although this folded the following year. Several Spiritualist communities combined their beliefs with an adherence to free love; one example was founded in 1853 in Kiantone in Chautauqua County, New York, which lasted for a short period, while a similarly short-lived attempt was created at Harmony Springs in Benton County, Arkansas in 1855. This connection between Spiritualism and free love brought the former movement into additional disrepute in U.S. society, with free love ideas being rejected by many Spiritualists of the period.

Decline

Spiritualism entered a decline in the later 1850s, with many Spiritualists recanting their involvement following the revelation that some mediums were fraudulently producing phenomena that they claimed was stemming from spirits. The decline may also have been caused by growing public associations between Spiritualism and radical socio-political ideas like free love and socialism, although only a minority of Spiritualists adhered to these movements. The prominent Spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten referred to this as "the Recantation Movement". The American Civil War of 1861 to 1865 caused much disruption for Spiritualist activities, as many U.S. Spiritualists focused on the war effort and the strong organizational structures were lacking to maintain the movement in their absence; the situation was tougher in the Confederate States, where many Spiritualist meetings were suspended, particularly as Spiritualism was associated with the abolititionism. In 1864, a National Convention was held in Chicago in an unsuccessful attempt to unify the U.S. Spiritualist movement. In 1865 the Society of Spiritualists and Progressive Lyceum was established in St. Louis, providing a model for many later local associations, and in 1866 the First Society of Spiritualists was founded in New York. In 1869 came the first recorded example of a Spiritualist minister being ordained, in Indiana.

In the 1840s, several mediums appeared in Britain—in 1846 the medium Georgina Eagle gave a demonstration for Queen Victoria—but these attracted no permanent followings nor extensive publicity. It was the visit of U.S. medium Maria B. Hayden to London in 1852, followed by two of her co-patriots in following years, that spawned greater attention. Private circles soon developed across Britain, sometimes around charismatic mediums, and Spiritualism began to gain considerable press attention in the 1860s. In 1865, the first attempt was made to form a national organisation in Britain, the Darlington-based Convention of Progressive Spiritualists. In 1901, the Spiritualists' National Union was formed, a national body that ensured the legal recognition of Spiritualist churches in Britain. World War I generated a split in the British Spiritualist movement, as most adherents supported their country's war effort but others became conscientious objectors and believed that it was a Spiritualist's duty to oppose the conflict. Spiritualism saw a growth in interest as a result of the heavy death toll of the war. In 1917 the author Arthur Conan Doyle converted to the movement, and became a major promoter of it; Nelson suggested that Conan Doyle was "probably the greatest propagandist the Spiritualist movement ever had." The 1930s were the high point for British Spiritualism, with over 2000 societies estimated as being active in the country. The movement was badly hit by World War II, and its membership levels never returned to their pre-war numbers.

In France, the Mesmerist Allen Kardec became a prominent Spiritualist in the 1850s. Kardec published the first of five channelled books, The Spirits' Book, in 1857, which attracted considerable domestic interest. He favoured the term "Spiritism" to describe is beliefs. Under Kardec's influence, the French Spiritualist movement became more coherent, Christian, and textual than that present in the U.S. and Britain. Kardec's Spiritism spread rapidly in the European colonies of Latin America, particularly in Brazil.

By the 1850s, Spiritualism had a presence in both Germany and Denmark. In the 1880s, it appeared in Norway, where the Spiritualist movement was influenced by both Anglo-American and French Spiritism ideas.

After 1940, the numbers of Spiritualists grew in Brazil.

Gutierrez saw channeling as the "heir apparent" to Spiritualism, "sharing many of its primary claims and social priorities."

Late twentieth century

Spiritualist ideas were featured in films such as 1990's Ghost and 1999's The Sixth Sense. It also provided the basis of television shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer. A number of reality television shows about mediums also appeared.

Demographics

Spiritualism was at the height of its popularity during the first six or seven years of its existence, between 1848 and 1854–55. In the early years, its supporters were not drawn from any single sector of society. The areas of the United States where it emerged, spread most quickly, and gained the strongest support were also those that had the highest educational standards and the lowest illiteracy rates. Most of those who became Spiritualists had previously been Christians or had been educated in Christian-dominated environments. Many of those attracted to Spiritualism in its early years were considered to be secularists or sceptics because they were already critical of established Christianity. Nelson suggested that Spiritualism held particular appear to those individuals who believed in an afterlife but who could not accept the idea of souls being condemned to an eternity in Hell; they had therefore not been converted but the Christian revivalists of the period but were far more receptive to the Spiritualist message.

Spiritualism has long had a cross-class appeal. Nelson thought that the most common stimulus to membership of the movement was the death of a loved one; he suggested that for this reason the movement had a large proportion of widows, widowers, and elderly people.

In 1940, there were a recorded 463,000 Spiritualists in Brazil, a number that had raised to 824,553 in 1950.

Nelson suggested that Spiritualism arose and spread largely in urban areas of the U.S. because these were areas with a more educated populace who were more familiar with the divide between religion and science and thus more susceptible to Spiritualism's claim to bridge that divide. He also suggested that urban environments aided their growth because the anonymity offered by urban life allowed individuals to engage in alternative religious practices without the social pressure enforcing conformity present in smaller rural communities.

There were sometimes regional differences in the concentration of Christian Spiritualists and non-Christian Spiritualists; in 19th century England, for example, non-Christian Spiritualists predominated in the north, while Christian Spiritualists predominated in the south. Nelson thought that its distribution in Britain indicated that there, Spiritualism was "an urban religion" based largely in towns and cities rather than in rural communities.

Gutierrez thought that Spiritualism was of particular interest to scholars exploring the relationship between politics and religion.

Spiritualists rarely focus on evangelism or go to great efforts to attract converts. As noted by Nelson, "members join voluntarily to satisfy their own needs and interests". Spiritualism is associational in nature rather than forming a communal movement; it is a Gesellschaft rather than a Gemeinschaft. As such, Spiritualist churches play only a marginal role in the social life of their surrounding communities. Nelson noted that in mid-20th century Britain, Spiritualism was composed largely of upper working and lower middle-class members. He noted that Spiritualism, "in general remains a poor movement". Few, if any, Spiritualist churches in Britain were wealthy, and most relied upon the voluntary work of unpaid officers to keep them running.

Gender and age

Kalvig noted that, in the early 21st century, the majority of mediums were female. She also noted that audiences for seances were also predominantly female; she observed several large public seances in Norway where the audience was 80 to 90% female. Kalvig suggested that Spiritualism's comparative lack of institutionalization appealed to many women because it differed from the male-dominated environment of most institutionalized religious movements.

Spiritualism was initially a movement only of adults, but a concern for the place of children and young people soon developed. The children of Spiritualists are usually raised with a familiarity with Spiritualist beliefs and practices. If the child is believed to have psychic abilities, then the parents may encourage them to explore and develop these. There are differences of opinion within the movement as to whether young children should be allowed to take part in seances or not. By the 1880s, the Sunday School movement had become popular across the U.S. and Britain, and initially many Spiritualists sent their children to Christian Sunday schools before attempts were made to form explicitly Spiritualist Sunday schools. In 1863, Andrew Jackson Davis established the Lyceum movement, a Spiritualist educational system for children which emphasised the idea of encouraging children to develop their potential rather than simply cramming knowledge. The first Lyceum in Britain was established in Nottingham in 1866; by 1888 there were over forty in Britain and by the early 20th century there were over 100. In the mid-20th century, the number of Lyceums declined, paralleling a decline in Sunday schools across Britain more broadly. In contrast to the Lyceum system, a number of Christian Spiritualist churches established their own Sunday schools which were closer to the mainstream Christian model.

Reception and influence

As Spiritualism developed and emerged, many of those outside the movement accepted the reality of Spiritualist phenomena but did not accept the Spiritualist explanation that they were caused by the spirits of the dead. Most Christian churches for example opposed Spiritualism. Members of more mainstream Christian denominations often claimed that these phenomena were tricks of the Devil to deceive people and lead them away from Christianity. Many non-religious individuals suggested that the phenomena might be caused by the subconscious part of the human mind or that they were the result of some Odylic or Mesmeric force as yet not understood by the scientific community. The British esotericist Edward Bulwer-Lytton for instance attended Spiritualist seances and although believing that the phenomena he witnessed were genuine, did not believe that they were necessarily caused by the spirits of the dead; he instead suggested that they might be caused by elementals or by the powers of the human mind. Sceptical critics of the movement often emphasize instances where money is exchanged and often object to the idea that Spiritualism should be regarded as a religion.

Spiritualism was an influence on the emergence of the esoteric religion of Theosophy in the 1870s. Helena Blavatsky and other early Theosophists had initially been involved in the Spiritualist movement and had moved from that to the formation of the Theosophical Society and the establishment of Theosophy's doctrines. Nelson suggested that there were similarities between Spiritualism and Ufology, in that both emerged through the study of phenomena which were unexplained and largely ignored by mainstream scientific authorities.

Dan Ackroyd was raised in a Spiritualist family and used this background as an influence on the script of his 1984 film Ghostbusters.

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A-R

The Alt-Right, an abbreviation for Alternative Right, is a largely online far-right movement of white nationalists that appeared in the United States in 2008. Exact definitions of the Alt-Right vary and the term has been used in differing ways. The movement encompasses a range of diverging perspectives, from neo-Nazis and explicit white supremacists to those—sometimes termed the "Alt-Lite"—who endorse less extreme forms of white nationalism.

The Alt-Right emerged in 2008, with the term being coined by the American white nationalist ideologue Richard B. Spencer. Prior to becoming a white nationalist, Spencer was involved in paleoconservatism and his new movement emphasized right-wing opposition to the neoconservatives then dominant within both the Republican Party and the U.S. conservative movement more broadly. Its specific intent was to replace conservatism with white nationalism as the mainstream force on the American right-wing. Following the Gamergate controversy of 2013, the Alt-Right made increasing use of trolling as a tactic to raise its profile and attracted broader public attention. The Alt-Right supported Donald Trump's candidacy to be the Republican Party's candidate in the 2016 presidential election. Trump distanced himself from the movement, although following his electoral victory appointed several figures associated with its more moderate wing—namely Steve Bannon—to his administration. In 2017, the Alt-Right took part in the Unite the Right rally.

Although a diverse movement, the Alt-Right is unified by its commitment to European-American identity politics. It often promotes the white genocide conspiracy theory that powerful forces in Western countries—often presented as a Jewish cabal—seek to eliminate white people via integration with non-whites. Many Alt-Right members promote the formation of a white ethnostate in North America and some call for the ethnic cleansing of the United States of non-whites and Jews. Those on the less extreme wing of the movement instead call for tight restrictions on non-white migration into the U.S. and measures to stem the demographic decline of European-Americans. The Alt-Right is anti-feminist and calls for a more patriachal social order. It typically supports a non-interventionist foreign policy and an end to the U.S.' close relationship with Israel. Attitudes to both economic policy and social issues such as homosexuality and abortion vary within the movement. The Alt-Right differs from older forms of white nationalism through its heavy use of humor and irony, spreading its message online through memes. It adopted the Pepe the Frog meme, which itself predates the movement, as its mascot. It utilizes its own lingo and internal references, for instance by referring to conservatives as "cuckservatives" and leftists as "social justice warriors".

The Alt-Right is a non-organized, non-institutionalized, and primarily online movement. It lacks any formal leaders or membership. Polls indicated that between six and ten percent of the U.S. population sympathized with the Alt-Right, while the majority opposed it. The movement was denounced as racist by conservatives, centrists, and leftists.

The term "alt-right" is sometimes ill-defined.

The anti-fascist researcher Matthew N. Lyons defined the Alt-Right as "a loosely organized far-right movement that shares a contempt for both liberal multiculturalism and mainstream conservatism; a belief that some people are inherently superior to others; a strong internet presence and embrace of specific elements of online culture; and a self-presentation as being new, hip, and irreverent." The journalist Mike Wendling termed it "an incredibly loose set of ideologies held together by what they oppose: feminism, Islam, the Black Lives Matter movement, political correctness, a fuzzy idea they call 'globalism,' and establishment politics of both the left and the right."

The political scientist George Hawley noted that, under the "loosest definition", the Alt-Right could apply to "anyone with right-wing sensibilities that rejects the mainstream conservative movement" in the United States. This was how the term was often used when first coined in 2008 and could apply to a range of libertarians, localists, paleoconservatives, and right-wing populists as well as white nationalists. By 2010, when the AlternativeRight.com website was launched, it was clear that it was being used by white nationalists engaged in entryism, and by 2013 the term was "explicitly associated" with white identity politics. Right-wingers who were not white nationalists widely abandoned the term, however in 2016 Hawley noted that he could still find individuals using the broader definition. As a result, "alt-right" is claimed by a range of political groups, from neo-Nazis to self-described "cultural libertarians" protesting at what they regarded as the stifling impact of political correctness on public debates about important topics. The philosophy Philippe-Joseph Salazar sought to differentiate between when he called the "Alt-right per se", being the political movement associated with Spencer, and the "alt-right" in the broader sense, meaning the use of the term to describe a wide range of far-right groups in the U.S. media.

Although the Alt-Right had an antagonistic relationship with the mainstream conservative movement, there are figures on the right more sympathetic to it. Spencer and others termed this group the "Alt-right-lite" or the "Alt lite". Hawley referred to these individuals as "fellow travelers". Lyons defined the Alt-Lite as "apologists" for the Alt-Right who helped spread its message "without embracing its full ideology or its ethnostate goal". Whereas the Alt-Right sees identity politics as an inevitable product of racial difference, the Alt-Lite generally criticizes identity politics in all its forms. The preeminent example of the Alt-Lite was Breitbart News. The website's former editor, Steve Bannon, declared it "the platform of the Alt Right", while maintaining that white nationalists were marginal to the Alt-Right. Spencer described Breitbart as "a 'gateway' to Alt Right ideas and writers". Yiannopoulos employed what he called the "broadest possible definition" of the Alt-Right, covering a "large portion, if not the majority" of those who supported President Donald Trump, wanted tighter immigration restrictions, and "loathed political correctness."

Forebears

The American white nationalist ideologue Jared Taylor became a revered figure among the Alt-Right, and the events organized by his American Renaissance group were attended by many Alt-Right members.

The Alt-Right had various ideological forebears. The idea of white supremacy had been dominant across U.S. political discourse throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. After World War II, it was increasingly repudiated and largely relegated to the far-right of the country's political spectrum. Far-right groups that retained such ideas—such as George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party and William Luther Pierce's National Alliance—remained politically marginalised. By the 1990s, white supremacism was largely confined to neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan groups, although its ideologues wanted to find ways to return it to the political mainstream. That decade, a number of white supremacists reformulated their ideas as white nationalism, through which they presented themselves not as seeking to dominate non-white racial groups but rather as lobbying for the interests of European Americans in a similar way to how civil rights groups lobbied for the rights of African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Although white nationalists often officially distanced themselves from white supremacism, white supremacist sentiment remained prevalent in white nationalist writings.

U.S. white nationalists believed that the United States had been created as a nation explicitly for white people of European descent and that it should remain that way in future. Many called for the formation of an explicitly white ethno-state. The term "white nationalism" and its associated rhetoric was also adopted by many of those involved in far-right and KKK groups. Seeking to distance themselves from the violent, skinhead image of such groups, a range of white nationalist ideologues—namely Jared Taylor, Peter Brimelow, and Kevin B. MacDonald—sought to cultivate an image of respectability and intellectualism through which to promote their views. Hawley later termed their ideology "highbrow white nationalism", and noted that it would be a particular influence on the Alt-Right. Taylor in particular would become a revered figure in Alt-Right circles.

Under the presidency of the Republican Party candidate George W. Bush in the 2000s, the white nationalist movement focused largely on criticising mainstream conservatives rather than liberals, accusing them of betraying white Americans. In that period they drew increasingly on the conspiracy theory ideas that had been generated by the Patriot movement since the 1990s; online, the white nationalist and Patriot movements increasingly conversed and merged. Following the election of Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008—making him the first black president of the country—the world-views of a range of right-wing movements, including white supremacists, Patriots, conspiracy theorists, and Tea Partiers, increasingly began to coalesce, in part due to a shared racial animus against Obama.

Right-wing critics of mainstream conservatism had used the internet to organize before. The Dark Enlightenment, or neo-reactionary movement, emerged online in the 2000s, pursuing an anti-egalitarian message. This movement intersected with the Alt-Right; many individuals identified with both movements. The Dark Enlightenment however remained distinct in not embracing white nationalism, deeming it too democratic. Another online influence was the Gamergate controversy which broke out in 2013. Many Alt-Rightists adopted the Nouvelle Droite's views on pursuing change through such "metapolitical" strategies.

Formation

The Alt-Right began in 2008. In November that year, the paleoconservative ideologue and academic Paul Gottfried gave a talk at his H. L. Mencken Club in Baltimore titled "The Decline and Rise of the Alternative Right". Gottfried observed that, as the paleoconservative movement declined, a new cohort of young right-wingers were rising to take its place in challenging the neoconservative ideology then dominant in the Republican Party and the broader U.S. conservative movement. One of those endorsing this idea was Spencer; at the time, he was also a paleoconservative, having dropped out of his PhD programme at Duke University to take up a position at the American Conservative magazine. After being fired from this job, in 2008 Spencer became managing director of Taki Theodoracopulos's right-wing website Taki's Magazine. The website initially contained contributions largely from paleoconservatives and libertarians, but under Spencer also gave space to white nationalist writers like Taylor. By 2010, Spencer had moved fully from paleoconservatism to white nationalism. In 2009, Spencer used the term "alternative right" in the title of an article by white nationalist Kevin DeAnna; he claimed that he had originally coined the term, although Gottfried maintained that they were its joint creators. As the "alternative right" became a term associated increasingly with white nationalism, Gottfried distanced himself from it.

Spencer left Taki's Magazine and in March 2010 launched a webzine called The Alternative Right. Early issues featured articles by highbrow white nationalists like Taylor and MacDonald as well as the Heathen Stephen McNallen. Spencer noted that "if you look at the initial articles for AlternativeRight.com, that was the first stage of the Alt-Right really coming into its own". In its initial phase, from 2008 to 2013, the Alt-Right consisted primarily of short online essays. Many of these reflected the influence of the French Nouvelle Droite, although this influence declined as the Alt-Right grew. Spencer stated that he wanted to create a movement distinct from the explicit white power image of neo-Nazi and related groups: "If I wanted to create a movement that was 1488 white nationalist, I would have done that. But I didn't because I recognized that is a total nonstarter. No one outside a hardcore coterie would identify with it". In 2011 Spencer became the head of the white nationalist National Policy Institute and launched the Radix Journal to promote his views; in 2012, he stepped down from the AlternativeRight website and shut it down in December 2013.

By 2013, Spencer was ambivalent about the "Alt-Right" label. It had however gained wider use in areas of the internet such as 4chan and Reddit, and in 2015 began to bloom in popularity. It was on the internet that Spencer's term "alternative right" was picked up and abbreviated to "alt-right". The "alt-right" tag was created with public relations in mind, allowing white nationalists to soften their image and helping to draw in recruits from mainstream conservatism. It appears that people gravitated to the term out of unpopularity with the term "white nationalism". Spencer thought that by this point, the "Alt-Right" had become "the banner of white identity politics". In contrast to the highbrow stance that was favored on Spencer's website, the term was now associated largely with vulgar language and harassment.

Gray proposed several reasons as to why the Alt-Right emerged in the period in which it did. Some of these were linked to technological changes: an increasing focus on research into genetics, as reflected by the popularization of the Human Genome Project and the growth of private genetic testing services, led to the foregrounding of the idea that genetics has a determining effect on human behavior. Rapid changes in telecommunications since the 1990s and the emergence of new media meant that the conservative movement was unable to self-police its ideological borders as successfully as it had during the Cold War, allowing far-right voices to gain an increasing audience. The growing distance of the Second World War may also have been a factor, with pride in the U.S. victory over Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy providing less of a barrier to the U.S. far-right than it had when there were still large numbers of people who remembered the war. The growing racial and social agitation within U.S. society was also a likely contributing factor, in particular the more militant activities of those Alt-Rightists label "social justice warriors". The Black Lives Matter movement, race riots in Baltimore and Ferguson, the shooting of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, the harassment of Trump supporters, and the shouting down of speakers at universities were all, Gray argued, contributing factors.

"The strident activities of [Black Lives Matter and related groups], the construction of 'whiteness' as oppression, and the increasingly identity-based authority of progressive activism helped open space for increased popularity of an identity-based politics from the Right. The Enemy category of 'whiteness' being so vilified created an atmosphere for a response giving 'whiteness' a content outside of amorphous 'privilege' and oppression; in such a social space, the alt-right was ready to provide that content. As a matter of political tactics, the alt-right may be gaining saliency because of its ability to combat the intersectional Left on the shared ground of identity."

Gray pages 152–153

Gottfried would distance himself from the Alt-Right, stressing his rejection of white nationalism.

