Far-right survivalist and icon of 'Patriot' movement predicts religious civil war
The framer of a far-right survivalist movement in the Pacific Northwest rang in the new year by warning of religious civil war.
James Wesley, Rawles, (sic) a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and self-described religious separatist who once called Islam a âreligion of evil and death,â thinks a âwar of world viewsâ may come as early as 2020. And heâs urging his readers to strategically relocate inland to red states.
âIâm predicting a Third Gulf War, but it wonât be fought in the Middle East,â Rawles published on his SurvivalBlog.com, which claims to have over 320,000 unique visitors each week. âIt will be the Second Civil War, here in America and caused by the gulf between the right and left â or between the godly and the godless â or between the libertarians and the statists â or between the individualists and the collectivists.â
Rawles hedges by saying that armed confrontations may still be a generation away, if they come at all, but the upcoming presidential election and potential âvote counting manipulationâ could trigger riots and kick off a civil war where some states would demand partition or secession.
Rawles cites the polarization of the United Statesâ two major political parties, an urban-rural divide and the âovert politicizationâ of government agencies â singling out the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of the Interior â as indicators of future conflict.
He goes on to state that taxation is a socialist ploy used by a corrupt government to âexpropriate the productivity of others,â through things like traffic citations, to âbuild a voter base and thereby make themselves permanent fixtures.â
Rawles describes the police, courts and media as willing accomplices and says, âno state or Federal agency [sic] or subdivision of government can now be trusted to conform to the Constitution and its strictures.â
With the domestic side of things covered, Rawles then projects his theory to the international arena while hinting at the âNew World OrderâĚý˛š˛Ôťĺ Agenda 21 â two foundational conspiracy theories of the antigovernment extremist, or âPatriot,â movement.
âThe [socialist elements] at [the international] level are the globalists who have the goal of redistributing wealth globally, with a slice off the top for the U.N.,â Rawles claims. âCarbon taxes, greenhouse gas offsets, and other âGreenâ initiatives are just the latest in a long string of globalist Robin Hood schemes.â
Rawles ends his dire warning with an injection of hope, encouraging his readers to seek refuge in the inland Northwest.
âMy advice is simple: Vote with your feet,â Rawles advises. âThe threat of a future civil war is just one more reason to permanently relocate to a more conservative inland state. If you are living away from the conflict, then you will have the option to become involved â either directly or indirectly. But if you are living âright in the thick of itâ, then you are more likely to be tossed about by events. Many situations will be determined [by] simple geography, rather than by volition. So pick your locale wisely. I may be biased, but I believe that nearly all of the counties inside The American Redoubt are a good starting point, in your search for a safe haven.â
Rawles coined the term American Redoubt in 2011 and assigned all of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon to within its borders.
Though he doesnât claim ownership of the movement, he has a vision to âpioneer a nation out of a wildernessâ by building a bastion of religious conservatism, which heâs described as âGodâs will for the region,â able to withstand a perceived onslaught from liberals and government or an eventual societal collapse.
In a 2013 episode of the âGod and Gunsâ podcast Rawles makes clear his apocalyptic worldview in which the United States is destined to disintegrate into chaos.
âIâd like to see the American Redoubt have some sort of autonomy from what we popularly know as the United States,â Rawles states. âIâd like to see the American Redoubt basically be a stronghold of conservative, traditional values while we see the rest of the United States sink into oblivion.â
The idea of far-right extremists seeking haven in the Northwest is not new; neo-Nazis, racist skinheads, Klansmen and other white nationalists as well as antigovernment extremists have a long, and at times violent, there.
And itâs an idea that remains popular with antigovernment thought leaders today.
Chuck Baldwin, a Christian fundamentalist pastor and well-known antigovernment extremist, relocated his family to Montana from Florida in 2010. Heâs since supported the Redoubt idea, but a September 2010 letter to his followers announcing his move is in lockstep with Rawlesâ reasoning for the Redoubt.
âWe are going to Montana to fight!â Baldwin wrote. âThe Mountain States just might become The Alamo of the twenty-first century, with, hopefully, much better results. But if not, I would rather die fighting for Freedom with liberty-loving patriots by my side than be shuttled off to some FEMA camp.â
Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, who formed a chapter of the anti-Muslim hate group ACT For America in Spokane, Washington, is himself a celebrity in the American Redoubt.
Shea has used his public office to lend legitimacy to anti-public lands extremists and antigovernment militias, and is building a movement to partition eastern Washington (the part that Rawles places in the American Redoubt) from western Washington to form a new state called Liberty.
Most recently, Shea  to writing a four-page document titled âBiblical Basis for War,â which outlines strategies of a Christian âHoly Army.â In it, he explains that before any declaration of war, enemies must first be given the opportunity to âstop abortions,â end âsame-sex-marriage,â eliminate âidolatry or occultismâ and ban âcommunism.â
The American Redoubt is not a movement of overt white supremacists, and individuals who identify as Redoubters should not be seen as synonymous with racists.
However, itâs a concept clearly born out of antigovernment extremism â which itself is rooted in the Christian Identity-inspired Posse Comitatus of the 1970s â undergirded by the Christian theology of its thought leader and other influential antigovernment icons who live in the Northwest.
Photo illustration by ĂŰĚŇ´ŤĂ˝