Religion can arouse strong feelings. Anti-Semitism and other forms of group hatred can spark heated discussions, and a combination of the two is a recipe for clicks. with her a userwho claimed to be using their X account to earn money (“funded by X payments”) crossed the 1 million “views” mark within 18 hours of posting.

Claim: “ADL has listed Christianity as an extremist, terrorist and bigoted group”.

As purported proof, the user posted a screenshot of the ADL website. On it, the words “Christian Identity” can be seen in bold type in an entry submitted with the keywords “Terrorism, Extremism and Bigotry”.

The post was shared more than 4,000 times in various languages and creep. He was particularly successful with accounts that spread anti-Semitic content.

DW fact checking: False

The The screenshot shows the actual Anti-Defamation League (ADL) websitea US nonprofit that was founded to combat anti-Semitism, bigotry and discrimination. But in this case, “Christian Identity” does not refer to the identity of Christians per se, but rather to the Christian Identity movement.

What is Christian Identity?

Christian Identity (CID) is a movement that the ADL has described “as a popular religious ideology in far-right circles.” In a 1989 FBI documentthe US internal intelligence and security service, said the CID was spreading a message of “racial hatred behind the makeup of religion”. He explained that his ideology derived from a very idiosyncratic interpretation of the biblical creation story.

According to the FBI, particularly during the 1980s, a number of members or associates of CID groups were “investigated for their involvement in criminal activities, including bombings, murders, robberies, and weapons violations. All these activities were carried out further. of white supremacy, the basis of which is contained in Identity”. The FBI concluded that “these people are fanatics about what they believe.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)an American civil rights legal advocacy organization also classifies CID as “an anti-Semitic, racist theological ideology”. She adds, “‘Christians’ in name only, assert that white people, not Jews, are the true Israelites favored by God in the Bible.”

Although the movement became less influential after the 1980s and failed to find new followers, the SPLC said there were 10 active CID groups in the US in 2023. It claims those who adhere to Christian Identity are among the most radical of white supremacists who believe that whites are superior to others.

“Despite its small size, Christian Identity influences virtually all white supremacist and extreme anti-government movements,” the ADL writes on its website. “It has also informed criminal behaviour, from hate crimes to acts of terrorism.”

What is ADL?

The Anti-Defamation League, a New York City-based civil rights organization, was founded in 1913 and describes its “timeless mission” as follows: “To stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to ensure justice and fair treatment for all.”

In recent years, he has become increasingly pro-Israel and critics from across the political spectrum they accused him of too frequently equating criticism of Israel and the Israeli government with anti-Semitism. Conformable critics, including J Streeta nonprofit liberal Zionist advocacy group, the ADL has stifled legitimate criticism of Israel.

On its website, the ADL lists “myths and facts” to counter what she calls “false accusations.”

“This compilation addresses some of these direct attacks while separating fact from fiction,” says the ADL.

The post sparks debate and goes viral

On its website, the ADL has an explanation for why X’s post might have gone viral, even though the article dates back to 2017: “Current identity influence ranges from the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups to anti-government and sovereign militias. citizen movements—yet most Americans don’t know it even exists.”

It’s impossible to tell if the author of the post was truly shocked that the ADL would classify Christianity as a terrorist ideology, if they felt targeted as Christians, or if they simply wanted to spread anti-Semitism.

What is clear, however, is that they were using the mechanisms that help generate a large audience on X and other social media platforms by doing exactly what the “Funded by X payouts” account promises.

The claim that the ADL rejects Christianity outright goes to the heart of Christian anti-Judaism, the idea that “Jews” want to discredit or erase, at the very least, discredit Christianity. Several comments below the post seem to support it this conspiracy theory. The author goes on to claim that various institutions have been infiltrated by Mossad, Israel’s secret service: “ADL and SPLC and Wikipedia lol, 3 companies owned by Mossad.”

The strong emotions the post seems to have sparked suggest that many users did not question the claims, but simply felt the need to express their own outrage. Some wrote sarcastically that nothing else could be expected from the ADL, the supposed representative of Judaism. Others, contradicting the false claims, only speed up the spread of the post.

The author’s comments under the original post indicate that he is deliberately taking advantage of these emotions. They take note of the many comments by other X users that Christian Identity does not mean Christianity and admit the error.

However, they did not delete the post, citing free speech on X. Indeed, they continue to use anti-Semitic tropes to fuel debate and expand the reach of their X posts.

This fact check was originally written in German.