According to Niewert, the alt-right gave white nationalism "a fresh new life, rewired for the twenty-first century".

The political scientist George Hawley stated that the alt-right was "an outgrowth of Internet troll culture". The rise of the alt-right was heralded by the Gamergate controversy which broke out in 2013. Much of this occurred on the website 4chan. Originally established in 2003 as a forum for fans of anime and manga, 4chan allowed users to post anonymously and thus attracted the use of socially deviant groups such as neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and pedophiles. Trolling became widespread on the website. It also attracted men's rights activism, who used 4chan as a space to discuss and promote their anti-feminist views. Individuals within this subculture developed their own language to refer to those they disparaged, labelling them "special snowflakes" and "cry bullies". Many of the men's rights activists and others interacting on 4chan and related websites adopted conspiracy theories, holding that feminists were part of a plot to oppress white men, and that this was part of a wider plot by the political left to use "cultural Marxism" to undermine Western civilization. Gamergate broke out when an American video games designer, Zoe Quinn, released Depression Quest, a game which raised the ire of anti-feminist gamers. Quinn subsequently received hate mail, rape threats, and other abuse, both on her social media and at her home address. According to the journalist David Niewert, Gamergate "heralded the rise of the alt-right and provided an early sketch of its primary features: an Internet presence beset by digital trolls, unbridled conspiracism, angry-white-male-identity victimization culture, and, ultimately, open racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic hatred, misogyny, and sexual and gender paranoia."

A range of websites appeared that were associated with the Alt-Right. Some, like The Daily Stormer and the Traditionalist Youth Network, adopted neo-Nazi approaches; others,such as Occidental Dissent, The Unz Review, Vox Popoli, and Chateau Heartiste, did not.

One of the prominent figures in the burgeoning alt-right movement was Brad Griffin, founder of the Occidental Dissent blog. A member of the League of the South, he was involved in the neo-confederate movement, a far-right group that sought the restoration of the Confederate States of America. Another prominent figure in the alt-right was the American neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, who founded the Daily Stormer website—named after the Der Stürmer newspaper active in Nazi Germany—in 2013. By 2016, Anglin called the Daily Stormer "the world's most visited alt-right website". Through the Daily Stormer, Anglin encouraged alt-righters to troll the movement's opponents, referring to his readers as a "Stormer Troll Army". The right-wing news website Breitbart News also gained some associations with the alt-right, especially via one of its editors, the British Milo Yiannopoulos, who extolled the movement on the website; Hawley nevertheless noted that Yiannopoulos was "not really part of the Alt-Right" himself. Breitbart rarely promoted white nationalism openly, but much of its coverage fed into racially charged white narratives; the journalist Mike Wendling termed it "the chief popular media amplifier of alt-right ideas". In 2016, Breitbart published a piece co-written by Yiannopoulos and Allum Bokhari called "An Establishment Conservative's Guide to the Alt-Right". Anglin was heavy critical of this article, calling their account of the alt-right's history "contrived and largely nonsensical". Brad Griffin of Occidental Dissent asked: "What the hell does Milo Yiannopoulos—a Jewish homosexual who boasts about carrying on interracial relationships with black men— have to do with us?" Anglin and Brad Griffin derided Breitbart as "the Alt-Lite". Anglin also targeted the website for its pro-Israel stance; among the other right-wingers he targeted was the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, whom he criticised for having a Jewish wife.

The alt-right's aim was to shift what is considered acceptable public discourse in a manner beneficial to white nationalism. By 2015, the alt-right had gained significant momentum as an online movement. It sought new avenues through which to promote its message to young people; for instance, after Pokémon Go was released, alt-right groups distributed white nationalist fliers in areas where players congregated. Alt-righters targeted the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens for criticism over the fact that it included black and female characters in central positions.

Donald Trump's Election Campaign: 2015–2016

In its early years, the alt-right lacked a single, charismatic figure around which to rally.

We support Trump because he is the savior of the White race, sent by God to free us from the shackles of the Jew occupation and establish a 1000 [year] Reich.

— Andrew Anglin on The Daily Stormer

While Donald Trump is neither a Traditionalist nor a White nationalist, he is a threat to the economic and social powers of the international Jew. For this reason alone as long as Trump stands strong on deportation and immigration enforcement we should support his candidacy insofar as we can use it to push more hardcore positions on immigration and Identity. Donald Trump is not the savior of Whites in America, he is however a booming salvo across the bow of the Left and Jewish power to tell them that White America is awakening, and we are tired of business as usual.

— The Traditionalist Youth Network

Donald Trump's announcement that he was standing as a potential Republican candidate attracted support not just from the alt-right, but also from white nationalists more broadly, neo-Nazis, KKK groups, and the Patriot movement. Anglin initially stated that Trump was "not one of us" but "interesting" nonetheless; after Trump gave public statements calling for a wall to be built across the U.S. border with Mexico, Anglin then urged "all readers of this site to do whatever they can to make Donald Trump president". Griffin called on people to "join the Trump campaign... to take down the hated cuckservative establishment". Niewert observed that "Trump was the gateway drug for the alt-right", with many individual's learning of the latter movement through their interest in Trump. He was the first figure for at least a generation around which the far-right could unify, thereby allowing them access to the mainstream in a manner not possible previously.

In November 2015, on Twitter Trump retweeted a graphic about African-American crime statistics which had included the alt-right, white nationalist hashtag "#WhiteGenocide". The alt-righter RamZPaul rejoiced, retweeting Trump's piece with the comment: "Trump watches and is influenced by the Alt Right". Over coming months, Trump retweeted a second tweet which had "#WhiteGenocide" as a hashtag as well as sharing other tweets issued by white supremacists. The alt-right saw this as further evidence that Trump was their champion. Anglin stated that "Our Glorious Leader and ULTIMATE SAVIOR has gone full wink-wink-wink to his most aggressive supporters". When questioned by journalists, Trump was often reticent to explicitly condemn the alt-right and other far-right groups. This gave white nationalists hope that he privately sympathized with their cause. By May 2016, when Ted Cruz withdrew from the Republican nominee race, it was clear that Trump would be the party's presidential candidate; there was much celebration across the far-right at the news. On the Daily Stormer, Anglin stated that "White men in America and across the planet are partying like its 1999 following Trump's decisive victory over the evil enemies of our race." By mid-2016, most of the Alt-Right backed Trump.

As noted by Hawley, "the Alt-Right is most definitely far to Trump's right". Many Alt-Rightists recognized that he did not share their white nationalist world-view and would not bring about all the changes they desired. They were nevertheless grateful that he had shifted the national conversation in a rightward direction, and that he had shown that it was possible to successfully challenge the conservative movement from the right. A small minority of Alt-Rightists were against supporting Trump; The Right Stuff contributor "Auschwitz Soccer Ref" complained that two of Trump's children had married Jews and that rump was therefore loyal to Israel.

One of the most enthusiastic backers of Trump within the alt-right had been Bannon, the chair of Breitbart News, and in August Trump announced that Bannon would lead his election campaign. The Democratic nominee for the presidency, Hilary Clinton, criticised Trump for hiring Bannon in a speech she gave in Reno, Nevada in August. In her speech, she said that while half of Trump's supporters were decent individuals "desperate for change" because they feel let down by the government and the economy, the other half were "what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have eleven thousand people—now eleven million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric." Clinton referred to the alt-right as "an emerging racist ideology" and warned that "a fringe element has effectively taken over the Republican Party". After Clinton's speech, web traffic to Alt-Right websites rose and the mainstream media gave it increasing coverage; Spencer and other Alt-Rightists thought that Clinton's speech helped legitimize them in the public eye. Many of Trump's supporters adopted the moniker of "deplorables" for themselves, and the term was widely used on the memes that the alt-right promoted across the internet.

A Trump supporter calling for unity between the "deplorables" and the alt-right

As the election loomed, far-right websites widely promoted the notion that the vote would be rigged against Trump, and that they would resort to violence or civil war in the event of a Clinton victory. When Trump won the election, the Alt-Right's response was generally triumphalist and self-congratulatory. Many Alt-Righters claimed responsibility for the victory. Anglin stated: "Make no mistake about it: we did this. If it were not for us, it wouldn't have been possible", while Spencer tweeted that "The Alt-Right has been declared the winner... We're the establishment now." Few political analysts shared this assessment. Following his election, Trump announced that Bannon would be his chief strategist, a decision popular with the alt-right. Alt-righters were generally supportive of Trump's other appointments, such as his appointment of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. While aware that Trump would not pursue a white nationalist agenda, the Alt-Right hoped to pull him towards the right, taking hardline positions that made him look more moderate, and thus shifting the U.S. Overton window in their direction.

Dylan Roof spent much time reading Alt-Right websites before carrying out his massacre, however he took greater interest in older white nationalist writers and groups, like the Council of Conservative Citizens and the Northwest Front.

Trump's Presidency: 2016–

In November, Spencer organised a press conference in Washington D.C. in which he stated that he thought that he had "a psychic connection, a deeper connection with Donald Trump, in a way we simply do not have with most Republicans." He ended the conference by declaring "Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!", to which various attendees responded with Nazi salutes. This attracted significant press attention. When questioned on the incident, Spencer stated that the salutes were given "in a spirit of irony and exuberance". Later that month, Trump was interviewed by The New York Times, during which he was asked about the alt-right. He responded that "I don't want to energize the group, and I disavow the group." Many alt-rightists were angered by the disavowal. In January 2017, Spencer launched a new website, AltRight.com, which combined the efforts of the Arktos publishing company and the Red Ice video and radio network.

In 2016, Twitter began closing alt-right accounts it regarded as engaging in abuse or harassment; among those closed were the accounts of Spencer and his NPI. Reddit then closed down the "r/altright" sub-reddit after its participants were found to have engaged in doxing. Facebook followed by shutting down Spencer's pages on its platform in April 2018.

On the day of Trump's inauguration, Yiannopoulos gave a speech on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle as part of his "Dangerous Faggot" tour. Those protesting Yiannopoulos sought to block the entrance to prevent the audience attending. Fights broke out between anti and pro-Yiannopoulos protesters, many of the later displaying alt-right imagery. One pro-Yiannopoulos protester opened fire, critically wounding an anti-Yiannopoulos protester.

In August 2017, the Unite the Right rally took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, bringing together Alt-Right activists with members of other white supremacist and far-right movements. Many in the Alt-Right thought that the rally would mark a turning point in the transformation of their movement from an online phenomenon into a street-based one. At altright.com, Vincent Law for instance predicted before the event took place that "People will talk about Charlottesville as a turning point". However, the event and its aftermath proved demoralizing for many in the movement. One right-wing protester rammed his car into counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others; this incident brought much negative publicity to the event and its participants. Those Alt-Right members who had attended the rally often found themselves facing personal and legal repercussions for their involvement, while internet service providers and mainstream social media websites subsequently terminated many Alt-Right accounts and sites. The event exacerbated tensions between the "Alt-Lite" and more extreme elements of the movement, and prominent figures like Spencer became reticent about organizing public protests of this kind in future. He experimented with the use of flash demonstrations, returning to Charlottesville with a much smaller group for an unannounced protest in October.

Beliefs

For the Alt-Right, identity politics is everything. Conservatives say that they are fundamentally interested in ideas — constitutional government, liberty, morality, etc. They furthermore argue that these ideas are universal and equally accessible to all people. For this reason, conservatives often declare that they have no problem with non-white immigration, provided the newcomers assimilate to American values. In contrast, the Alt-Right views the world as being fundamentally divided into competing groups, and the success of their group (whites) is their primary concern. If a core conservative principle such as individual liberty is a hindrance to their group's collective interests, then that principle can and should be jettisoned. Thus, to the Alt-Right, constitutional questions about equality are beside the point. If the Constitution dictates a policy that is inimical to white interests, then the Constitution is the problem.

— Political scientist George Hawley

There is no unifying manifesto behind the Alt-Right. Different people who describe themselves as being part of the Alt-Right express different beliefs about what it wants to achieve. There are nevertheless a number of recurring attitudes that exist within the movement, with the role of white identity being at its core. Its views are profoundly anti-egalitarian.

The more extreme end of the Alt-Right consists of neo-Nazis who desire the formation of a state akin to Nazi Germany in the U.S. These are sometimes termed "1488s", a combination of the white supremacist fourteen words slogan with 88, a coded reference to "HH", or "Heil Hitler". These neo-Nazi elements represent a minority within the Alt-Right and many others who identify with the movement are critical of them, believing that they generate bad publicity for it. On the less extreme end are those influenced by the approaches of the Nouvelle Droite, who talk of the need for protecting "biocultural diversity". Spencer's NPI for instance termed its approach "identitarianism", a term borrowed from the European far-right. Some on the Alt-Right have claimed that prominent neo-Nazi members are agent provocateurs working for either the federal government or leftist groups. Even the less extreme wing of the Alt-Right is to the political right of mainstream U.S. conservatism.

Rejecting the political establishment

The Alt-Right rejects many of the basic premises of the Age of Enlightenment and classical liberalism. It was for this reason, Hawley thought, that "the Alt-Right seems like a poor fit for the United States, where both the left and right have roots in classical liberalism and the Enlightenment." The Alt-Right rejects many of the values underpinning the U.S. political system, such as the ideals of liberty and equality for all. On the Occidental Dissent website, the far-right activist Hunter Wallace stated that "In the United States, liberals, progressives, conservatives, and libertarians are all branches of the common liberal family", all desiring to "preserve the fundamental liberal world order" and expressing a commitment to ideals of "liberty" and "equality". In contrast, he said, "We don't belong to the liberal family" and do not share its underpinning values. The scholar of American studies Annie Kelly suggested that the Alt-Right relied upon a fantasy of "the reversal, or undoing, of modernity" and is "based on nostalgia for a time that has never existed".

The Alt-Right distinguishes itself from mainstream U.S. conservatism by rejecting the three principles of "moral traditionalism, economic liberty, and strong national defense" which conservatives generally hold dear. The Alt-Right is frustrated that conservatism does not take identity politics seriously; Alt-Right figures complain that conservatives get elected by appealing to white anxieties but when in power do not pursue policies that white voters really want, like tight immigration controls. Hawley attributed the Alt-Right's rise in part to the declining appeal of mainstream U.S. conservatism, in particular as its main demographic base—white, married, middle-class Christians—formed a shrinking sector of the electorate.

The Alt-Right sought to hasten the downfall of U.S. conservatism, and conservatives were often the main target of Alt-Right wrath. The prominent alt-right ideologue Brad Griffin stated that "Alt Right is presenting itself as a sleek new challenger to mainstream conservatism and libertarianism... Alt Right was designed to appeal to a younger audience who reject the Left, but who don't fit in on the stuffy or banal Right either." Spencer believed that the Alt-Right would replace conservatism as the mainstream ideology on the political right. In his words: "We're the future. And we're smarter than they are... I've met lots of conservatives. They're usually dumb. They're really sub-mediocre people, I don't think I've ever met an intelligent movement conservative." Many Alt-Right figures have talked of their desire to push white nationalist ideas into the Overton window: the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse. Hawley noted that "What the Alt-Right ultimately wants is to drop the "Alt" from its name and instead become the new mainstream right".

The Alt-Right shares with the political left an opposition to neoconservative foreign policy, imperialism, and neoliberal economics.

White Nationalism

The Alt-Right is a white nationalist movement and is fundamentally concerned with white identity. Not all members of the Alt-Right, however, actively embrace the term "white nationalist" in reference to themselves. Hawley commented that the Alt-Right is, "at its core, a racist movement"; similarly, the historian David Atkinson stated that the Alt-Right was "a racist movement steeped in white supremacist ideas". Attitudes to non-white people vary within the Alt-Right, from those who desire tighter restrictions on non-white immigration into the U.S. to those who call for a violent ethnic cleansing of the country. The Alt-Right promotes scientific racism, making the claim that—in contrast to the majority of scholars, who regard race as a socio-cultural construct—racial differences represent distinct biological differences. For the Alt-Right, this view is referred to as "race realism".

Unlike earlier forms of racist thought—such as those of the interwar fascists—the Alt-Right foregrounds the idea of racial difference above that of racial superiority, leaving the latter either implicit or secondary in its discourse.

The Alt-Right contains both anti-Semitic and non-anti-Semitic elements. Many in the Alt-Right believe that there is a Jewish conspiracy within the United States to achieve "white genocide", the elimination of white people as a racial group and their replacement with non-whites. They believe that a Jewish cabal controls the U.S. government, media, and universities, and is pursuing its aim of white genocide by spreading anti-white tropes and encouraging African-American civil rights groups. As evidence for this supposed white genocide, these far-right figures point to the depiction of mixed-race couples or children on television and article discouraging women from having children early in life. This anti-Semitic conspiracy theory is not new to the Alt-Right, but has recurred among far-right groups in Western countries since the 19th century and was the reason for the Holocaust and various anti-Semitic pogroms in European history. Andrew Anglin, one of the most prominent Alt-Right ideologues and a member of its neo-Nazi wing, stated that "the core concept of the movement, upon which all else is based, is that Whites are undergoing an extermination, via mass immigration into White countries which was enabled by a corrosive liberal ideology of White self-hatred, and that the Jews are at the center of this agenda." He added that for the Alt-Right, "the goal is to ethnically cleanse White nations of non-Whites and establish an authoritarian government. Many people also believe that the Jews should be exterminated." Other Alt-Rightists, like Spencer, welcome the involvement of Jews within their movement.

Spencer has stated that he is not clear how the white ethno-state in North America would be formed. He stated that "I don't know how we're going to get there, because the thing is, history will decide that for us... You have to wait for a revolutionary opportunity to present itself, and history will present that opportunity." He suggested that it could be achieved through "peaceful ethnic cleansing", with non-whites given financial incentives to leave. He compared his white nationalist movement for an ethno-state with the early days of Zionism, which began in the 19th century with calls for the formation of a Jewish ethno-state and resulted in the formation of Israel in the mid-20th century. Many on the Alt-Right are similarly unclear as to how a white ethno-state would actually be formed, but are content instead to promote the idea, particularly to people who had not previously considered it. The Alt-Right figure Greg Johnson suggested that it would come about after white nationalists became the dominant force in U.S. politics. At that point, he argued, the government would deport all undocumented migrants from the country and then introduce measures to encourage all other non-whites to emigrate from the country.

Rather than seeking independent white ethno-states, some in the Alt-Right promote a pan-white empire spanning Europe and North America. Spencer noted that he did not want his proposed white ethno-state to be small, and that he wanted it to eventually form part of "a global empire... something on a very large scale. And that is a homeland for all white people, whether you're German or Celtic or Slavic or English." He described this as "one big Roman Empire" and suggested that it should engage in imperial expansion into the Near East, focusing on conquering Istanbul; in Spencer's words, Istanbul was "such a profoundly symbolic city. Retaking it, that would be a statement to the world." He added that its present Turkish inhabitants would be made to leave, for they could go to "the Middle East or something. Who cares?"

Some of those on the less extreme end of the Alt-Right do not openly call for the formation of a white ethno-state in North America, but want the white demographic decline in the U.S. to end. They desire an end to mass non-white immigration into the country and for white identity politics to become an accepted, normal part of mainstream U.S. politics. Hawley noted that "ironically, people on the Alt-Right are less Islamophobic than many mainstream conservatives"; whereas many U.S. conservatives portrayed Islam as a threat to liberty and criticised Muslim migration into their country on those grounds, the Alt-Right has made little use of this argument. For them, migration from Islamic-majority countries is undesirable not because said migrants are Muslims, but because they are largely non-white; it is just as opposed to non-white migrants who are Christian or non-religious. In contrast to the Holocaust denial that is a recurring feature of neo-Nazi and many other white supremacist groups, the alt-right tend to use the Holocaust as a source of humor.

The political scientist Philip W. Gray suggested that the Alt-Right's emphasis on white identity was best viewed in the context of wider emphasis on identity politics promoted primarily by the political left, regarding it as "a continuation of identitarianism that saw its initial growth in progressive politics".

For the Alt-Right, racial separation is considered necessary for racial preservation.

The Russian political theorist Alexander Dugin is regarded as an ally of the Alt-Right.

Other issues

The Alt-Right is anti-feminist and favors a more patriarchal society. Unlike many U.S. conservatives, it does not argue this point from a perspective rooted in traditional Christian perspectives, but claims its position is rooted in what it calls "sex realism", arguing that as a result of their biological differences, men and women are suited to different tasks in society. Lyons commented that the Alt-Right was misogynistic and presented women as irrational and vindictive. The Daily Stormer for instance banned female contributors and called for reduced female involvement in the white nationalist movement, producing an angry response from various white nationalist women. The Alt-Right intersects with the manosphere, an online anti-feminist subculture. There is for instance overlap between the Alt-Right and the Men's Rights Activist movement, a part of the manosphere which believes that it is men, rather than women, who are more oppressed in Western society. It also adopts the Men's Rights movement view that feminism has undermined and emasculated men, and believes that men should aggressively reassert their masculinity so as not to become "beta males" or "cucks". There has been some clear influence between the two movements; prominent manosphere ideologue RooshV for instance attended an NPI conference and quoted anti-Semitic material from white nationalist sources in his articles. Some Alt-Right figures have sought to distance themselves from the manosphere and its proponents; Greg Johnson of Counter-Currents Publishing was of the view that "the manosphere morally corrupts men" because it does not promote "the resurgence of traditional and biologically based sexual norms" but rather encourages rape culture.

