The call came in to the Columbia, Tennessee 911 call center at 5:20 on the morning of February 9. A fire was raging at the Islamic Center. When local police arrived a few minutes later, they found the broken glass of a door and heavy dark smoke billowing out of a broken window. At the scene, the officers also discovered a black swastika painted on the front of the building, along with two black swastikas and "We run the wold" (sic) and "White Power" painted on the side.

Later the same day, law enforcement officers arrested three local residents: Eric Ian Baker, 32, Michael Corey Golden, 23, and Jonathan Edward Stone, 19. The three men are accused of using empty beer bottles filled with gasoline and rags to set fire to the storefront mosque. They face federal charges of unlawful possession of a destructive device and state charges of arson.

According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, at least two of the perpetrators of the arson and vandalism of the mosque were Christian Identity Movement adherents. (See the affidavit here.)

Christian Identity is a racist and anti-Semitic religious doctrine which teaches that European whites and their American descendants are the Biblical "chosen people,” while Jews are the literal descendants of Satan and that people of color are subhuman. It has been the theological glue binding together neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan devotees, militia members and others into the white nationalist movement. (For more on Christian Identity, please check out the CNC publication, Christian Identity: An American Heresy ).

The affidavit also notes that Stone stated that “as a result of his participation in the fire of Islamic Center, he earned ‘two stripes’ from Baker, who is his sponsor in the Christian Identity Movement. Stone admitted to Special Agents that he is a member of the Christian Identity Movement, and that stripes or promotions are earned for committing acts of violence against ‘enemies.’” Additionally, Eric Ian Baker explained to the Special Agents that "what goes on in that building is illegal according to the Bible." {sidebar id=4} 

The mosque attack occued just weeks before a Colorado Christian Identity group with ties to violence plans to visit Nashville. The Scriptures for America event is scheduled for March 7-8 at the Nashville Ramada Inn, 2425 Atrium Way, Nashville, TN, 37214.

Scriptures for America leader Pete Peters proclaims that northern European whites and their American descendants are the Biblical "chosen people;" that Jews pose a Satanic threat by conspiring to control America; that people of color are inferior to whites; and that gays and lesbians should be executed.

Several Scriptures for America followers have committed violent acts. During the 1980’s, members of the neo-Nazi terror group, the Order, attended his church. They went on to counterfeit money, rob armored cars, and kill a Jewish talk show host and Missouri State Trooper. In 1998, an Ashtabula County, Ohio distributor of Scriptures for America literature shot two volunteer firefighters with his .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Over the years, the speakers list for Peters’ gatherings read like a who’s who of the white supremacist movement; the late Aryan Nations patriarch Richard Butler; Louis Beam, the Aryan Nations leader who developed the “leaderless resistance” strategy of racist organizing; Montana anti-Semite Martin “Red” Beckman; Identity preachers Richard Kelly Hoskins, Dave Barley, Earl Jones and many more. {gallery}Christian_Identity/mosque{/gallery}