On social issues like attitudes to homosexuality and abortion, the Alt-Right is divided; in contrast to the great attention that U.S. conservatives have given to these issues, they have been of little interest to the Alt-Right. Hawley suggested that the Alt-Right was more broadly pro-choice than the conservative movement. Many on the Alt-Right favored legal abortion for its eugenic purposes, highlighting that it was disproportionately used by African-American and Hispanic-American women. Some on the Alt-Right consider homosexuality to be immoral and a threat to the survival of the white race. Others adopt a more tolerant stance and have praised homosexual white nationalist figures like Jack Donovan, who was an early contributor to Spencer's AlternativeRight.com. This reflects a broader trend among white nationalists to denigrate gay culture while being more tolerant of gay writers and musicians like James O'Meara and Douglas Pearce whose views they sympathize with.

Lyons stated that the Alt-Right's vision of a future society was "both authoritarian and decentralist". He suggested that it reflected both the elitist and anti-democratic ethos present in fascism, but combined this with the idea of breaking up the U.S. into smaller, ethno-centric countries, an approach drawn from the Nouvelle Droite. Lyons also draw parallels between the Alt-Right's decentralized focus and National Anarchism, a far-right white nationalist ideology which opposes a strong state. While National Anarchist writers like Andrew Yeoman contributed to AlternativeRight.com, the National Anarchist movement has not had a strong presence within the Alt-Right.

The Alt-Right places little emphasis on economic issues. Unlike mainstream U.S. conservatives, alt-righters do not tend to favour laissez-faire economics, and most appear to support President Trump's protectionist economic measures. The alt-right has no specific platform on U.S. foreign policy. Generally, it opposes established Republican views on the issues and Alt-Rightists were typically opposed to President Bush's War on Terror policies. The Alt-Right has no interest in spreading democracy abroad and opposes the U.S.' close relationship with Israel. Other political figures, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are often looked upon favorably by the alt-right.

The Alt-Right is broadly a secular movement. Some of its members identify as Christians, and The Right Stuff for instance hosted an Alt-Right Christian podcast called "The Godcast". Others on the Alt-Right oppose Christianity entirely, criticizing it for its Jewish roots, for being a universal religion that seeks to cross racial boundaries, and for encouraging what they see as a "slave morality" that they contrast with perceived ancient aristocratic values. The Alt-Right typically despises the Christian Right for officially espousing racial equality despite the racial prejudices displayed by much of its white support base.

Wendling stated that the Alt-Right viewed Islam as an existential threat to Western society.

Structure

According to Haley, the Alt-Right was "a disorganized mob that broadly shares a number of goals and beliefs".

The Alt-Right is not an organized movement, and has no formal institutions or leading elite. It is a predominantly online phenomenon, lacking print newspapers and little radio or television presence. It had no think tanks that influenced government policy and could not command the open allegiance of any major politicians or mainstream pundits. According to Hawley, it was the movement's success in using the internet that allowed it "to punch above its weight in the political arena".

The Alt-Right made use of a large number of blogs, podcasts, forums, and webzines in which it discussed far-right political and cultural ideas. The use of the internet by the far-right was not pioneered by the Alt-Right; the white supremacist web forum Stormfront had for instance been active since 1996. Where the Alt-Right differed was in its members willingness to leave far-right websites and engage in trolling on other parts of the internet, such as the comments sections of major news websites, YouTube, and Twitter. According to Hawley, it was the Alt-Right's use of trolling which put it "into the national conversation".

The movement's online structure had strengths in that it allowed members to say things anonymously online that they would not be willing to say on the street or in another public place. The lack of any formal organisation also meant that nobody could be kicked out of the Alt-Right.

As the Alt-Right developed, a number of formal, real world events were held, particularly through the National Policy Institute. Members of the Alt-Right have also attended events organised by an older far-right white nationalist group, American Renaissance. These events have gained a more limited audience than the Alt-Right's online activities. This may be because operating online allows members of the Alt-Right to operate anonymously, while to attend events they must often expose themselves to journalists and protesters, thus making it more likely that their views will become publicly known.

Tactics

Memes

The Alt-Right makes strong use of humor and irony in its rhetoric. It also makes heavy use of memes. It employs memes and images in which anime and comic characters are used in an ironic manner to promote white nationalist ideas. For the Alt-Right, these memes are not only a source of frivolous amusement, but they are also used to push terms and concepts into popular discussion, both across social media and elsewhere. For instance, during the 2016 presidential campaign Alt-Right members created and propagated adverts falsely presenting themselves as being issued by Clinton's campaign. These featured the hashtag "#DraftOurDaughters", emphasizing the idea that Clinton wanted women to be drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in a forthcoming war against Russia. Such false adverts used slogans like "Hillary will stand up to Russian Aggression. Will you stand with her?," "I'd rather die in a war than live under bigotry," and "In the White House or on Russian soil. The fight for equality never stops." It also spread memes aimed at flaming Islamophobic sentiment among the LGBT community—particularly in the wake of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting—with Alt-Right activists describing their intention of driving a wedge between gay people and Muslims to weaken the left.

One of the most commonly used memes within the alt-right is Pepe the Frog, a character originally created in 2005. In his original form, Pepe was depicted urinating in public with the comment "Feels good, man". By 2014, Pepe had become one of the most popular memes on the internet; it was popular among far-right trolls on 4chan and from there came to be adopted by the alt-right. Hawley suggested that it had become the movement's mascot. It was for instance used prominently on the alt-right Daily Stormer website. Anglin stated that "A movement which meets all of the SPLC's definitions of Neo-Nazi White Supremacism using a cartoon frog to represent itself takes on a subversive power to bypass historical stereotypes of such movements, and thus presents the ideas themselves in a fun way without the baggage of Schindler's List." Another mascot selected by the Alt-Right was Moon Man, one of the characters used by the McDonalds company in the 1980s. Alt-Right members posted videos to YouTube in which Moon Man rapped to songs they had composed like "Black Lives Don't Matter" by a text-to-speech synthesizer.

The Alt-Right presented an image which was much less threatening than that of earlier white nationalist groups, and thus was able to attract people who would be willing to visit Alt-Right websites who would not have considered attending neo-Nazi or KKK events. As noted by Hawley, "whereas older white nationalists came across as bitter, reactionary, and antisocial, much of the Alt-Right comes across as youthful, light-hearted, and jovial—even as it says the most abhorrent things about racial and religious minorities." Members of the Alt-Right sometimes made fun of the earnestness and seriousness of earlier white nationalists such as William Pierce.

Memes spread within the movement commonly reference violence against figures they oppose; one for example depicted Obama being hanged, another depicted Pepe the Frog raping Hilary Clinton. Other common acronyms among the alt-right is "SJW", meaning social justice warrior", and "WEIRD", for "Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic people". Alt-righters also employed the hashtag "#WhiteGenocide" on Twitter, a reduction of the older white nationalist slogan: "diversity is a code word for white genocide." This hashtag was also spread through is use on highway billboards and fliers. Alt-Right adherents and other American white nationalists also reflected their belief in the white genocide conspiracy theory at the Unite the Right rally by chanting "You will not replace us" and "Jews will not replace us". Another tactic it employed was to place three parentheses around any Jewish names it refers to; this started at The Right Stuff as part of an attempt to raise awareness of the large proportion of Jewish Americans present in the media and academia. One member of the Alt-Right created a Google Chrome plug in that would highlight any Jewish names online.

Alt-Right discourse refers to white people who are not part of the movement as "normies". When referring to African Americans, the Alt-Right regularly employs the term term "dindu nuffin" ("didn't do nothing"). The term "cuck" is used for perceived weaklings. Mainstream conservatives are often denigrated as "cuckservatives", a portmanteau of "cuckold" and "cuckservative". The term "cuckold" pertains to a man with an unfaithful wife or a man who is (consciously or not) raising another man's child; the Alt-Right sees this as analogous to the role of the U.S. conservative movement in assisting non-whites in the U.S. The term "cuck" had also been popularized in reference to a genre of pornography in which men watch their wives or girlfriends have sex with another man, usually one who is black. "Cuckservative" has been applied to various conservative figures. It was commonly used against Jeb Bush, in part because he had a Mexican-American wife; one popular meme featured Bush's face with the slogan "Please fuck my country, Mexico. #Cuckservative". The term was widely used by the Alt-Right and generated anger from many conservatives, a response that delighted many Alt-Rightists.

The alt-right also make heavy use of imagery drawn from popular culture for its own purposes. For instance, the American singer Taylor Swift is often held up as an idealised example of "Aryan" beauty. When describing their own conversion to the movement, Alt-Rightists refer to themselves as having been "getting red pilled", a reference to a scene in the 1999 film The Matrix in which Neo, the protagonist, chooses to discover the truth behind reality by consuming a red pill. On Alt-Right blogs and message boards, members often discuss how they were "red-pilled" originally.

Among the Alt-Right, the term "Cultural Marxism" is usually applied broadly to a wide range of leftist thought.

As a soundtrack to the movement, many in the Alt-Right adopted the electronic genre fashwave, including songs such as "Galactic Lebensraum" by the band Cybernazi.

Trolling and harassment

Hawley noted that the Alt-Right is "a subset of the larger Internet troll culture". Prominent Alt-Right website The Right Stuff promoted trolling, publishing articles on how to troll most effectively and how to use it to convert readers to white nationalist ideas.

Another tactic employed by the Alt-Right is the harassment of opponents in an attempt to silence them. This is a tactic drawn from the 2013 Gamergate controversy. Those most regularly targeted were Jewish journalists, mainstream conservative journalists, and celebrities who publicly criticized Trump. Such harassment is usually spontaneous rather than pre-planned, but in various cases many members of the Alt-Right pile on once the harassment has begun. Some on the Alt-Right believe that in targeting journalists, they pushed many in that profession to magnify the size and threat of the Alt-Right, thereby giving the movement greater attention than it would otherwise have attained. The conservative journalist David French—who is white—received much abuse referencing his white wife and adopted black daughter after criticizing Trump and the Alt-Right; "I saw images of my daughter's face in gas chambers, with a smiling Trump in a Nazi uniform preparing to press a button and kill her. I saw her face photoshopped into images of slaves. She was called a "niglet" and a "dindu." The alt-right unleashed on my wife, Nancy, claiming that she had slept with black men while I was deployed to Iraq, and that I loved to watch while she had sex with "black bucks." People sent her pornographic images of black men having sex with white women, with someone photoshopped to look like me, watching."

It also orchestrated pranks, again to cause alarm among its opponents. For instance, during the 2016 presidential campaign Alt-Right members presented claims that they had a plot to send representatives posing as officials to voting booths where they would suppress ethnic minority turnout. There was no such plot, but press sources like Politico picked up on the claims and presented it as fact. Such incidents reflect how the Alt-Right were willing to lie shamelessly to advance their interests. This tendency toward trolling renders it difficult for journalists to learn more about the Alt-Right because those members they talked to were willing to deceive them for their amusement.

The Alt-Right often makes reference to freedom of speech when calling for its views to be heard in public discourse.

Violence

In 2017, Hawley noted that the Alt-Right was not a violent movement, but that this could potentially change. Conversely, Wending noted that there were individuals on the extreme end of the Alt-Right who were willing to use violence.

Demographics

The anonymized and decentralized nature of the Alt-Right makes it difficult to determine how many individuals are involved in it or the demographic attributes of this membership. From the nature of the online discourse as well as the attendees of events organized by NPI and American Renaissance, it appears that the majority of Alt-Right participants are younger on average than the participants of most previous American far-right groups. Spencer suggested that "if we were to make a composite image of the Alt-Right, I would probably say someone who is thirty years old, who is a tech professional, who is an atheist, and who lives on one of the coasts."

On interviewing young members of the Alt-Right, Hawley noted that many articulated the common theme, stating that they embraced far-right politics in response to the growing racial polarisation of the Obama era, in particular the public debates around the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Hawley suggested that many of these young people were willing to embrace the idea of dismantling the United States in favour of a new, white ethno-state because they had grown up in the U.S. during the post-civil rights era. In contrast, he thought, older white nationalists were keener to retain links to patriotic American imagery because they nostalgically recalled a period of U.S. history when segregation and overt white dominance were a part of life and believed that this system could be reinstated.

The Alt-Right ideologue Greg Johnson suggested that the Alt-Right was drawing in better educated people than previous white nationalist movements because the career prospects for college-educated European Americans had declined by the late 2000s. Whereas a college degree was previously perceived as a guaranteed ticket to a middle-class lifestyle, he noted that this was no longer the case and that many college and university educated people felt resentful and, due to unemployment or underemployment, had growing amounts of time on their hands which they could spend on the internet.

The scholar of American studies Annie Kelly argued that the Alt-Right was "both inspired and defined by a discourse of anxiety about traditional white masculinity", a discourse which was "dominant in much of the political and cultural mainstream". In her view, much of the "groundwork" for this discourse was set forth by the conservative movement in the years following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Reception and legacy

Hawley was of the view that, because of its use of novel tactics not previously used by the far-right, "the Alt-Right represents something genuinely new on the American political scene". Lyons stated that the Alt-Right "helped revitalize White nationalist and male supremacist politics in the United States". Hawley noted that even after Trump's electoral victory, the Alt-Right remained "powerless and marginalized"; he nevertheless suggested that if the Alt-Right continues to grow, then "it may represent a serious challenge" to the continued existence of liberal democracy in the United States. Kelly noted that it was "important not to overstate the numbers of the alt-right, nor their power as a voting bloc", but that their success could be measured "in terms of their ever-increasing dissemination of extreme right-wing ideals and their ability to project an updated rhetoric of anti-left antagonism into the Overton window of acceptable political discourse."

A poll by ABC News and The Washington Post found that 10% of respondents supported the Alt-Right, to 50% who opposed it. An Ipsos and Reuters poll found 6% of respondents supported the movement. Such polls indicate that while millions of Americans are supportive of the Alt-Right's message, they remain a clear minority.

There was much discussion within U.S. public discourse as to how to avoid the "normalization" of the Alt-Right.

The U.S. conservative movement was generally quick to condemn the Alt-Right as a racist movement. However, condemning it in this way placed conservatives in an awkward rhetorical position; for a number of years, conservatives had been widely presenting themselves as the challengers of liberal political correctness, but in condemning others for racism they opened themselves to the accusation that they themselves were upholding and policing political correctness. One of the most vocal conservative critics of the Alt-Right was Rick Wilson, who summed up the view that: "the fact of the matter is that most of them are childless single men who masturbate to anime. They're not real political players. They're not people who matter in the overall course of humanity."

Gray suggested that the manner in which the Tea Party movement and other right-wingers had been demonized with accusations of racism in the years building up to the emergence of the Alt-Right may have benefited the latter. This would be because some sectors of U.S. society might have felt more willing to listen to the Alt-Right than they otherwise would, given that they felt that "their rightist views would be 'racist' regardless of how near or far they are from the centre."

Gray suggested that an examination of the alt-right would open up "the intersectional Left and its allies" to greater self-criticism given that it would highlight the similarities that their "left-identitarian" approach had with the alt-right's own world-view and encourage them to critique the theoretical basis on which identity politics is built. Nagle argued that the growth of these left-wing "identitarians"—an "anti-free speech, anti-free thought, anti-intellectual online movement" which encouraged the online harassment of its critics—"made the left a laughing stock for a whole generation" and "undoubtedly drove[…] many young people to the right".

Breitbart News amplified and popularised alt-right ideas under the editorship of "alt-lite" figure Steve Bannon (left); its articles by Milo Yiannopoulos (right) were particularly influential

Opponents of the Alt-Right have not reached a consensus on how to deal with it. Some on the political right, including Milo Yiannopoulos, suggest that the movement's appeal would be diffused if society gave in to many of its less extreme demands. This would include putting a halt on political correctness and ending mass immigration. Yiannopoulos added that, as part of such an approach, the left should cease to hold different social groups to different standards of behavior. He noted that if the left wanted to continue using identity politics as the basis of much of its mobilization, it would have to accept white identity politics as a permanent fixture of the political landscape. Other commentators, like the conservative David Frum, have suggested that if issues like immigration policy were discussed more openly in public discourse, then the Alt-Right would no longer be able to monopolize these issues. Some opponents emphasize "calling out" tactics, labelling the Alt-Right with terms like "racist", "sexist", "homophobic", and "white supremacist" in the belief that doing so will scare people away from it. Many commentators have urged journalists not to refer to the Alt-Right by its chosen name, but rather with terms like "neo-Nazi".

Other commentators have called for more vigorous policing of the web by governments and companies to deal with the Alt-Right. If denied access to mainstream social media outlets, the Alt-Right would be restricted to far-right online venues like Stormfront, where it would be isolated and ignored from those not already committed to its cause. Many in the Alt-Right concur that denying it access to social media would have a devastating affect on its ability to proselytize. It has however been suggested that such censorship could backfire, as it would play into the Alt-Right narrative that those campaigning for white interests were being marginalized by the establishment, thus aiding the movement's recruitment. Suppressing the Alt-Right in this manner would also set a precedent which could be repeated for other groups in future, including leftist ones.

Various opponents have also employed doxing, publicly revealing the identities and addresses of Alt-Right figures, many of whom had previously acted anonymously. This tactic discourages individuals from involving themselves in Alt-Right activities to begin with, as they fear that should they be outed as Alt-Rightists they might face repercussions such as job loss, social ostracization, or violence. From 2016 onward, some anti-fascist opponents of the Alt-Right also resorted to physical confrontation and violence against the movement. On Trump's inauguration day for example, a masked anti-fascist punched Spencer in the face when he was talking to reporters; the footage was widely shared online. Hawley noted that this tactic could be counter-productive to the anti-Alt-Right case, as it reinforces the narrative that Alt-Rightists peacefully engaging in their constitutionally-protected right to free speech were being victimized.

The Southern Poverty Law Center emphasized what it saw as the need for broader education about the Alt-Right and its white supremacist origins to counter its message and mission to transform American society.

Atkinson, David C. (2018). "Charlottesville and the Alt-Right: A Turning Point?". Politics, Groups, and Identities. 6 (2): 309–315. doi:10.1080/21565503.2018.1454330. S2CID 158189264.

Barkun, Michael (2017). "President Trump and the "Fringe"". Terrorism and Political Violence. 29 (3): 437–443. doi:10.1080/09546553.2017.1313649. S2CID 152199771.

Hawley, George (2017). Making Sense of the Alt-Right. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-18512-7.

Hofmann-Kuroda, Lisa (2017). "Free Speech and the Alt-Right". Qui Parle: Critical Humanities and Social Sciences. 26 (2): 369–382.

Lyons, Matthew N. (2017). CTRL-ALT-DELETE: An Antifascist Report on the Alternative Right (Report). Political Research Associates.

Kelly, Annie (2017). "The Alt-Right: Reactionary Rehabilitation for White Masculinity: US Alt-Right Extremism is a Logical Consequence of Mainstream Neo-conservatism". Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture. 66: 68–78.

Niewert, David (2017). Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump. London and New York: Verso. ISBN 978-1-78663-423-8.

Love, Nancy S. (2017). "Back to the Future: Trendy Fascism, the Trump Effect, and the Alt-Right". New Political Science. 39 (2): 263–268. doi:10.1080/07393148.2017.1301321. S2CID 152136843.

Salazar, Philippe-Joseph (2018). "The Alt-Right as a Community of Discourse". Javnost - the Public: Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture. 25 (1–2): 135–143. doi:10.1080/13183222.2018.1423947. S2CID 150344125.

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Gray, Phillip W. (2018). "'The Fire Rises': Identity, the Alt-Right and Intersectionality". Journal of Political Ideologies. 23 (2): 141–156. doi:10.1080/13569317.2018.1451228. S2CID 149192343.

Heikkilä, Niko (2017). "Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election". European Journal of American Studies. 12 (2): 1–22. doi:10.4000/ejas.12140.

Jakubowicz, Andrew (2017). "Alt_Right White Lite: Trolling, Hate Speech and Cyber Racism on Social Media". Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 9 (3): 41–60. doi:10.5130/ccs.v9i3.5655.

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Massanari, Adrienne L. (2018). "Rethinking Research Ethics, Power, and the Risk of Visibility in the Era of the "Alt-Right" Gaze". Social Media + Society. 4 (2): 1–9. doi:10.1177/2056305118768302. S2CID 149721522.

Pollard, Tom (2018). "Alt-Right Transgressions in the Age of Trump". Perspectives on Global Development and Technology. 17 (1–2): 76–88. doi:10.1163/15691497-12341467.

Reid, Shannon E.; Valasik, Matthew (2018). "Ctrl+ALT-RIGHT: Reinterpreting our Knowledge of White Supremacy Groups through the Lens of Street Gangs". Journal of Youth Studies. 21 (10): 1305–1325. doi:10.1080/13676261.2018.1467003. S2CID 149863448.

Thobani, Sitara (2018). "Alt-Right with the Hindu-Right: Long-Distance Nationalism and the Perfection of Hindutva". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 42 (5): 745–762. doi:10.1080/01419870.2018.1468567. S2CID 149990403.

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http://www.politicalresearch.org/2017/01/20/ctrl-alt-delete-report-on-the-alternative-right/#sthash.pyfXkALX.dpbs

http://derby.openrepository.com/derby/handle/10545/622321

Nati

Throughout recorded history, humans have divided themselves up into groups. One type of human group is the nation. These nations form over time through a range of historical processes.

The word "nationalism" has been given multiple different meanings. The term has been used to describe the process or a nation's formation and growth; to refer to the sentiment of belonging to a nation; to the language and symbolism if the nation; as a social and political movement that works on the behalf of the nation; and an ideology of the nation.

The religious studies scholar Steven Grosby called nationalism "a set of beliefs about the nation" which were distinguished by including the "belief that the nation is the only goal worthy of pursuit".

Etymology

The term "nationalism" was first used in its modern sense by several European writers during the late 18th century. These included the German philosopher Johan Gottfried Herder and the French cleric Augustin de Barruel. The term "nationalism" was rarely used in the early 19th century. The word's earliest known appearance in the English language dates from 1836; in this instance the term was used with theological connotations, to describe the idea that nations were divinely elected by God. During the 19th century the term was often used largely synonymously with "nationality" and "nationalness" to describe national egotism.

Nationalism as an ideology

Nationalism is often described as an ideology. Various different definitions of the ideology of nationalism have been put forward. Most of these overlap and reveal common themes. Anthony D. Smith proposed a working definition of "an ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity for a population which some of its members deem to constitute an actual or potential "nation"." Nationalism places the nation at the centre of its concerns and seeks to promotion the well-being of this nation.

Nationalism can be present both among people seeking to gain independence for their nation and among those living in independent nation-states.

The idea of the nation of closely linked to nationalism. There is also overlap between nationalism and national consciousness or sentiment.

As a socio-political movement, nationalism does not differ significantly from other socio-political movements in its organisation, techniques, and activities.

The symbolism of nationalism displays recurring similarities across the world. For instance, the proper name of the nation is regarded as an important symbol for nationalist movements. An example is the name "Macedonia", which was the subject of Macedonia naming dispute during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Other important symbols for nationalist movements are national flags and national anthems. These often contain potent meaning for members of the nations in question.

Cultural nationalism

Nationalism can be intellectual and cultural as well as political, and has frequently been associated with cultural and literary activities. Nationalist ideas have attracted many intellectuals, including writers, artists, composers, educators, historians, and philologists. These nationalists often emphasise activities such as rediscovering a nation’s history, reviving its vernacular language, cultivating the national literature, and restoring its traditional arts and crafts. Nationalist movements have often started as cultural movements rather than explicitly political ones; they have for instance been generated by literary societies, music festivals, or journals.

The term "nationalism" can sometimes be used as a synonym of "nation."

Nationalism can encourage people to regard other nations as the enemy of one's own, thus generating xenophobic prejudice against foreigners and migrants.

• Grosby, Steven (2005). Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192840981.

• Smith, Nationalism and Modernism, 1998
• Leoussi, Encyclopaedia of Nationalism, 2001
• Smith, The Antiquity of Nations
• Hastings, The Construction of Nationhood, 1997
• Gellner, Nations and Nationalism', 1983
• Gellner, Nationalism
• Hobsbawn, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780
• Greenfield, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity
• Smith, "When is a Nation?" Geopolitics 2002
• Anderson, Imagined Communities

JC

Jeremy Bernard Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 in Chippenham, Wiltshire. His family background was middle-class; his parents were then living in the village of Kington St Michael. His mother, Naomi, was a maths teacher; his father, David, worked as an electrical engineer. They were politically engaged leftists, having met while campaigning for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Corbyn was the youngest of four brothers. When he was seven, the family moved to Pave Lane in Shropshire. There, he studied at Adams' Grammar School in Newport.

At school, Corbyn devoted much time to politics. He joined the Labour Party Young Socialists group for the Wrekin. As a teenager he joined both the League Against Cruel Sports, an animal welfare organisation, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

With the Voluntary Service Overseas, he taught for two years in Jamaica. He also worked for a time in an administrative job in the National Health Service. He had successive jobs in trade unions, first with the National Union of Public Employees and then with the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.

He became a local councillor in Haringey. It was there that he met Jane Chapman, whom he subsequently married. With Chapman, Corbyn made several motorbike tours around Europe. The couple subsequently divorced amicably.

Corbyn was elected MP for Islington North in 1983, when he was 34. In his maiden speech in the House of Commons, Corbyn criticised cuts to public services and high levels of unemployment in his constituency. As an MP, Corbyn joined the Socialist Campaign Group, the Bennite wing of the party. There, he befriended Tony Benn, Michael Meacher, and Dennis Skinner.

Also in 1983, Corbyn was invited to begin contributing a column to The Morning Star, a far-left newspaper. Shortly after becoming MP, he spoke at a "No Socialism without Gay Liberation" platform. Over his parliamentary career, he consistently supported LGBT rights motions. Amid the miners' strike, in the Commons he raised allegations that police had been falsely alleging that strikers possessed stolen vehicles so as to arrest them.

In his early years in the House of Commons, Corbyn regularly spoke out on various issues of foreign affairs. Opposed to the system of apartheid and white-minority rule in South Africa, Corbyn joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement and served on its national executive. When Thatcher invited South African leader P.W. Botha to London in June 1984, Corbyn joined a picket outside South Africa House in Trafalgar Square. He was among the protesters arrested by police, although all charges against them were dropped. Corbyn also joined the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, becoming its patron. He campaigned for the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, Irish individuals who maintained that they had been falsely convicted of terrorist activity.

I seem to remember being told by Tony Blair and Jack Straw[…] that there was no question that Britain would go to war without there being a moral, ethical, legal and United Nations basis for it. Well, Tony, there is no moral basis for bombing Baghdad and Basra, there is no legal authority – you didn't even put a resolution to the UN because you knew that, despite all the bribery and the money that was offered over the past few months, not one country in the world other than Britain and the United States was prepared to vote for war.

— Corbyn at an anti-war rally, March 2003

During the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal — in which many MPs were found to have excessively drawn on their allowances and expense accounts — Corbyn was revealed to have had the lowest expenses of any MP, having claimed only £8.95 for a printer cartridge. In June 2015, he spoke at an anti-austerity rally in central London.

Candidates needed to be nominated by 35 Labour MPs; Corbyn attained 36. At the start of the contest, book-keepers considered him a 100 to 1 chance; Andy Burnham was the favourite, followed by Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper. Labour's right-wing was divided over which candidate to support; The Mirror backed Burnham while The Guardian endorsed Cooper. Major unions like Unite and Unison backed Corbyn, primarily as he was the only candidate openly against the Conservatives' proposed anti-trade union legislation. He also had the support of The Morning Star and Scotland's Daily Record. His early supporters did not think he could win but hoped that his candidacy would raise the platform for anti-austerity voices in Labour. Commentators also noted how his straight-talking approach differed from those of his rivals, who often waffled and evaded answering questions. With little attention from the mainstream media, Corbyn's team used social media to promote his candidacy. During the campaign, Labour membership grew; 183,658 new members and 100,000 "registered supporters". He toured the country, speaking at packed meetings; 1,800 people attended his Manchester speech, while in Sheffield 1,700 saw his speech at Crucible Theatre and 800 listened outside. By September, 13,000 had signed up to volunteer for Corbyn's campaign.

As polls began to show Corbyn leading, those on the Labour right began to panic; the MPs John Mann, Simon Danczuk, and Graham Stringer proposed the election be stopped, alleging that far-left "infiltrators" were joining the party to ensure a Corbyn victory. Around 3000 members were ejected—usually on the grounds that they had previously been members of other parties like the Greens—although the election was not stopped. Corbyn was elected leader during the first round of voting, gaining 59.5% of the vote. He had secured the backing of 152 constituency branches, compared to 111 for Burnham, 109 for Cooper, and 18 for Kendall. His first act as Labour leader was to attend a rally expressing solidarity with refugees in central London, where he was warmly received. Most Labour MPs were ideologically to the right of both Corbyn and the party membership. Critics of Corbyn often presented his election as a return to 1980s-style politics and believed that with him in charge, Labour would never win a general election. Prominent New Labour politicians like Blair, Brown, and Peter Mandelson spoke out against Corbyn's leadership.

Seymour argued that Corbyn had addressed a "profound political alienation" among much of the electorate, and that he had mobilised "a radicalised minority in British society, a coalition that included politically polyamorous young people, trade unionists, and left-wing supporters of 'Old Labour'." The resurgence in left-wing activism linked to Corbyn mirrored similar leftist movements in Europe, such as Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain, and La France Insoumise in France, as well as the growing support for Bernie Sanders in the U.S.

As leader, Corbyn faced considerable opposition from the right-wing of his party, the Conservatives, elements of the state, and much of the media. Many on the Labour right—as well as in liberal media outlets like The Guardian—thought he would be unable to win a general election, believing that by pushing too far to the left he would achieve nothing; some believed that Labour had already gone too far left under Miliband and that this was why it lost the 2015 election. Some media critics accused his supporters of "brocialism", alleging that it was sexist of them to vote for Corbyn over the female candidates. Much of the right-wing press alleged that Corbyn's leadership would bring chaos, encouraging unions to strike to bring down the Conservative government. It repeatedly presented him as a threat to national security, with an anonymous senior army general claiming that if Corbyn became Prime Minister he could face an army mutiny. The Jewish Chronicle criticised him for associating with Palestinian solidarity activists like Carlos Latuff and Raed Salah whom it claimed were anti-Semites. Corbyn biographer Richard Seymour argued that his media campaign against Corbyn represented "the classic ingredients of a 'Project Fear' campaign: a toxic combination of falsehoods, insinuation, trivialisation, scaremongering, and pointed political interventions by the supposedly neutral apparatuses of the state."

Corbyn's shadow cabinet was the first on British history to be majority female.

In an Oldham by-election, Labour held the seat with a 7.5% swing in its favour. Some on Labour's right privately hoped the party would do badly in these elections, thus undermining Corbyn's leadership.

In the build-up to government preparations for an intervention it the Syrian Civil War, various Labour MPs who were thought to support military action complained of being accused of being "war-mongers" and "Red Tories" by party activists; some claimed that this constituted bullying. Some in Labour blamed this on Momentum and called on Corbyn to disband it.

Many Scottish Labour MPs opposed Corbyn's desire not to renew Trident, fearing job losses at Faslare.

Corbyn had long held to left-wing criticisms of the European Union but — rather than endorsing a 'Leave' vote — supported 'Remain', arguing that the UK would be better off within it, as part of which it could campaign to reform the EU. Many Labour centrists and journalists opposed Corbyn's critical attitude to the EU during the campaign, as well as his refusal to openly campaign for 'Remain' alongside Cameron.

According to Seymour, Labour's platform in the campaign was one of "radical social-democracy". Its electoral manifesto called for renationalising the railways, mail, energy, and water supplies; expanding public investment; abolishing tuition fees for university education; building more council houses; raising the legal minimum wage; and advancing the recognition of workers' rights. During the campaign, opponents repeatedly tried to link him with the IRA.

In the election, Labour solidified its hold in many marginal seats and took control of Canterbury, which had been Conservative held for nearly a century. Labour secured just under 13 million votes, representing their biggest surge in the vote share since 1945. An Ipsos Mori poll showed that among 18 to 24 year olds, there had been a rise in turnout of 16% over the 2015 general election. Labour's achievement shocked most pundits, who considered Corbyn an electoral liability for Labour. In the wake of the election, supporters labelled Corbyn the "Absolute Boy".

Seymour referred to him as "a radical socialist". Within Labour, he has been characterised as a Bennite. In Corbyn's view, the weakening of the left and the labour movement since the 1970s was a reason to rebuild its organisation, rather than to move to the right as New Labour did. He supports the idea of a United Ireland, stating: "Ultimately, I think Ireland has to be united and I think Ireland will be united". Involved in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, he supports a boycott of Israeli exports to put pressure on the Israeli government to change its approach to the Palestinians.

Seymour suggested that one of Corbyn's "most important assets" was his "ability to say exactly what he thought, and to express it in a straightforward idiom that anyone could grasp, without insulting anyone's intelligence." Gilbert described Corbyn as "an artisan of rhetoric, lacking memorable, new-minted phraseology but usually strikingly sincere". Gilbert thought that "Corbyn's speeches are solid and workaday", although could include "fluffs and stumbles and mistimings", adding that he spoke "the same way for all audiences and all occasions". His former partner Jane Chapman called him "very principled, very honest... a genuinely nice guy". Gilbert called him "famously frugal".

Corbyn is a fan of cricket and football, supporting Arsenal FC. He is also a fan of literature, with W. B. Yeats and Chinua Achebe being among his favourite authors. His hobbies include writing poetry and abstract painting. While living in London, he has long had an allotment in Finchley; he grows fruit on it which he uses to make jam. He is a train enthusiast, and a keen cyclist. He is a vegetarian, and speaks fluent Spanish.

Corbyn has been married three times. His second wife was Chilean; his third was Mexican.

Corbyn's critics have varyingly described him as a "fanatic" and an "extremist". Critics accused Corbyn of being an apologist for the IRA. Opponents emphasised the idea that Corbyn consorted with individuals who wished the British public harm. Pro-Corbyn figures argued that this was a double standard; Corbyn was being criticised with meeting with individuals linked to violence and human rights abuses, but Conservative government figures engaged in exactly the same practices wee not.

Corbyn experienced a hostile reception from both the right-wing and liberal centrist press in the UK. A 2016 study published by the London School of Economics found that "most newspapers" in the UK had been "systematically vilifying" Corbyn. A Media Reform Coalition analysis found that UK newspapers had "systematically undermined" Corbyn since he became Labour leader; examining 494 articles, 60% presented him negatively to 13% positively.

Many Corbynistas were particularly angry at BBC News, which professed political neutrality, for what they regarded as its anti-Corbyn bias. For his supporters, the antagonism he faced from the mainstream media played into their mistrust of it and compounded their sense of Corbyn's authenticity.

For many pundits, he was considered—according to Seymour—"a good man... an honest man: but a disaster". Blairites in the Labour Party regarded him as "a throwback to the politics of the 1970s and 1980s".

Gilbert, W. Stephen (30 October 2015). Jeremy Corbyn: Accidental Hero. London: Squint Books. ISBN 978-1-908998-89-7.}

Seymour, Richard (5 December 2017). Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics (second ed.). London: Verso. ISBN 9781786632999.

LD

In the 1970s, the Liberal leader David Steel began contemplating how an alliance with other parties could return it to political power. In 1977, he formed a pact with the Labour Party Prime Minister James Callaghan to back Callaghan's government as it was facing a motion of no confidence. The pact angered many Liberals, who believed that they failed to gain enough from it, and it damaged them electorally. In the 1979 general election, the Liberals lost three seats in the House of Commons; the Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, won the election.

Within Labour, many centrists were uncomfortable with the growing influence of the hard left, who were calling for the UK to leave the European Economic Community and unilaterally disarm as a nuclear power. In January 1981, four senior Labour MPs—Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen, known as the "Gang of Four"—issued the Limehouse Declaration in which they announced their split from Labour. This led to the formal launch of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in March. One of its first decisions was to negotiate an electoral arrangement with the Liberals, facilitated between Jenkins, who was the first SDP leader, and Steel.

The new alliance initially did well in opinion polls. The SDP and Liberals agreed to contest alternating by-elections: the Liberals won in Warrington and the SDP in Crosby and Glasgow Hillhead between 1982 and 1983. At the 1983 general election, the Liberals gained five additional seats although the SDP lost many that they had previously inherited from Labour. After the 1983 election, Jenkins resigned as head of the SDP and Owen replaced him. Several gains were made in subsequent by-elections: the SDP won in Portsmouth South and Greenwich and the Liberals in Brecon and Radnor and Ryedale.

In the 1987 general election, both parties lost seats. In the wake of the disappointing electoral result, Steel called for a merger of the SDP and Liberals into a single party. At the grassroots, various local constituency groups had already de facto merged. In the SDP, Jenkins, Rodgers, Williams, and the MP Charles Kennedy supported the idea; Owen and the MPs Rosie Barnes and John Cartwright opposed it. The SDP's membership was balloted on the idea: after it produced 57.4% in favour of the merger, Owen resigned as leader. Robert Maclennan replaced him as SDP leader. A Liberal conference in September found delegates providing a landslide majority for the merger. Formal negotiations launched that month and in December it produced a draft constitution for the new party. In January 1988, the Liberal Assembly at Blackpool backed the plans with a two-thirds majority; a week later, the SDP meeting in Sheffield also produced a majority for the merger. Finally, the memberships of both parties were balloted and both produced support for unification.

The Social and Liberal Democratic Party was formally launched on 3 March 1988. Steel and Maclennan initially became joint interim leaders. At the start, it claimed 19 MPs, 3,500 local councillors, and 100,000 members. It adopted the bird of freedom as its logo. In its first leadership election, Paddy Ashdown defeated Alan Beith. Ashdown saw the Liberal Democrats as a radical, reforming force, putting forward policies for introducing home rule for Scotland and Wales, proportional representation, transforming the House of Lords into an elected Senate, and advancing environmental protections. At the September 1988 conference it changed its name to "Democrats" and in 1989 to "Liberal Democrats".

Support rapidly declined in opinion polls. In 1989, its election results were poor: it lost 190 seats in the May 1989 local elections and secured only 6.4% of the vote in the June 1989 European Parliament elections, being beaten to third position by the Green Party of England and Wales. This was the worst election result for an established third party since the 1950s. Its prospects were buoyed after it won the 1990 Eastbourne by-election, followed by by-election victories in Ribble Valley and Kincardine and Deeside. In the 1991 local elections it secured a net gain of 520 seats. In the 1992 general election, it secured 17.8% of the vote and 20 seats in the House of Commons: 9 of these were in Scotland and 5 in Southwest England.

Between 1992 and 1997 the party underwent a period of consolidation, particularly on local councils. In the 1994 local elections, the Liberal Democrats came second, pushing the Conservatives into third place. In the 1994 European Parliament elections, it gained two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In 1993, the party was damaged by allegations of racism on the Liberal Democrats-controlled council in Tower Hamlets; it faced additional problems as its distinctive centrist niche was threatened by the rise of Tony Blair and New Labour in the Labour Party, a project which pushed Labour to the centre. In November 1995 it put forward an "Alternative Queen's Speech", at the centre of which was a commitment to reform the UK constitution. At the 1997 general election, it fielded 639 candidates, securing 46 MPs, the greatest number that the Liberals had had since 1929. These were concentrated in Southwest England, Southwest London, and areas of Scotland.

Although Blair's Labour won a landslide victory in 1997 and did not require a coalition government, Blair was interested in cooperation with the Lib Dems. In July 1997 he invited Ashdown and other senior Lib Dems to join a Cabinet Committee on constitutional affairs. Privately, Blair offered the Liberal Democrats a coalition but later backed down amid fears that it would split his own Cabinet. The joint Committee launched the Jenkins Commission on Electoral Reform in December; its report, published in October 1998, proposed the change from the first past the post electoral system to an AV Top-Up System. This was not the Lib Dems preferred option—they wanted full proportional representation—although Ashdown hailed it as "a historic step forward". Many Lib Dems were concerned by Ashdown's growing closeness with Labour. Aware that this anger was undermining his position, Ashdown stepped down as party leader in 1999. Before he did so, the party took part in the 1999 elections for both the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. In both, the Lib Dems came fourth but as the Conservatives, Scottish National Party, and Plaid Cymru refused to enter coalitions with Labour, the Lib Dems did so in both cases.

Charles Kennedy's leadership:

The MP Simon Hughes was initially seen as the most likely successor to Ashdown, but was defeated in the contest by Charles Kennedy. To reduce the impact of more left-wing members who tended to dominate at conferences, Kennedy proposed that all members—rather than just conference delegates—should vote for the party's federal executive and federal policy committees. In 2001, Kennedy suspended the Joint Cabinet Committee with Labour. Characterised as "Inaction Man", he faced criticism in the media, accused of lacking a clear identity and political purpose; later criticism also focused on his alcoholism. In the 2001 general election, the party fielded 639 candidates and made a net gain of 6, bringing its total of seats to 52.

Following the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States and the launch of the U.S.-led War on Terror, the Liberal Democrat MPs backed the government's decision to participate in the United States invasion of Afghanistan. The party was more critical of Blair's decision to participate in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003; Kennedy joined the large anti-war march in London. With the Conservatives backing the Labour government's decision to go to war, the Lib Dems were the only major party opposing it. In following years, Lib Dem MPs increasingly voted against the Labour government on a range of issues. Much of this Lib Dem opposition to the government came from their members in the House of Lords. In the 2003 local elections, the party secured about 30% of the vote, its highest ever result.

In September 2004, an anthology called The Orange Book was published. Written largely by centre-right economists in the party, it sparked many discussions about the party's philosophy and brought criticism from the party's social liberal wing. In the 2005 general election, the Lib Dems presented themselves as the "Real Alternative" to Labour to capitalise on the Conservatives' weakness. It secured 62 parliamentary seats, the highest the Liberals had had since 1923. Kennedy however faced growing calls to resign over his alcoholism; in January 2006 he did so. In March, Menzies Campbell succeeded him as party leader. He was not popular with voters and faced a resurgent Conservative Party under David Cameron; In the May 2007 local elections the party experiences a nett loss of nearly 250 seats. In that year's Scottish Parliament election, the SNP secured the largest vote and the Lib Dem/Labour coalition ended. Campbell was frustrated at the constant media focus on the fact that he was in his late sixties; in October he resigned and Vince Cable became acting leader.

In December, Nick Clegg narrowly beat Chris Huhne to take the party's leadership. Clegg's reshuffle of the leadership team was seen by many as a shift to the right; under Clegg, the party moved away from the social democratic focus it displayed previously. It rebranded itself as a party that would cut taxes, rather than raising them, and dropped its hard pro-EU position. In the 2008 local elections it gained 34 seats, beating Labour in terms of vote share. The following year, the party was damaged by the expenses scandal as several Lib Dem MPs and peers were found to have misused their expenses; Campbell for example was revealed to have claimed nearly £10,000 in expenses for luxury home furnishings. In the build-up to the 2010 general election, Clegg took place in the UK's first televised party leaders debate; he was generally considered to have performed well, with pundits referring to "Cleggmania" as a result.

In the election, the Lib Dems secured 23% of the vote and 57 seats; the Conservatives were the largest party but lacked a majority. The Conservatives and Lib Dems formed a coalition government, with Clegg becoming Deputy Prime Minister. Four other Lib Dems—Cable, Huhne, Danny Alexander, and David Laws—entered the coalition Cabinet. Many Lib Dems opposed the move, with some favouring a coalition deal with Labour. As part of the coalition agreement, the Conservatives agreed to Lib Dem demands to introduce elected health boards, put forward a Fixed Term Parliament Bill, and end income tax for those earning less than £10,000 a year. The Conservatives also agreed to shelve their plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a proposed British Bill of Rights. The Conservatives refused to agree to Lib Dem demands for proportional referendum, instead offering a referendum on a switch from first-past-the-post to the Alternative Vote system. The coalition introduced an emergency budget to attack the fiscal deficit.

Ideology

According to Cook, the Lib Dems were set up as a centre-left party. According to Cook, Ashdown envisioned "a party which supported both social justice and enterprise culture". Kennedy underscored the idea of the Lib Dems as a party for social justice, stating: "Labour [under Blair] is no longer driven by a passion to fight poverty and inequality in Britain. I am, and so is our party." Under Clegg, the party repositioned itself in the political spectrum, with many commentators noting that its fiscal policies moved closer to those of the Conservatives.

At its 1993 conference, the party put forward plans for the introduction of fixed term parliaments, something it secured while in the coalition government of 2010–15. Also in 1993, it also proposed state funding for political parties. In the 1990s, there was an anti-royalist contingent within the party; at its 2003 conference, the party's Youth and Student League put forward a motion calling for the abolition of the monarchy and the introduction of an elected head of state. In 1993 the party conference announced support for removing the royal prerogative, and the 2000 conference backed calls for the monarch to be removed as the Supreme Governor or the Church of England. The 2001 manifesto then included calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England. The 2000 conference also produced a call for the 1701 Act of Settlement to be reformed so as to allow the heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic.

The Liberal Democrats have long included a commitment to proportional representation in their manifestos. The Lib Dems calls for devolution of home rule for Scotland and Wales were enacted by Blair's Labour government in the late 1990s. The 1993 conference also called for the introduction of a Bill of Rights into the British constitution. Its 2001 manifesto included a commitment to lowering the voting age from 18 to 16.

In its 2001 manifesto, the Lib Dems promoted the formation of a Department of Rural Affairs, and in 2003 proposed merging or scrapping a number of Whitehall departments.

From its foundation, the Liberal Democrats were wholly committed to the UK's involvement in the European Union. In 1993, it called for the UK to take a lead in seeking a timetable for the adoption of a pan-European currency, and also called for the formation of an autonomous European central bank. In its 1999 manifesto for the European Parliamentary elections, it called for completing the European single market, holding a referendum on the adoption of the Euro currency, establishing an EU constitution, expanding the EU into Central and Eastern Europe, and encouraging an EU-wide clampdown on pollution and international crime. Despite its pro-EU stance, the party has also included Eurosceptics, such as the MP Nick Harvey. Cook argued that whereas the Lib Dems were once "the most pro-European of all British parties", by 2008 it had "a vocal Eurosceptic element" who were opposed to the British ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty without a referendum. Under Clegg, the party backed away from its hardline pro-EU position.

Its 1991 policy document called for tougher anti-monopoly measures.

In 1993, the party put forward proposals for an EU tax on energy use and CO2 emissions. That year, it also proposed that GDP should be redefined to take into account pollution and the depletion of natural resources. At its 2009 conference, the party introduced a commitment for Lib Dem controlled councils to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

During the 2000s, the party made pledges for major investment into health, education, and public services. In 1995, the party announced a plan to put £2 billion into education, including nursery places for under fives. In its 2005 manifesto, the party included a commitment to use £1.5 billion to decrease class sizes in schools. In 2003, it outlined plans for devolving control of schools to local councils. In the 2000s, the party also pledged to abolish tuition fees for university students. In 2004, it pledged to add £25 a week to the state pension for people over the age of 75. In the run-up to the 2010 election, Clegg pledged to scrap university tuition fees over six years.

In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, it stated that its increases in education spending would be funded through higher taxes. These included a 50% tax on those earning over £100,000 a year, and the addition of an extra penny on the basic rate tax. In 2003, the party's conference approved plans for a local income tax of 3.5 pence in the pound that would replace council tax; the party believed that this would result in 70% of the population paying less tax. Under Campbell, in 2006 the party abandoned its plans for a 50% tax on the highest earners. That year, it put forward plans to cut income tax but balance the books by increasing tax on air travel and introducing a carbon tax. Under Clegg, the party emphasised lowering taxes rather than raising them; it stated that a 4 pence reduction in the basic rate tax could be permitted by finding £20 billion savings in Whitehall. This measure was opposed by the left of the party. Amid the 2008 recession, Clegg called for £20 billion cuts to state spending, to be funded by measures like reducing the number of people eligible for tax credits and scrapping road building schemes. In its 2010 manifesto, it pledged to end income taxes for those earning under £10,000 a year, something it introduced through the Cameron coalition government. Also in 2010, it stated that it would halve the national deficit over the course of four years. It had also specified that it would oppose any increases in VAT, although when in coalition announced an increase in VAT to 20%.

At its 1998 conference, party delegates backed the extension of the legal minimum wage from 21 to 16 year olds.

In the mid-1990s, the Liberal Democrats also pledged to bring Railtrack and the railway system back under public control.

Its 1997 manifesto committed the party to lowering the age of consent for same-sex couples to 16, bringing it in line with that for mixed-sex couples. At its 2000 conference, party delegates backed calls for the government to provide legal recognition for same-sex relationships.

At its 1997 conference, the party's delegates voted in favour of establishing a Royal Commission to examine the possibility of decriminalising voluntary euthanasia. At its 1994 conference, party delegates voted to end criminal prosecutions for cannabis possession, although the parts 23 MPs voted against the measure. The 2004 party congress approved a ban on smoking in public places.

In the wake of the UK's 2993 invasion of Iraq, the party's 2005 manifesto included a pledge that the UK would never again support a military occupation deemed illegal under international law.

In the 2005 general election, the party was endorsed by The Independent. Cook noted that in the build-up to the 2010 election, most mainstream press—which was aligned with either the Conservatives or Labour—was "voraciously hostile" to the Lib Dems. In that election, it nevertheless attracted the endorsement of The Guardian and The Observer.

In its early years, the caricature of a Liberal Democrat was that of "sandal-wearing, bearded eccentrics obsessed by the minutiae of electoral reform". A 2001 survey found that the "typical" Lib Dem was "white, male, middle-class, highly educated and relatively elderly". It found that 55 percent were male, and 42% had a degree. Reinforcing its "male, middle-class image", after the 2010 election, 40% of Liberal Democrat MPs were privately educated.

In 2010, Cook noted that the party's safe seats "do not fit a very homogenous pattern", being scattered amidst rural, middle-class suburban, and inner city areas.

The party had some major donors, such as Lord Jacobs, who gave it around £1 million over the course of twenty years until he resigned in 2008. In some years, it struggled to cover its costs; in 2008 for instance it made a loss of £670,000.

The first past the post system hindered the Liberal Democrats. As a pro-EU party, the Liberal Democrats tended to far badly at European Parliamentary elections.

Cook, Chris (2010). A Short History of the Liberal Party: The Road Back to Power (seventh ed.). Houndmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-21044-8.

CRT

Aligned with forms of left-wing politics, CRT seeks to find ways of identifying and eliminating racial discrimination. CRT originated in legal theory, although its perspectives have since been adopted in a broader range of academic disciplines.

Critical race theory developed in the United States during the mid-to-late 1970s as various lawyers and law scholars began to assess the legacy of the 1960s civil rights movement on people of colour. The movement formalised and adopted its name following a 1989 academic workshop in Madison, Wisconsin organised by law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Critical race theory has been critiqued by other legal scholars.

Critical race theory is described by Delgado as a "leftist legal movement".

Historical context

As noted by Brown and Jackson, "as with any intellectual movement, CRT was born out of the confluence of historical developments of the time and the need to respond to those developments." In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the case Brown v. Board of Education, deciding that state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional. Over the following 15 years, the country's judicial and political establishment made further moves to dismantle institutionalized racial discrimination. The Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in many other areas of life was unconstitutional, while the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and Fair Housing Act to further dismantle discrimination against African-Americans and other ethnic minorities. In the mid-to-late 1960s, many institutions of higher education introduced affirmative action policies to encourage more ethnic minority students to study there, swelling the number of people of color attaining university degrees.

Part of the reason for this package of sudden reform was the desire to improve the United States' image in the eyes of many Third World countries, which the U.S. was then courting in the context of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Second World War and the Korean War, the U.S. also found that it was assimilating thousands of African-American servicemen and women back into the civilian population and that they, having experienced new levels of authority, were unlikely to return willingly to pre-war attitudes of deference to white Americans. However, after Richard Nixon became U.S. President in 1969, he appointed several conservative judges to the Supreme Court who were less sympathetic to civil rights issues for ethnic minorities. With a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, the pro-civil rights gains halted and some were reversed as a result of rulings like Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver and Milliken v. Bradley.

Early emergence: 1975–88

Critical race theory developed as an academic field in the United States during the mid-to-late 1970s. At that time, various U.S. lawyers and legal scholars concluded that many of the progressive gains for ethnic minorities achieved by the civil rights movement of the 1960s were being halted or reversed. They believed that while much overt racial discrimination had been stopped, forms of racial discrimination continued to exist in subtle, unconscious, and institutional forms. They concluded that these would be more difficult to eradicate than the more explicit forms of discrimination. These scholars were influenced by the ideas of various American civil-rights campaigners, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez, as well as various postcolonial and European thinkers.

Derrick Bell was one of the pioneering figures in critical race theory

Two of these scholars, Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman, began arguing that racism was essentially normal in U.S. society and for this reason had come to be seen as natural to many Americans. They argued that because of this, the legal insistence that black and white Americans be treated equally failed to address much of the less-obvious discrimination that people of color faced in the United States. These early critical race theorists began experimenting with new ways of promoting their ideas, such as legal storytelling, which were not considered typical in legal scholarship.

Several venues during the 1980s brought together legal scholars who were developing CRT. In 1981, Bell resigned from Harvard Law School to become dean at the University of Oregon Law School. Harvard then appointed the legal scholar Jack Greenberg to take on Bell's teaching of the course on race law for the 1982 year. Greenberg was white, and various black students protested that Harvard should instead have employed an African-American to teach the course. When Harvard refused to make a change, the protesting students boycotted the class. Harvard then gave the protesting students permission to organize an alternate course on race law under the sponsorship of the university's (black) law professor Charles Ogletree. Held on Saturdays, it featured scholars of colour brought in from across the U.S.; many of their talks were later published as early CRT studies. Several of these scholars also gave lectures at seminars organised by the Boalt Hall Coalition for a Diverse Faculty at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Law. This Coalition had been formed by law students who wanted to encourage the School to hire more women, gay people, and people of color as faculty.

Also in the early 1980s, the Conference of Critical Legal Studies, an organization of left-wing law professors, began organizing its national conference on the theme of race, to be held in a Los Angeles hotel. It included a panel organised by four law professors of color—Richard Delgado, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Jose Bracamonte, and Patricia Williams—which led to a series of articles being published in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Formal launch: 1989

The law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw organized the 1989 University of Madison workshop which led to the formalization of critical race theory as an academic field

In 1989, a week-long workshop was held outside Madison, Wisconsin that brought together 23 legal scholars of color. It was organised by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor at UCLA, and sponsored by David Trubek, then a staff member at the University of Madison who had previously taught at Yale Law School. As a result, the field of study gained a new name—"critical race studies"—and a formal structure. The 1989 conference became the first of several annual conferences that examined these themes.

West Kennet

The West Kennet Long Barrow is a chambered long barrow located near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Probably constructed in the thirty-seventh century BCE, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives in a partially reconstructed state.

Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe. Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe, the West Kennet Long Barrow belongs to a localised regional variant of barrows in Western Britain, now known as the Cotswold-Severn Group. Of these, it is part of a cluster of around thirty centring around Avebury in the uplands of northern Wiltshire.

Built out of earth, local sarsen megaliths, and oolithic limestone imported from the Cotswolds, the long barrow consisted of a sub-rectangular earthen tumulus enclosed by kerb-stones. Its precise date of construction is not known. Human bones were placed within the chamber, probably between 3670 and 3635 BCE, representing a mixture of men, women, children and adults. There is then an apparent hiatus in the use of the site as a place of burial, probably lasting over a century. Between 3620 and 3240 BCE it likely began to be re-used as a burial space, receiving both human and animal remains over a period of several centuries. Various flint tools and ceramic sherds were also placed within it during this time. In the Late Neolithic, the entrance to the long barrow was blocked up with the addition of large sarsen boulders. During the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the landscape around West Kennet Long Barrow was subject to the widespread construction of ceremonial monuments, among them the Avebury henge and stone circles, The Sanctuary, and Silbury Hill. A Romano-British coin hoard was buried in the side of the long barrow.

The ruin attracted the interest of antiquarians in the 17th century, while archaeological excavation took place in 1859 and again in 1955–56, after which it underwent reconstruction. Now under the guardianship of English Heritage, it is open without charge to visitors all year around.

It is found in the area around Avebury in northern Wiltshire. West Kennet Long Barrow is located just above the upper Kennet valley.

It occupies a prominent place on the crest of a hill.

Context

There is much diversity in the form of these long barrows, and perhaps also diversity in their function and meaning.

The clearings in which these barrows were sited seemed to have accrued significance over time. In each case initial utilisation of these places may have been fairly routine - for occupation, cultivation, grazing, or simply acting as nodal points in networks of paths. But the body of stories, memories and associations these places held would have grown, some perhaps eventually being imbued with even mythical significance. That led to many becoming the focus for ritual or special activity sometime before the barrows were constructed.

— Joshua Pollard and Andrew Reynolds on the long barrows of northern Wiltshire

The archaeologists Joshua Pollard and Andrew Reynolds noted that by the mid-fourth millennium BCE, the landscape around Avebury "was being stealthily transformed". Around thirty Early Neolithic long barrows are known from the uplands of northern Wiltshire, 17 of which were definitely or probably chambered, the others being unchambered. There may have been more than this during the Early Neolithic, with various examples having been destroyed by agricultural activity over the intervening millennia. Those that survive are distributed relatively evenly across an area of northern Wiltshire measuring about 20 kilometres by 15 kilometres, with Avebury near the centre of this distribution. Their landscape locations vary; some are in valley bottoms, others are on hilltops or on the slopes of hills. Intervisibility between them does not appear to have been a relevant factor in their placement, as many have restricted views and may have been surrounded by woodland. Many of those which have been excavated have displayed evidence for having been placed on sites that had already witnessed human activity, such as clearance, cultivation, or occupation. Pollard and Reynolds suggested that this indicated "a genuine attempt to draw upon the past associations of particular places".

That at West Kennet is the largest of the long barrows in the uplands of northern Wiltshire.

Design and construction

West Kennet Long Barrow measures 100 metres in length and 20 metres in width. The archaeologist Timothy Darvill noted that it was "rather exceptional" in size, being far larger than most long barrows, although comparisons could be seen with other substantial examples such as Long Low in Derbyshire and Colnpen.

It is probable that the site on which West Kennet Long Barrow was built had been used for older human activity. This is probably demonstrated by the presence of sherds of a plain bowl that excavators found in buried soil beneath the monument during the 1950s.

The chamber

The chamber is built from sarsens. It extends for 12 metres inside the barrow. The roof is set between 1.7 metres and 2.2 metres above the chamber floor. This is high enough to allow visitors to stand upright, a rare feature of chambered long barrows. More typical are chambered long barrows such as Belas Knap and Hetty Peggler's Tump, where the chamber measures less than one metre in height. Pollard and Reynolds suggested that "this was not a closed space, but one that facilitated ready access to mortuary remains and perhaps allowed a select few to gather periodically within the chambers in order to commune with the dead and ancestors."

The stone chamber has been characterised as being "more elaborate" than most other examples in the Cotswold-Severn group.

Pollard and Reynolds believed that the inclusion of stone-sharpening stones in the barrow was a deliberate choice made to "appropriate the histories and associations of these stones". Oolithic limestone was also used in the dry stone walling of West Kennet Long Barrow; it was also used in this manner at Adam's Grave, while smaller fragments of this stone were found in unchambered long barrows at Shepherd's Store, Easton Down, Horslip, and Kitchen Barrow. This stone does not occur naturally in this area of northern Wiltshire, but would have had to be brought from the area around Frome and Bath. It is possible that it was chosen for inclusion in these monuments because of its associations with a far-off place, because of its aesthetic qualities, or because it was believed to contain the essence of some supernatural beings. It is also possible that the builders of these monuments viewed the area of the Cotswolds as their ancestral homeland and that the use of oolithic limestone in these structures was a means of linking themselves to their past.

A ditch flanks the monument on each side.

The architectural style of the Long Barrow, coupled with the style of the primary internments of human remain, led archaeologists who excavated in the 1950s to believe that it was Early Neolithic in date. A nearby monument, the Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, revealed three radiocarbon dates which demonstrated that it was Early Neolithic, leading archaeologists to consider an Early Neolithic date for the Long Barrow to also be probable.

The presence of a kink in the flanking ditches, identified by resistivity survey in the 1960s, has led archaeologists to suggest that the long barrow may have been constructed in several phases. It is possible that the West Kennet Long Barrow was once a smaller movement that underwent expansion during the Early Neolithic period. In this it would compare with another Cotswold-Severn chambered long barrow, Wayland's Smithy, which underwent expansion. Several of the long barrows excavated in northern Wiltshire, such as those under South Street and Beckhampton Road, contained small structures prior to the erection of barrows on those sites. Pollard and Reynolds suggested that these may have been "small 'shrines' perhaps set up to appease local spirits or ancestral guardians".

Radiocarbon dates retrieved from skeletal material inside the long barrow revealed that the oldest individuals to be placed within it died around 3670–3635 calibrated BCE (81% probability) or 3575–3545 calibrated BCE (14% probability). The last internments in this primary phase of burial occurred in 3640–3610 calibrated BCE (77% probability) or 3550–3520 calibrated BCE (18% probability). This suggests that the initial use of the long barrow as a burial space lasted only for a "short duration": 10 to 30 years (68% probability) or 1 to 55 years (94% probability). On the basis of this information, the archaeologists who revealed this data suggested that West Kennet Long Barrow was probably constructed between 3670–3635 calibrated BCE (81% probability) or 3575–3745 calibrated BCE (14% probability), to house the recently deceased. However, they noted that it is possible that either the monument predated the deaths by some time or that the bones were kept for some time prior to being placed within the barrow.

This initial phase of burial was followed by a hiatus, probably lasting over a century, before an additional, secondary phase of burial inside the barrow began. During this period the long barrow displayed signs of decay, with portions of the drystone walling collapsing. Bayliss et al suggested that in this period, the West Kennet Long Barrow "was a monument whose fabric and contents were no longer at the forefront of people's minds, or no longer accessible."

According to radiocarbon dating, a secondary phase of burial began in 3620–3240 calibrated BCE (95% probability) and lasted until the second half of the third millennium calibrated BCE. This secondary stage therefore stretched over a period of centuries. This in-fill was marked by sarsen slabs covering the original inhumations, followed by layers of chalk rubble, earth and sarsen, and both human and animal remains.

It is possible that these human remains were collected together over a period of centuries outside the long barrow and only placed within it as part of a single event.

The secondary burial deposits also included artefacts alongside the human remains. Flint and bone tools were present. Pottery included Grooved Ware, Beaker Ware, and all three styles of Peterborough Ware: Ebbsfleet, Mortlake, and Fengate. Collectively, this pottery came from at least 250 different vessels. Pollard and Reynolds noted that "even at a conservative estimate", these ceramic sherds "could span a thousand years".

Blocking it up

During the third millennium BCE sarsen boulders and earth were used to partially block the forecourt. In the late third millennium BCE, a façade of three large sarsen stones was erected across the forecourt, blocking any further entrance to the chamber. This act may have been roughly contemporary, or slightly later, than the main stone phases at the Avebury stone circle and the Sanctuary. This is the period in which archaeologists begin referring to the end of the Late Neolithic period and the start of the Early Bronze Age.

The West Kennet Long Barrow, along with the East Kennet Long Barrow and Windmill Hill, are among the features visible from the Sanctuary.

Six bronze Roman coins were buried into the topsoil near the sarsen façade and recovered during the 1955–56 excavation. Romano-British ritual activity is known from the broader area around the long barrow; several shafts were dug around the Shallow Head Springs near Silbury Hill in this period, into which a range of items were placed. In addition, a building that possibly served a religious function was established south of Silbury Hill.

Antiquarian and archaeological investigation

In 1859 John Thurnham excavated the western chamber, in which he discovered bones from what he believed were six crouched inhumation burials. Atkinson and Piggott's excavations revealed the four side chambers and the various human remains that those contained.

Human remains

Inhumation burials inside the long barrow were discovered by excavation in both 1859 and again in 1955–56. In the early 1980s, four of the bones recovered in the 1950s were subject to radiocarbon dating at the University of Oxford. In the early 2000s the bones were re-examined by osteoarchaeologists, who obtained radiocarbon dates from 25 human skeletons and one goat skeleton from inside the barrow. They determined that the 1950s reports made errors in the understandings of these human remains, for instance by failing to always make a distinction between the primary and secondary deposits.

The skeletal remains were of both sexes and various ages. It also included a small cremation deposit. Piggott argued that a total of 43 individuals were included in these primary deposits. Later reassessment of the evidence suggested that there was more likely 36 individuals interred in the long barrow.

The 2000s study found sufficient body parts from at least five individuals that they could state that these were "probably in an articulated or partially articulated state when deposited."

Radiocarbon dating indicated that all of the individuals interred during the primary phase died comparatively at a time period comparatively closely to one another, and that it is possible that they "could have died at the same time".

Many modern Pagans view West Kennet Long Barrow as a "temple" and use it for their rituals. Some see it as a place of the ancestors where they can engage in "vision quests" and other neo-shamanic practices. Modern Pagan visitors have often left items, including tea lights, incense, flowers, and coins, in the long barrow, often regarding them as offerings to "spirits" which they believe reside there. Various fires lit within the long barrow have damaged the stones, leaving scorch marks; one of the sarsens had to be glued back together after having been fractured by the impact of fire. Some Pagans have advocated for all human remains found within the barrow to be re-buried within it, after which they believe the chamber should again be sealed.

That West Kennet Long Barrow is a prehistoric monument has been recognised since the era of the antiquarian John Aubrey.

Bayliss et al described it as "one of the best known prehistoric field monuments in Britain."

Bayliss, Alex; Whittle, Alasdair; Wysocki, Michael (2007). "Talking About My Generation: The Date of the West Kennet Long Barrow" (PDF). Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 17 (1): 85–101. doi:10.1017/S0959774307000182. S2CID 53581865.

Gowlett, J.A.J.; Hall, E.T.; Hedges, R.E.M. (1986). "The Date of the West Kennet Long Barrow". Antiquity. 60 (229): 143–144. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00102042. S2CID 246047144.

Marshall, Steve (2016). "Acoustics of the West Kennet Long Barrow, Avebury, Wiltshire". Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture. 9 (1): 43–56. doi:10.1080/1751696X.2016.1142292. S2CID 163775163.

Martin, L. (2001). The West Kennet Long Barrow, Wiltshire: Report on Geophysical Survey, January 2001 (Report). Portsmouth: English Heritage. {{cite report}}: Unknown parameter |report= ignored (help)

Pollard, Joshua; Reynolds, Andrew (2002). Avebury: The Biography of a Landscape. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 978-0752419572.

Blain, Jenny; Wallis, Robert (2007). Sacred Sites Contested Rites/Rights: Pagan Engagements with Archaeological Monuments. Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-84519-130-6.

Thomas, Julian; Whittle, A. (1986). "Anatomy of a Tomb: West Kennet Revisited". Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 5 (2): 129–156. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0092.1986.tb00349.x.

Buddh

Buddhism is a Dharmic religion that arose in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent around the fifth century BCE. It is now the world's fourth-largest religion, with its followers, who are known as Buddhists, making up large proportions of the population in parts of Southern and Eastern Asia. Buddhism is divided into a range of traditions which offer different interpretations of Buddhist belief and practice.

Buddhism revolves around the teachings of the Buddha, who lived in the sixth or fifth century BCE. The Buddha taught that all life is part of an ongoing system of reincarnation and that it fundamentally consists of suffering. The only way to permanently escape the cycle of rebirth and its inevitable suffering, Buddhists believe, is to achieve enlightenment, also known as nirvana. Buddhists believe that the Buddha attained enlightenment and thus they follow his teachings, which are known as the dhamma. According to Buddhists, attaining enlightenment requires a process of meditation and following moral codes which stress compassion and self-restraint. The Buddhist community is called the sangha. Central is the place of monasticism, with various orders of monks and nuns pursuing the path to enlightenment. These monastic orders are supported by lay Buddhists, who often hope that in doing so they will gain a favorable rebirth at their next incarnation.

The Buddha established a community of followers during his lifetime and they continued to promote the religion after his death. The community grew, and underwent a major schism from which Theravada ultimately became the dominant tradition. In the third century BCE Buddhism spread under the patronage of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. Between 100 BCE and 100 CE arose Mahayana Buddhism, which eventually became another major interpretation and produced sub-traditions like Nichiren and Zen. Mahayana Buddhists place emphasis on bodhisattvas, beings that have put off attaining enlightenment until all living beings have done so, and often participate in various devotional cults to different buddhas and bodhisattvas. Although Buddhism was largely eradicated across much of the Indian subcontinent through conversion to Hinduism and Islam, it spread to other areas of South Asia and also across Eastern and Southeast Asia, taking on regional forms and syncretising with other religious traditions. From the 19th century Buddhism established a presence outside Asia, particularly in Western countries.

In the twenty-first century, Theravada Buddhism is dominant across Southeast Asia while Mahayana traditions are dominant across East Asia. Estimates put the number of Buddhists globally at ***********.

The term "Buddhism" became established in Western countries during the 1830s. Within many Buddhist societies in Asia, the term "Buddhism" is uncommon, with Buddhists instead referring to their tradition as "the Dhamma" ("the law") or as "Buddha-sāsana" ("teachings of the Buddha").

As Keown noted, Buddhism is a "large and complex" phenomenon. There is a great deal of variation among different types of Buddhism and different Buddhists. As it has spread across the world, it has adapted according the different cultures it has encountered. It has a tendency to be syncretic, incorporating into its cosmology the the deities of local traditions it encounters. Some scholars have argued that rather than viewing it as a single tradition, it is better to understand it as a collection of traditions, and thus more appropriate to refer to "Buddhisms" rather than "Buddhism". Much literature on Buddhism has made generalisations based only on specific facets and forms of the religion.

Various scholars of Buddhism have labelled it a religion. Due to its differences with other major belief-systems like Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism, Buddhism challenges scholars to rethink Western categories like "religion". If, for instance, "religion" is defined as a belief in a creator god, then Buddhism could not be classified as a "religion". It is not often atheistic, however, as Buddhists typically believe in the existence of a range of supernatural entities like gods and spirits. Alternative descriptions to "religion" have included terms like "philosophy", "way of life", and "code of ethics", although these have been challenged as inadequate at reflecting the totality of Buddhism.

The Buddha's teachings are known as the dharma, and form the basis of Buddhism.

For Buddhists, the religion's teachings are seen as a means of self-transformation. The experiential dimension of Buddhism is considered to be of great importance by most practitioners. According to Pali Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha said that unless his teachings were validated by personal experience, then they would be of little value to his followers.

The Buddha

The Buddha's personal name was Siddhartha Gautama. The term, "Buddha", is an honorific one meaning "awakened one". Many Buddhists also refer to him as "Bhagavat", meaning "lord". Buddhist conventional dating placed his life span between 566 and 486 BCE, although more recent historical assessments have suggested that he died earlier than this, around 410 BCE. The information about the Buddha's life provided by early accounts is fragmentary. His teachings were initially passed down orally before being written down in collections of texts known as "canons". The only complete early canon that survives is the Pali Canon, so-called after Pali, the language in which it was written down in Sri Lanka around the mid first century BCE. The Pali Canon contains various stories from the Buddha's life but the first attempt to produce a coherent biography of him only occurred around 500 years after his death. Other biographies followed, with the most famous being the Buddhacarita ("Acts of the Buddha") composed by Aśvaghoṣa in the first century CE.

The Buddha was born in the Terai lowlands, near to the foothills of the Himalayas in modern Nepal. According to historical accounts, he was a member of the Kshatriya caste of Northern Indian society, representing the aristocratic warrior class. He was a member of the Sakya clan, hence the later name of Sakyamuni ("sage of the Sakyas") that Buddhists gave to him. Later texts describe his birth being surrounded by miraculous events.

The Pali Canon suggests that Gautama lived in luxury, with his father owning three palaces. The Buddha married Yaśodharā aged 16 and then had a son, Rāhula. According to Buddhist accounts, Gautama nevertheless found life unfulfilling. Later accounts relate how he travelled outside his palaces by chariot on four separate occasions: on the first he saw an old man, on the second a sick man, on the third a corpse, and on the fourth a samana or mendicant pursuing spiritual enlightenment. These convinced him both that life was full of suffering and that he too, then aged 29, must leave the palace and become a samana to find the cure for it. There were many wandering samana then active in the region and from one, [[Alara Kalama], he learned techniques of meditation. His teaching continued under Uddaka Ramaputta, where he reached new states of altered consciousness. He then began engaging in extreme austerities, but rejected this as an incorrect way.

Buddhist legend relates how, seated beneath a Bodhi Tree, Gautama finally achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha. On the first meditation of the night he developed the ability to see his past lives; on the second to see the rebirth of all living beings; and on the third he attained enlightenment, or nirvana. He declared himself to be a Tathāgata: "one who has attained what is really so".

The Buddha then preached his first sermon, and according to Buddhist texts, the five people who heard it became his first disciples. When they heard his second sermon, they too attained enlightenment. However, because they reached this state with his help rather than through their own exploration, Buddhists refer to them as arhats rather than Buddhas. The number of followers soon grew, with early texts referring to the Buddha as having sixty arhats. These were initially all men, but after five years of teaching the Buddha reluctantly agreed to establish an order of nuns so that women could also pursue his teachings. He spent the rest of his life traveling around the north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, preaching his ideas. According to Buddhist texts, he displayed various supernatural powers and performed a range of miracles. Kings and other wealthy donors provided the monks with residences where they could reside during the rainy season.

An early account of the build-up to the Buddha's death is found in a text known as "The Discourse of the Great Decease". At the age of eighty, the Buddha told Ananda, his cousin and personal assistant, that there would be no successor as the head of the fledgling Buddhist movement. Instead, he said, his followers should adhere to the Vinaya, or code of monastic rules that he had set down. According to the Discourse, shortly before his death, the Buddha suffered food poisoning form eating pork but recovered; later sources instead claim that this was the cause of his death. The Buddha died at Kushinagar, and according to the traditional account did so while lying on the ground between two Sal trees. According to Buddhist belief, upon physical death the Buddha entered Parinirvana, or final nirvana. Following his personal instructions, the Buddha's body was cremated and enshrined under a stupa, thus being treated like the remains of a great king.

Samsara and karma

Buddhists generally believe in reincarnation. A core Buddhist belief is Saṃsāra ("endless wandering"), the idea that all living beings are part of a cycle of rebirth through which they are reincarnated following bodily death. When Buddhism developed, a belief in reincarnation was already widespread across the Indian subcontinent. However, the Buddha differed from the region's established Brahminic traditions by rejecting the idea that there was an ātman, or eternal soul, which was retained through each successive incarnation. According to Buddhist teaching, the Buddha could recall his past lives.

In Buddhism, the idea of karma is of central importance to the cycle of rebirth. According to the law of karma, the nature of one's actions impact the status of future births; good actions in this life will produce a better incarnation in future, while bad actions in this life will produce a worse incarnation in future. Buddhists believe that karma can affect a person's physical appearance, family, and social status, and that individuals are thus ultimately responsible for their own fortune. Buddhists often belief that a dying person's state of mind affects the circumstances of their next birth. Due to this belief in karma, Buddhism regards individuals as having free will and self-determination.

Among Buddhists, good karma is often understood as puñña, or merit. Lay Buddhists seek to acquire puñña by providing robes, food, and funds for the monastic community. Some lay Buddhists keep a notebook in which they tabulate all the acts which they hope have secured them puñña. Many Buddhist societies also feature the concept of merit transference, by which they believe that they can gift their puñña to others; such an act of generosity, they believe, actually generates further puñña for themselves. In Buddhism, acts are often considered to be good or bad according to the intention behind them. Buddhism teaches that there are three good intentions (non-detachment; benevolence; understanding) and three bad intentions (greed; hatred; delusion). Buddhists hold that when moral choices are made and carried out, individuals form saṅkhāras ("mental formations") influencing a person's character traits and dispositions.

Although Buddhists believe that they can secure a better rebirth for themselves by behaving ethically and carrying out good deeds, this is not considered the ultimate goal of Buddhism. Instead, the primary Buddhist goal is to escape the cycle of rebirth altogether, thus completely escaping from all suffering. This, Buddhists believe, is secured by achieving enlightenment or nirvana.

Many Buddhist schools teach that a life is reborn instantaneously after death. Some Buddhist traditions, particularly in Tibet, believe in the existence of intervening periods between each life. This can last for up to 49 days, during which the deceased glimpses the six different realms before being assigned to one for rebirth.

In the 20th century onward, some practitioners influenced by Buddhist modernism rejected a belief in reincarnation.

Cosmology and cosmogony

Buddhist thought divides the universe into two categories: the Bhajana ("container") which represents the physical universe, and the Sattva ("beings") which are the life-forms living within it. Buddhist cosmology holds that the physical universe was formed by the interaction of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. Through this elemental interaction are produced "world-systems" which can be found across the six directions of the universe: north, south, east, west, above, and below. These world-systems are believed to undergo cycles of evolution and decline lasting billions of years, which ultimately end in them being destroyed by cataclysm. Thus, Buddhisms generally presents time as cyclic rather than linear.

A Buddhist creation myth appears in the Aggañña Sutta. According to this account, the inhabitants of a world-system that is being destroyed are reborn into a new world-system that is simultaneously evolving. In the new world-system, these life-forms are initially translucent and without sex or gender but as the world-system becomes denser, so these life-forms gain physical bodies. They then begin to compete with each other for food, leading to disputes and the need for them to elect a king, thus instituting the start of government and the social order.

Buddhist teaching typically holds that there are multiple realms into which a life-form can be reborn. Early Buddhist sources refer to five such realms, although later sources often add a sixth, inhabited by the Titans. These five or six realms are a popular theme in Buddhist art. Buddhists usually believe that a life-form can transfer from one realm to another through their various rebirths; the lower three are seen as generally undesirable, while the upper three are more desirable places in which to live.

The lowest realm, Naraka, is usually translated as "hell" in English and is a place of torment. According to Buddhist belief, life-forms are sent there for a temporary period to face punishment for bad karma they have accrued in previous lives. Above Naraka is the animal realm, where life-forms are condemned to live according to their basic desires, with no higher intellectual capacity. Above this is the realm of the ghosts, unhappy spirits who are consumed by desires that they cannot satisfy. The fourth realm is that of the Titans, beings who are beholden to their violent instincts and lust for power. The fifth realm is that of humans, a place that provides a balance between pleasure and suffering and thus is the best location from which to attain nirvana.

The sixth realm is that of the gods, which is sufficiently pleasant and idyllic that it is difficult for those residing there to successfully pursue the attainment of nirvana. This realm is in turn divided into 26 mansions. In the lower 21 mansions live the devas, gods who have been born into this realm through their good deeds in previous lives. The uppermost five mansions, known as "Pure Abodes", are reserved for "non-returners", life-forms which are on the point of reaching nirvana and escape the cycle of rebirth.

Four Noble Truths

The Buddha claimed that while attaining enlightenment he came to realise four truths about the nature of reality, subsequently setting these forth in his first sermon as the Four Noble Truths. These represent the core doctrine at the centre of Buddhist teaching.

Because of its emphasis on suffering, outsiders often regard Buddhism as a pessimistic belief system, although practitioners more often regard it as being realistic.

Mythology and legend

Buddhism has its own series of myths and legends. Buddhist literature features many dramatic episodes involving the supernatural. Gods and spirits frequently appear, including in some of the oldest Buddhist tales. Among the popular narratives found in Buddhist communities are the Jātaka stories, accounts of the Buddha's past lives which serve as moral tales.

Morality and ethics

Buddhism teaches that there exists a dharma, or "natural law", in the universe. Buddhists believe that living in accordance with dharma leads to happiness, fulfilment, and ultimately salvation, while neglecting it lends to endless suffering. Historically, Buddhism has focused on ideas of duty, with no specific understanding of rights. It often stresses the cultivation of virtues to ensure that moral conduct becomes a natural habit. In Buddhism, there are three "Cardinal Virtues": non-attachment (arāga), benevolence (adosa), and understanding (amoha). These are contrasted against the three "roots of evil": greed (rāga), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha).

Morality, termed silā, is the first of three divisions in the Noble Eightfold Path. Buddhists regard it as a prerequisite for the cultivation of meditation and wisdom. In Buddhism, there are five main sets of precepts, known as the five precepts (pañcasíla), the eight precepts (aṭṭhangasíla), the ten precepts (dasasíla), the ten good paths of action (dasakusalakammapatha), and the monastic disciplinary code (pātimokkha). Of these, the five precepts are the most commonly observed, as they are believed to apply to lay practitioners as well as monks and nuns. The Five Precepts forbid killing, stealing, sexual immorality, lying, and taking intoxicants.

A recurring ethical tenet within Buddhism is ahimsa, or "not-harming". As a result, Buddhism encourages respect for all living animals and often regards with intentional killing of an a life as wrong. To this end, some monks go to great lengths to avoid killing, for instance by refusing to plough soil or walk in monsoon season, so as not to tread on the insects which proliferate at that time. The Buddha rejected the practice of animal sacrifice, which was common in the Indian subcontinent during his lifetime; it was only under the influence of Buddhism and Jainism that animal sacrifice lost its prominent role in traditional Indian belief systems as they evolved into Hinduism. To live by the principle of ahimsa, many Buddhists have become vegetarians or pacifists or have been involved in the construction of hospitals, hospices, and charities. Various ethical issues have resulted in competing Buddhis views; abortion for example is criminalised in some Buddhist-majority countries but legal in others. In Japan, where abortion is legal and widespread, Buddhist groups have created the mizuko kuyō service so that women may memorialise the lives they have aborted.

Generally, Buddhists have considered it wrong to use violence to further the aims of Buddhism. There have nevertheless been examples where Buddhism has been used to justify particular military campaigns.

In various societies where Buddhism has been dominant, there has been an intertwining of the monastic authorities and the state. In Sri Lanka, for example, monks consecrated the kind and then served as his councillors.

Rites and practices

Buddhism encompasses a series of both public and private rites and ceremonies, many of them of a monastic nature. The specific liturgies used for these rites and ceremonies nevertheless vary widely across different Buddhist traditions.

The community of monks and nuns, known as the sangha, is central to Buddhism. The religion nevertheless also provides a role for lay people. Most Buddhists societies feature a clear demarcation between the lay and the ordained, although in some instances—particularly in Japan—certain Buddhist traditions have considerably blurred these boundaries.

At his death, the Buddha did not appoint a successor, instead encouraging his followers to live by his teachings and by the monastic rules. Thus, since the Buddha's death there has never been a single central authority over the entire Buddhist movement. The Buddha encouraged monks to hold assemblies and to arrive at decisions by consensus.

Monks and nuns are not seen as intermediaries between humanity and the gods. Buddhist monks have produced a vast literature over the centuries. Such texts are often treated with great respect, and value is placed on the memorisation, recitation, copying, or translation of them. On becoming a monk or nun, it is common for Buddhists to undergo an initiation ritual.

At the annual kathina festival, Buddhist laity offer new robes to the monks.

It is common for monks to attend funerals in Buddhist societies. Monks do not normally officiate at weddings, although may give a blessing to the newly married couple.

Meditation

In Buddhism, meditation is usually known as samādhi or bhāvana and is seen as being central to Buddhist practice. Most schools of Buddhism teach that meditation is the path to enlightenment, and Buddhists believe that it was through this method that the Buddha achieved nirvana. During the Buddha's lifetime, meditation was commonly practiced across the Indian subcontinent, although the Buddha introduced modifications to older meditational practices which make Buddhist meditation different from that of other groups. The Buddha promoted "insight meditation" (vipassanā), the goal of which is the generation of penetrating, critical insight (paññā).

In Buddhism, meditation is usually undertaken while in the "lotus position", whereby practitioners sit cross legged. Buddhists meditate in the hope of cultivating wisdom and compassion. In Buddhism, different subjects can be chosen for the practitioner to meditate upon. Among the most popular subjects for Buddhist meditation are the four "Measureless States": loving-kindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), sympathetic joy (muditā), and equanimity (upekkhā).

Buddhists believe that there are eight levels of trance, known as the jhānas, which it is possible of attaining through meditation. The first four jhānas are regarded as existing in the "sphere of pure form". The first jhana involves the mind thinking discursively while being filled with detachment, rapture, and joy; the second involved discursive thought being replaced by absorption (samdhi); the third sees rapture replaced by equanimity; and the fourth sees this too give way to a state "beyond pleasure and pain". Buddhists believe that these experiences are difficult to accurately describe using language. They also typically hold that attaining the fourth jhāna provides the practitioner with supernatural powers, such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, retrocognition, telepathy, and the capacity to fly through the air or walk across water. The fifth to the eighth jhānas are described as existing in the "Sphere of Formlessness".

Pilgrimage

Across Asia, there are many sites of Buddhist pilgrimage. In the Indian subcontinent, these are often associated with events in the Buddha's life.

Symbolism and art

The wheel is an important symbol in Buddhism, representing the dhamma.

In the early centuries of Buddhism, Buddhist art was aniconic, lacking any anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha himself. Instead he was represented by other images, such as the wheel, tree, or parasol. Around the second century CE, visual depictions of the Buddha began to be produced. These images soo became objects of popular devotion.

The stupa is the most common architectural form in Buddhism, and in East Asia transformed into the pagoda.

Divisions and denominations

Over the centuries, many different schools and sects of Buddhism have developed. One of the largest branches of Buddhism is Theravada, a term meaning "Abiding Teaching" or "Original Teaching". Theravada Buddhists generally regard their tradition as the custodian of authentically ancient teachings. Geographically, Theravada Buddhism is dominant in parts of South Asia, namely Sri Lanka, as well as in Southeast Asia, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

The other major tradition of Buddhism is Mahayana, which developed between 100 BCE and 100 CE. Mahayana translates as "Great Vehicle"; practitioners refer to earlier forms of Buddhism as Hīnayāna ("Inferior Vehicle") and hold that they promote only an incomplete version of the Buddha's message. Mahayana Buddhists typically believe that while on Earth, the Buddha only taught people things that would be accepted at the time and that his deeper teachings could only be revealed later, through the form of Mahayana itself. It is geographically predominant in areas of North Asia such as Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan, as well as further south in Nepal and Vietnam. Mahayana Buddhism revolves around a series of anonymously-written texts called sutras. Practitioners often regard the Buddha as the spiritual, if not the physical, author of these texts. These sutras often deviate from the historically-recorded teachings of the Buddha. The Lotus Sutra, for example, written circa 200 CE, claims that the Buddha was enlightened from time immemorial and only pretended to go through the process of attaining enlightenment while incarnated on Earth so as to accommodate the expectations of humanity. Many commentaries and treatises have been devoted to these Mahayana sutras.

Mahayana differs from Theravada in switching focus from attaining salvation for oneself to trying to save others. This takes the form of the bodhisattva, someone who takes a vow to work over countless lifetimes to lead others to enlightenment. Due to this focus on bodhisattvas, Mahayana Buddhism has sometimes been called Boddhisattvayāna ('Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas'). Practitioners understand that to become a bodhisattva an individual must take a vow, known as the praṇidhāna, to help all living beings achieve enlightenment regardless of how long it will take. Central to becoming a bodhisattva is the cultivation of the "six perfections" (pāramitāa): generosity, morality, patience, courage, meditation, and wisdom.

The role of the Buddha is less central to Mahayana than Theravada. However, Mahayana practitioners often believe that the Buddha is not now completely separate from humanity, and that he continues to work for people's well-being. This has developed into the belief that the Buddha has "three bodies" (trikāya): earthly (nirmānakāya), heavenly (sambhogakāya), and transcendental (dharmakāya). Two of the most prominent Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana pantheon are Avalokiteshvara, who is associated with compassion, and Manjushri, who is associated with wisdom. Mahayana Buddhists also often believe in a future Buddha, Maitreya, who will come to Earth at the end of the present aeon and usher in a utopian period in which large numbers of people will gain enlightenment. Such beliefs in Maitreya have led to the formation of various messianic Mahayana sects.

In Mahayana, it is common to present a set of five Buddhas, often depicted in the form of a mandala with the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, in the centre. One of these Mahayana Buddhas is Amitabha, referred to as Amida in Japan, who is believed to inhabit a "Pure Land" in which his devotees could be reborn through sufficient devotion to him. From the "Pure Land", they believe, it is easier to attain enlightenment.

History

From the outset, Buddhism has been a missionary religion seeking to convert others. The Buddha for example travelled around the northern part of the Indian subcontinent preaching his message.

A century after the Buddha's death, there was a split between the Elders (sthaviras) and the Universal Assembly (Mahāsańghikas) although records conflict over the precise reason for this. It is probable that the main division surrounded the Elders' attempt to add new rules of conduct to the Monastic Rule. The division came to be known as the "Great Schism". The two sides gradually fragmented along further divisions to form various separate Buddhist traditions. The only one of these early traditions to survive is the Theravada school, which ultimately derived from the Elders.

In the third century BCE, Asoka, the Emperor of the Mauryan Empire, converted to Buddhism. Under his patronage, Buddhism flourished across much of the subcontinent and Buddhist ambassadors were sent to various other parts of the world. Centres of Buddhist education, such as the university of Nālandā, were established. However, the religion faced a setback circa 450 BC when the "White Huns" destroyed Buddhist monasteries in what is now Afghanistan and Northwest India. In the tenth century these monasteries were again targeted by Muslim Turks, who raided them and considered their inhabitants to be idolaters. In 1192, Turks established the Delhi Sultanate, securing Islamic governance across much of Northern India. At this point, Buddhism largely disappeared from the Indian subcontinent.

According to tradition, Buddhism came to Sri Lanka in 250 BCE through Mahinda, an envoy of Ashoka. On the island, the Pali Canon was first written down c.80 BCE. Buddhism may have spread into Indochina through Ashokan missions. In Southeast Asia, there was much syncretising of traditions, with Theravada blending with both Mahayana and traditional practices and beliefs.

Buddhism reached China by the mid-first century CE. There, Confucianism was a dominant ideology, and although there was some hostility to the incoming belief system, many Chinese found that Buddhism dealt with questions about an afterlife with Confucian teaching neglected. Philosophically, there was much overall between Buddhism and the native tradition of Taoism, with the interaction between the two religions producing Cha'an Buddhism. Along with Confucianism and Taoism, Buddhism came to be seen as one of the "three religions" of China. In the sixth century, Buddhism reached Japan via Korea and China. In Japan during the 13th century, Cha'an Buddhism evolved into Zen.

In the eighth century, Buddhism entered Tibet. In Tibet, it formed Vajrayāna ("The Vehicle of the Thunderbolt"), a form of Buddhism that builds on Mahayana philosophy and cosmology but adds its own symbolism and practices. The most influential school of Tibetan Buddhism had been the Gelug-pa, headed by the Dalai Lama.

Spread to the West

Serious interest in Buddhism among Westerners began in the mid-19th century. At the time, various European colonial officials began conducting scholarly investigations into the religion and its history. T. W. Rhys Davis for instance founded the Pali Text Society to translate, publish, and study the Pali Canon. In 1893, Asian Buddhists attended the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago, bringing Buddhism to greater attention in the West. Buddhist notions were further promoted in Western countries by the Theosophical Society, which incorporated Buddhist ideas in its own religion, Theosophy. Various Westerners also included depictions of Buddhism and the Buddha in their writings; prominent examples included Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia (1879), Herman Hesse's Siddartha (1922), and Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums (1958). Buddhism also spread to the West through Asian immigration, particularly to the United States. The Japanese D. T. Suzuki played a prominent role in promoting Zen in the West, while from the 1950s many Tibetan llamas relocated to Western countries. In Europe, conversely, the majority of Buddhists were converts.

In Western countries, Buddhism has often been presented as a rationalistic philosophy in harmony with modern science and secular liberalism. This view has been termed "Buddhist modernism" and has been criticised as ignoring many traditional Buddhist ideas, such as miracles, spells, and charms. Some Buddhists sought to create a form of the religion specifically formulated for Western societies, resulting in the creation of groups like the UK-based Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.

Dispersal

Buddhism is the predominant religion in East Asia.

Vod

"Vodou" is the commonly used term for the religion among scholars and in official Kreyol orthography. Some scholars prefer to spell it as "Vodoun" or "Vodun." The Haitian term "Vodou" derives from Dahomey, where "Vôdoun" signified a spirit or deity. In Haiti, the term "Vodou" was generally used in reference to a particular style of dance and drumming, rather than a broader religious system. In French, such traditions were often referred to as le vaudoux. Many practitioners instead use the term "Ginen" to describe the broader framework of their beliefs; this term refers particularly to a moral philosophy and ethical code regarding how to live and to serve the spirits. Many of the religion's practitioners will not describe themselves as an adherent of a distinct religion but rather will describe how they sèvi lwa ("serve the spirits").

Vodou is one of the most complex of the Afro-American traditions.

There is regional variation within Vodou, including differences in how it is practiced in rural and urban areas and in how it is practiced both in Haiti and among the international Haitian diaspora.

The lwa are also referred to as sen (saints), mistè (mysteries), zanj (angels), and envizib (invisibles). The lwa are believed to have their own distinct personalities. They are also believed to divide up among separate nancon (nations). The Petwo lwa derive from Kongo culture. The lwa are believed to be able to communicate with humans through the act of possession.

The lwa are associated with specific Roman Catholic saints. For instance, Azaka, the lwa of agriculture, is associated with Saint Isadora the farmer. Similarly, the lwa of love and luxury, Ezili Frida, is associated with Mater Dolorosa.

Vodou teaches the existence of single supreme god, and in this has been described as "essentially a monotheistic religion." Practitioners believe in a single deity which created the universe, known as the Grand Mèt, Bondyé, or Bonié. The latter name derives from the French Bon Dieu (God). For Vodou practitioners, the Bondye is regarded as a remote and transcendent figure. Vodou also teaches the existence of a broader range of deities, known as the lwa. These are also known as the mystères, anges, saints, and les invisibles. The lwa are regarded as the intermediaries of this transcendent creator deity. Each lwa is viewed as having its own personality. Each is also associated with specific colours and objects. The lwa can be either loyal or capricious in their dealings with their human devotees.

Haitians will frequently use the phrase si Bondye vie (if Bondye is willing), suggesting a broader belief that all things occur in accordance with this creator deity's will.

Families, particularly in rural areas, often believe that through their zansèt (ancestors) they are tied to a prenmye mèt bitasyon' (original founder); their descent from this figure is seen as giving them their inheritance both of the land and of familial spirits.

Vodou permeates every aspect of its adherent's lives.

In Vodou, male religious leaders are referred to as oungan or houngan, and female religious leaders as manbo. The oungan and manbo are tasked with organising liturgies, preparing initiations, offering consultations with clients using divination, and preparing remedies for the sick. There is no established priestly hierarchy, with the various oungan and manbo being largely self-sufficient. The oungan and mabo is expected to display the power of second sight.

Due to their prominence in a community, the oungan and manbo can effectively become political leaders. Some of these priests and priestesses have linked themselves closely with professional politicians, for instance during the reign of the Duvaliers. Historical evidence suggests that the role of the oungan and manbo intensified over the course of the 20th century. As a result, "temple Vodou" is now more common in rural areas of Haiti than it was in historical periods. The temples are referred to as ounfò, or the hounfort.

A ritual specialist who works with "both hands" is referred to as a bòkò.

There is no central liturgical authority within Vodou. Practices vary between congregations. A congregation may comprise of an extended family, especially in rural areas of Haiti. In other examples, particularly in urban areas, an ounfo can act as an initiatory family.

Ounfos are autonomous. Practitioners gather together for sèvices (services) in which they commune with the lwa. Ceremonies for a particular lwa often coincide with the feast day of the Roman Catholic saint that that lwa is associated with.

During large-scale ceremonies, the lwa are invited to appear through the drawing of patterns, known as vèvè, on the ground using cornmeal. Also used to call down the spirits is a process of drumming, singing, prayers, and dances. Libations and offerings of food are made to the lwa, which includes animal sacrifices. The order and protocol for welcoming the lwa is referred to as regleman. The person being possessed is referred to as the chwal (horse); the act of possession is called "mounting a horse". Through the chwal, the lwa communicates with their devotees, varyingly offering counsel, chastisement, blessings, or healing. During this process, practitioners believe that the gwo bon anj (consciousness) of the possessed individual is displaced by the lwa and that they will therefore have no memory of what occurs during the possession.

Practitioners are usually critical of maji, which refers to the use of supernatural powers for self-serving and malevolent ends.

The asson is a sacred rattle used in summoning the lwa. Assuming the duties of a Vodou priest is referred to as "taking the asson."

Vodou would be closely linked with the Haitian Revolution. Two of the revolution's early leaders, Boukman and Makandd, were reputed to be powerful oungans. It was on 14 August, 1791 that a Vodou ritual took place in Bois-Caïman where the participants swore to overthrow the slave owners.

The Revolution broke up the large land-ownings and created a society of small subsistence farmers. Haitians largely began living in lakous, or extended family compounds, and this enables the preservation of African-derived Creole religions. In 1805, the Roman Catholic Church left Haiti in protest at the Revolution, allowing Vodou to predominate in the country. Many churches were left abandoned by Roman Catholic congregations but were adopted for Vodou rites, continuing the sycretisation between the different systems. The Roman Catholic Church returned to Haiti in 1860.

Duvalier appropriated Vodou and utilised it for his own purposes. After Duvalier was outside in 1986, there were attacks on Vodou specialists, partly motivated by Protestant anti-Vodou campaigns. Two groups, the Zantray and Bode Nasyonal, were formed to defend the rights of Vodouizans to practice their religion. These groups held several rallies and demonstrations in Haiti.

In March 1987, a new Haitian constitution was introduced; Article 30 enshrined freedom of religion in the country. Since the 1990s, evangelical Protestantism has grown in Haiti, generating tensions with Vodouists. In 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide granted Vodou official recognition as an "essential constitutive element of national identity." This allowed Vodou specialists to register to officiate at civil ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.

The majority of Haitians practice both Vodou and Roman Catholicism. An estimated 80% of Haitians practice Vodou.

• • • • • stated that Vodou was "the most maligned and misunderstood of all African-inspired religions in the Americas."

Ramsey thought that "arguably no religion has been subject to more maligning and misinterpretation from outsiders" during the 19th and 20th centuries." In broader Anglophone and Francophone society, Haitian Vodou has been widely associated with sorcery and black magic.

Santeria

Santería, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla de Ifá, or Lucumí, is an Afro-American religion that developed in Cuba during the seventeenth century. It arose as a syncretism between traditional Yoruba religion and the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. There is no central authority in control of the movement, which comprises of practitioners known as Santeros.

Santería is polytheistic, involving the veneration of many gods, known as orichas. These are often identified both as traditional West African deities as well as Roman Catholic saints. Various myths and stories are told about these orichas. Practitioners receive initiation into Santería.

Santería developed in Cuba during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. It arose through the blending of the orisha-worship brought to the island by enslaved West Africans, the majority of them Yoruba, and the Roman Catholic teachings of the Spanish colonialists who then controlled the island. In the 1960s, growing emigration following the Cuban Revolution took Santería to other American countries like the United States and Mexico. The late twentieth century also saw the establishment of growing links between Santeros and other orisha-worshipping traditions in West Africa and the Americas, such as Haitian Vodou and Brazilian Candomblé. Since the late 20th century, some practitioners have emphasized a "Yorubization" process to remove Roman Catholic influences and create forms of Santería that are closer to traditional West African orisha worship.

Santería has faced much opposition and criticism through its history. The Roman Catholic Church has often seen it as Satanic, Cuba's Marxist-Leninist government perceived it as primitive superstition, while animal welfare groups have criticised its use of animal sacrifice.

It is also called regla de ocha, meaning "the rule of ocha", the latter term being a truncated form of oricha.

Santería is an Afro-Cuban religion; the Cuban government formally classifies it as being one of the "Cuban religions of African origin". Many insist on viewing as a specially Cuban religion; in Cuba, it is sometimes described as "the national religion". From its Cuban origins, it has also spread to other parts of the Americas like Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States. It has its roots in the West African religious systems which were brought to Cuba by enslaved people, the majority of them Yoruba. There, these beliefs mixed with the Roman Catholicism introduced by Spanish colonialists. Through a process of syncretism, Roman Catholic saints were mixed with West African deities.

Santería is not the only Afro-Cuban religion. Others include Palo Monte, which derived from practices from the Congo Basin, Arará from practices among the Ewe and Fon, and Abakuá has origins among the secret male societies practiced among the Efik-Ibibio.

Practitioners of both Santeria and other Afro-Cuban religions are called creyente. A practitioner of Santería is known as a santeros, or as a santos or santeras. Based on his ethnographic research in Cuba during the 1940s, Bascom found that the majority of santeros also considered themselves to be Roman Catholics.

The Orichas

Santeria is a polytheistic religion. Each oricha is associated with specific songs, rhythms, colors, numbers, animals, and foodstuffs. Among the orichas are the "four warrior deities". The first of these is Eleguá, viewed as the guardian of the crossroads. He is depicted as being black on one side and red on the other, and although often shown as male is sometimes depicted as being female. The second is Ogun, viewed as the oricha of weapons and war.

Another prominent oricha is Yemaja, the deity associated with maternity and the sea. Oyá is a female warrior and is viewed as the guardian of the cemetery. Ochún is the oricha of rivers and of romantic love; she is considered Cuba's patron saint. Some of the orichas are regarded as being antagonistic to one another; Chango and Ogun are for instance described as being enemies.

There are various origin myths about the orichas, known as patakíes.

For instance, the Holy Child of Atocha, who is viewed as Christ as a child, is conflated with the West African orisha Elegua, who si seen as having a child-like nature.

Practitioners of Santeria believe that the orichas can communicate with humans through divination, prayers, dreams, music, and dance.

Practitioners believe that each person is "born to" a particular oricha, whether or not they decide to devote themselves to that deity.

Images of various saints are often displayed prominently in the homes of Cuban santeros.

The stones

Many practitioners place great emphasis on the stones, perceived as being sources of power, something linked to an invisible fluid. These stones are often presented as being alive; some are described as having children or being capable of walking or growing. The stones are often concealed behind a curtain in the lower part of the altar. Some of the most powerful stones are claimed to have been brought to Cuba from Africa by enslaved persons who concealed them within their stomachs during the transatlantic crossing.

When a Santeros receives their stones, they take an oath to protect them at all times and to feed them with blood at least annually.

Santeros carry out practices known as bautismo (baptism) during which they anoint the stones with a mixture of blood and herbs. Any ritual paraphernalia that has not been anointed through the bautismo rite is referred to as judia (Jewish). Blood from sacrificial animals is poured onto the stones; it is supposed to be warm at the time. This act is seen as increasing the invisible fluid around the stone and feeding the orisha.

Practices

Practitioners often present their involvement with Santería as a lifelong commitment. In Cuba, it is common for Santería practitioners to meet with each other regularly and to regard each other as being akin to a family. Conversely, in an area like Veracruz in Mexico, many practitioners attend group rituals and then leave, sometimes never seeing their co-practitioners again.

Santería is organized around a structured hierarchy.

A Santería priest is known as a babaloo. Receiving initiation is often described as "making ocha" or "making santo". Although an Afro-Cuban tradition in origin, many leading Santeros are Euro-Cuban. Many Afro-Cubans regard the popularity and spread of Santería across other ethnic groups as confirmation of the value and strength of their culture. Practicing Santería can be a source of income for many individuals.

Santería rituals incorporate song, dance, spirit possession, and animal sacrifice. The main public ritual performance in Santeria is a drumming ceremony known as toque de santo. Many practitioners consider it to be the most powerful Santeria ceremony. The term toque refers to both the verb tocar ("to play") as well as the noun toque ("rhythm"). The toque de santo is usually seen as an offering to the orichas, and practitioners may organise one to gain a particular favor from these deities.

The toque de santo is marked out by its use of double-headed drums called batá. For ceremonial purposes, these drums must be made from wood, with no metal elements; adding metal elements could offend Chango, who is associated with wooden artefacts.

Women are discouraged from playing the batá during ceremonies; it is feared that their menstrual blood would weaken the añá (sacred inner power) of the drum. Hagedorn noted that, during the 1990s, some female practitioners in the United States had started playing the batá at ceremonies, in contradiction with the older taboo. Hagedorn observed that the drum culture in Santería was "pervasively macho". The lead singer at such ceremonies is known as an akpwón. There are specific rules of engagement that are laid out for taking part in the toque de santo.

The goal of the rhythms and songs is to summon the orichas to earth. In turn, the orichas are believed capable of soothing the grieving, healing the sick, blessing the deserving, and rebuking those who have behaved badly.

As they become involved in the religion, Santeros learn about each of the different deities and make offerings to each of them in exchange for spiritual blessings and energy known as ashe.

Santeros are expected to familiarise themselves with various herbs and their different associations and uses.

Houses where Santeros and Santeras live are referred to as casas de santo.

In Santeria, it is believed that an individual can identify their "head" oricha, with whom they have been linked since birth, through divination. This achieved, they can be confirmed in a seven-day process known as "making santo".

The annual celebration of one's initiation into the religion are known as cumpleaños de santo. Involvement in Santería is often displayed by the wearing of necklaces called collares. Each of these necklaces is given a different color associated with a specific deity. As a Santeros gains further initiations within the Santeria system, they receive another collare. Along with the collares, the religion also features colored bracelets known as idés. The wearing of beaded jewellery is seen as keeping the protective power of the orishas close to the practitioner's body.

Hagedorn noted that "everything in Santería costs money". The charges levied vary depending on the status of the practitioner and the wealth of the client. In the 1990s, an initiation in Cuba cost roughly US$500 for Cuban nationals and between US$2-3000 for foreigners.

Protective charms, known as resguardo, are created using herbs and blood. They are created while in contact with the sacred stones, from which they are believed to gain invisible fluid.

Blood is seen as the food of the saints. When a sacrifice is made, some of the blood may be mixed with herbs and added to that from previous years. This liquid is called omi ero, and is regarded as the most powerful liquid in Santeria. This liquid is used for removing malevolent influences, in ceremonies for baptising ritual tools, and for washing the hands of the matador before they carry out a sacrifice.

Various forms of divination are employed in Santeria, including reading the coconut pieces and cowrie shells. Santeria also involved the use of the Ifá divination system, although Ifá also has a separate existence from Santeria. High priests of Ifá are known as Babalawos and they attend many Santeria rituals, although are not always present. In Cuba, many individuals are both Santeros/Santeras and Babalawos. The oricha of Ifá, Orula or Prúnmila, also has a prominent place within Santeria.

Through Cuban emigration to Mexico, Santería established a presence in Veracruz and Mexico City. Among Mexican practitioners, there is a perception that those babaloo trained in Cuba itself were more "authentic". Mexican practitioners tried to keep in contact with their Cuban co-religionists via mail and phone. In various cases, babaloo have been flown from Cuba to Mexica to perform specific rituals.

Origins

Most of the enslaved Africans who arrived in Cuba did so in the 19th century. Most of these individuals came from an area of Western Africa stretching between the modern nation-states of Guinea and Angola. Cuba's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade continued into the 1870s, after both the English-speaking Caribbean and the United States had abolished slavery. After slavery was abolished in Cuba there was a renewed push for independence from the Spanish Empire, an idea promoted by Cuban nationalists who emphasized cultural assimilation of the island's various ethnic groups to create a united sense of 'Cuban-ness'. While the country's Creole socio-economic elite sought to fuse different ethnic identities, they still expressed anxieties about the potential Africanisation of Cuba. After independence, Afro-Cubans remained largely excluded from economic and political power.

By the end of the 19th century, the religions of the enslaved Africans and their descendants had formed into Santeria.

During the colonial era, Cuba's government encouraged Afro-Cubans to congregate together in associations known as cabildos de nación, in which many inherited West African traditions could be preserved. Formally, these individuals were considered Roman Catholics, but their involvement in Roman Catholicism rarely extended beyond an initial baptism.

At the time, Afro-Cuban religious practices were often referred to as brujería ('witchcraft') and linked to criminality in the popular imagination. One of the first intellectuals to examine Santería was the lawyer and ethnographer Fernando Otiz, who discussed it in his 1906 book Los negros brujos (The Black Witchdoctors). He saw it as a barrier to the social integration of Afro-Cubans into broader Cuban society and recommended that it be suppressed. Although religious freedom was enshrined in the Cuban constitution and Santería was never legislated against, throughout the first half of the twentieth century various campaigns were launched against it. These were often encouraged by the press, who promoted allegations that white children were being abducted and murdered in Santería rituals. In the 1920s, there were efforts to incorporate elements of Afro-Cuban culture into a broader understanding of Cuban culture, such as through the afrocubanismo literary and artistic movement. These often drew upon Afro-Cuban music, dance, and mythology, but typically rejected Santería rituals themselves.

In Marxist-Leninist Cuba: 1959–

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 resulted in the island becoming a Marxist-Leninist state governed by Fidel Castro's Communist Party of Cuba. It espoused an expressly anti-racist position although retained previous administrations' focus on cultural integration rather than stressing and encouraging cultural difference among Cuba's ethnic groups. Castro's government saw any emphasis on a separate Afro-Cuban identity as being counter-revolutionary. Like other Marxist-Leninist states, it was committed to state atheism and to the ultimate eradication of religion, resulting in the government taking a negative view of Santería. Practitioners continued to experience police harassment through to the 1980s.

In 1982, the government established the Departmento de Estudios Sociorreligiosos (Department of Socio-Religious Studies, DESR), which investigated Santería in Cuba from a Marxist perspective which largely portrayed the religion as a primitive survival of animism and magic. The DESR research found that while Christianity had declined in Cuba since 1959, Santería had not. Partly this was because the increased employment among Cubans following the revolution had allowed more individuals to afford the initiation fees. While taking a negative view of Santería, the state sought to adopt and promote many of the art forms associated with it in the hope of secularizing them and using them in the promotion of a unified Cuban identity.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, at which Cuba lost its main source of international support, Castro's government declared that the country was entering a "Special Period" in which new economic measures would be necessary. In these years it selectively supported various traditional Afro-Cuban customs and traditions and legalised certain Santería practices. These measures were partly linked to a desire to boost tourism, with Santería-focused tourism being called santurismo. Afro-Cuban floor shows became common in Cuban hotels. Priests of Santería, Ifá, and Palo Monte all took part in government-sponsored tours for foreigners desiring initiation into such traditions. The government's move away from the state atheism it previously espoused allowed Santería to leave behind the marginalisation it had faced.

In the second half of the twentieth century, there was a growing awareness among Santeros of the trans-national links that their religion had with other orisha-worshipping belief systems in West Africa and the Americas. This was accompanied by growing contact with other orisha-worshippers elsewhere. This was partly influenced by the 1957 visit to Cuba of the French photographer and ethnographer Pierre Verger, who promoted a pan-Yoruba theology. These transnational links were reinforced when the Ooni of Ife, a prominent Yoruba political and religious leader, visited Cuba in 1987. The country's government permitted the formation of the Yoruba Cultural Association, a non-governmental organization, in the early 1990s. In July 2003, Havana hosted the Eighth World Orisha Conference.

The late twentieth century saw a growth in the yorubización ('Yorubization') of Santeria, with attempts made to remove Roman Catholic elements from the religion and make it more closely resemble West African religion. This process was promoted at the International Workshop of Yoruba Culture, which was held in Cuba in 1992. Within Cuba, the Yorubization process was often attributed as reflecting the influence of practitioners in the United States. Cuban cultural nationalists were critical of the Yorubization process, viewing Santería's syncretism as a positive trait and arguing that advocated of Yorubization was presenting homogenous societies as being superior to heterogenous ones. Many Santeros who opposed the reforms highlighted that even in West Africa, orisha-worship never foregrounded ideas of purity and exclusivity. The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, Cardinal Ortega, also opposed the Yorubization process, believing that the Roman Catholic elements of Santería were a positive influence within the religion.

Within Cuba, Santería is practiced primarily in the north-west province of Havana and Matanzas.

Santería established a presence in the United States during the 1960s as various Cuban migrants moved there in the wake of the Cuban Revolution. One U.S. Santería group broke from the mainstream approaches to the religion by forming the American Yoruba Movement, based in North Carolina.

Santería has often faced opposition. In Cuba, there has been much opposition from the Roman Catholic clerical establishment over the centuries. When the International Afro-Caribbean Festival in Veracruz was launched in 1994, it showcased art and ritual by Mexican santeros, although this brought public protests from Catholic organisations, who regarded such rites as Satanic, and animal welfare groups who regarded the sacrifices as inhumane. The festival's organisers relented to the pressure, cutting the Santería elements of the festival by 1998.

Demographics

Within Cuba, Santeria is practiced in both rural and urban areas and has both Afro-Cuban and Euro-Cuban practitioners.

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• Brown, Thrones of the Orichas

Cros Sandoval "Santeria as a Mental Health Care System"

• Palmie, "Against Syncretism"
• Bascom, William R. (1952). "Two Forms of Afro-Cuban Divination". In Sol Tax (ed.). Acculturation in the Americas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 169–179.
• Brown, David H. (2003). Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion (second ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226076102.
• Mason, Michael Atwood (2002). Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Smithsonian Books. ISBN 978-1588340771.
• Murphy, Joseph (1993). Santería: African Spirits in America. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0807010211.
• Strongman, Roberto (2019). Queering Black Atlantic Religions: Transcorporeality in Candomblé, Santería, and Vodou. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1478001973.
• Wedel, Johan (2004). Santería Healing: A Journey into the Afro-Cuban World of Divinities, Spirits and Sorcery. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813026947.

• Branden's Santeria from Africa to the New World
• Duang, "Stones, Trees, and Blood"
• Flores-Pena and Ecarchu***, Santerai Garments and Altars"
• Hagdorn, "Bringing Down the Santo"
• Lindsay, Santeria Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin America
• Mason, "The Blood that Runs in the Veins"
• Mason, "I Bow M Head to the Ground"
• Velez, Drumming for the Gods
• Canizares' Walking with the Night
• Hagedorn, Divine Utterances

Candomblé

Candomblé has been described as "one of the major religious expressions of the African Diaspora".

Candomblé has been described as "the religion of the poor and underprivileged" in Brazil.

In the 1980s, the American writer Toni Morrison visited Brazil to learn more about Candomblé. She subsequently combined ideas from Candomblé with those of Gnosticism in her depiction of the religion pursued by "The Convent", an all-female community in her 1991 novel Paradise.

Marouan, Maha (2007). "Candomblé, Christianity, and Gnosticism in Tony Morrison's Paradise". In Theodore Louis Trost (ed.). The African Diaspora and the Study of Religion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 111–127. ISBN 978-1403977861.

• Giobellina and Martinez, Spirits from the Margin
• Voeks, Sacred Leaves of Candomble
• Walker, "Everyday and Esoteric Reality in Afro-Brazilian Candomble".

Inst Rac

Institutional racism, sometimes called systemic racism, is a concept applied to the way in which institutions treat different ethnic or racial groups unequally. Such unequal results can be generated by prejudices widely held among the members of the institution, or by widespread unintentional biases in favor of certain ethnic or racial groups over others. The concept of institutional racism was devised by the American Black Power activists Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in their 1967 book Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. They used the concept to explain the continuing inequalities experienced by African-American people following the abolition of racial segregation in the United States. They applied the term “racism” to this phenomenon, a term originally coined in the 1930s to designate biological or scientific racism. The concept of institutional racism gained greater usage in the United Kingdom, particularly during the 1990s, when the McPherson Report used the term to describe London’s Metropolitan Police. The term was picked up and used by a broad range of academics and anti-racist activists, primarily those influenced by critical race theory who were active in Western countries. Proponents of the concept have argued that institutional racism can explain unequal discrepancies in the status of different ethnic or racial groups living in the same society or state, particularly on issues such as wealth, employment, educational attainment, health, and life expectancy. Academics have argued for the presence of institutional racism in a broad range of institutions and organisations, including in policing, healthcare, education, and academia, across various different countries. Those calling for the eradication of institutional racism have promoted affirmative action hiring to increase the presence of marginalised ethnic or racial groups within the institutions themselves, as well as training for pre-existing staff to recognise and avoid unconscious prejudices or biases. The utility of the concept has been debated. Critics have argued that it conflates too many different phenomena, such as intentional prejudice and unintentional discrimination, and thus lacks nuance. An additional criticism is that the term institutional racism is often applied in ways that conceal the unequal manner in which institutions also treat people on the basis of gender and class. An additional criticism – one itself often accused of being racist – is that unequal outcomes for different ethnic groups are not the product of institutional discrimination but rather derive from genetic characteristics that are inherent to the ethnic groups in question or from cultural behaviors that are widespread within them.

Pages 132 to 133 of Rattansi on Stokely Carmichael etc MacPherson’s definition

Writing in 2007, Rattansi argued that the concept of institutional racism had “outlived its usefulness”. He thought it “confuses more than it clarifies and ends up doing more harm than good”. In Rattansi’s view, the idea of institutional racism bundles too many different phenomena together, such as direct and indirect discrimination, or intentional prejudice and unintentional discrimination, and thus causes confusion. Rattansi also thought that descriptions of institutional racism often failed to account for other factors, especially gender and class, which combined with issues of race or ethnicity to create unequal conditions. In this way, he thought that claims regarding institutional racism could conceal the fact that many of the same procedural issues and attitudes which perpetuate inequalities based on race or ethnicity also serve to disadvantage all poorer communities, including those belonging to the dominant ethnic group. He also argued that many studies focusing on institutional racism “subvert the spirit of the original intention” of the concept by focusing narrowly on specific institutions or organisations rather than considering the systemic interconnections between different institutions and areas of society. Other critics of the idea of institutional racism have argued that unequal outcomes for different ethnic or racial groups are not down to institutional discrimination but rather due to inherent differences among those ethnic or racial groups. Some scientists argued that different ethnic groups have different average IQ levels and that this can account for unequal outcomes for said groups. Alternatively, other critics have argued that cultural differences among different ethnic groups can contribute to unequal outcomes. The sociologist *********** argued that this perspective reflected a form of cultural racism and that it sought to place blame a community’s marginalised status on itself. ***************

Rattansi noted that despite its American origins, the concept “found more fertile soil” in the United Kingdom. The idea was utilised in Lord Scarman’s report on the Brixton Riots that occurred in South London during the 1980s. MacPherson’s claim generated considerable controversy in Britain. Prior to the report, the concept ‘institutional racism’ was largely known only to social scientists, but the report’s publication brought the idea into the broader public domain. In 2006, the Metropolitan Police’s Commissioner Ian Blair then alleged that the mass media in Britain was institutionally racist, on the basis of the differing levels of coverage it gave to youth murders where the victims were of differing ethnicities.

Racialised inequalities exist across many Western countries. In the United States in 2001, for instance, the real median income for African American families was 62% of European American families. In 2004, the British Medical Association published evidence indication that doctors of South Asian heritage had been disproportionately passed over for recruitment and ******* in the United Kingdom.

Racism

Racism is difficult to define. The sociologist Ali Rattansi noted that it was “a multidimensional phenomenon” that “has suffered from formulaic and cliched thinking from all sides of the political spectrum”. Rattansi noted that political activists from different ideological backgrounds had engaged in an oversimplification of ideas about racism so as to mobilise their supporters.

When confronted with accusations of racism, individuals have responded in various ways. Some have responded with the idea that everyone is racist. Others have responded that their concerns have nothing to do with race, but rather with ethnic or national culture.

The notion that “prejudice + power = racism” is one that proved popular among parts of the anti-racist movement. Rattansi criticised this definition as being a “disastrously confused and unworkable formula”.

Bio Rac

Taguieff described biological racism as "essentially a theory of races, the latter distinct and unequal, defined in biological terms and in eternal conflict for the domination of the earth."

Antirac

In 1980s France, the largest anti-racist movement was SOS Racisme.

Taguieff, a French anti-racist philosopher, warned that the cause was being hindered by a tendency among anti-racists to present those they called "racists" as a form of Other. In this, Taguieff argued, anti-racist discourses often mirrored the exclusionary rhetoric of those they set themselves up to oppose.

DL

Gyatso was born to a farming family in Taktser, Amdo.

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama was born on 6 July 1935 and named Lhamo Thondup ('Wish-Fulfilling Goddess'). His place of birth was the village of Taktser in Amdo province. His mother gave birth to him in the family home, a stone-and-mud house typical of the area. His parents were farmers who leased land on which they grew buckwheat, barley, and potatoes. Tey also possessed a flock of sheep and goats and a smaller number of chickens, yaks, and dzomos. He was the ninth of 16 children, although of the 16 only seven survived. His eldest sibling, Tsering Dolma, helped deliver him. Prior to his birth, his eldest brother, Thupten Jigme Norbu, had been declared the reincarnation of the Taktser Rinpoche and installed at Kumbum monastery.

The Thirteenth Dalai Lama had died in 1933 and the authorities in Lhasa began investigations to locate a child whom they believed was his next incarnation. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama's corpse had reportedly moved from facing a southern to a north-eastern direction, leading investigators to explore that region of Lhasa. Following this, the Regent Reting Rinpoche had a vision which he interpreted as meaning that the Dalai Lama had been reborn in Amdo. A search party led by Kewtsang Rinpoche travelled to the province, where they eventually reached Kumbum monastery. Following signs and portents, the delegation came to the house of Thondup's family, here the two year old apparently was capable of identifying which objects presented before him had belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. This convinced Kewtsang that the boy was the late Dalai Lama's reincarnation. In being declared the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Thondup was believed to be the reincarnation of the previous thirteen Dalai Lamas. He was also believed to be a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, a bodhisattva or being that holds off from reaching total enlightenment to help other beings reach the same stage of spiritual progression. In Tibetan Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara is often termed Chenzerig, and the fourteenth Dalai Lama was identified as their 74th manifestation on earth.

After Kewtsang's announcement, Thondup spent several months at home before being taken to Kumbum monastery where he was installed as the Dalai Lama at a dawn ceremony. He later recalled the time spent at Kumbum as an unhappy experience, for although he was accompanied by his brother Lobsang Samten, a trainee monk, his parents did not stay with him. The Muslim warlord then in control of Amdo, Ma Bufeng, refused to allow the new Dalai Lama to travel to Lhasa until he had been paid a large sum. The Dalai Lama thus remained at Kumbum until this had been provided. Once this was done, in the summer of 1934—shortly after his fourth birthday—the Dalai Lama left for Lhasa as part of a procession, accompanied by Samten and his parents. The journey lasted three months, during which the boy was transported in a dreljam pulled by mules. Once near Lhasa, senior officials met the procession at the Doeguthang plain, where the Dalai Lama was placed in the Macha Chenmo and carried into the city.

After a day-long ceremony, the boy was taken to the Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama. The Regent had decided to wait till the end of the following year before conducting a formal enthronement at the Potala Palace. The Dalai Lama lived there with his brother, and his parents regularly visited. As the parents of the new Dalai Lama, they were appointed as senior nobility and given significant property in Tibet. In the winter of 1940, the Dalai Lama was taken to the Potala Palace in the centre of Lhasa, and there was formally installed in his position. This was followed by a trip to the Jokhang Temple, where he underwent the taphue head-shaving ceremony that marked him out as a novice monk. In accordance with custom, here he forfeited the name taken at birth and became Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso.

The Regent became the Dalai Lama's senior tutor, with Tathag Rinpoche appointed his junior tutor. Kewtsang Rinpoche became an unofficial third tutor and was the Dalai Lama's favourite of the three men. Amid political pressure, the Regent soon after stepped down as the boy's senior tutor, with Tathag being upgraded to that position and Ling Rinpoche being brought in as junior tutor. The Dalai Lama later noted that Ling became his "closest confidante" until the latter's 1983 death.

As the Dalai Lama, he lived what he described as "a life far removed from the toil and discomfort of the vast majority of my people".

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet on 31 March 1959.

"During the period 1949–50, the People's Republic of China sent an army to invade my country. For almost a decade I remained as political as well as spiritual leader of my people and tried to re-establish peaceful relations between our two nations. But the task proved impossible. I came to the unhappy conclusion that I could serve my people better from outside."