“The Jews love numbers”: Steven L. Anderson, Christian Conspiracists, and the Spiritual Dimensions of Holocaust Denial

Authors

Matthew H. Brittingham, Emory UniversityFollow

Abstract

From his pulpit at Faithful Word Baptist Church (Independent Fundamental Baptist) in Tempe, AZ, fundamentalist preacher Steven L. Anderson launches screeds against Catholics, LGBTQ people, evolutionary scientists, politicians, and anyone else who doesn't share his political, social, or theological views. Anderson publishes clips of his sermons on YouTube, where he has amassed a notable following. Teaming up with Paul Wittenberger of Framing the World, a small-time film company, Anderson produced a film about the connections between Christianity, Judaism, and Israel, entitled Marching to Zion (2015), which was laced with antisemitic stereotypes. Anderson followed Marching to Zion with an almost 40-minute YouTube video espousing Holocaust denial, entitled “Did the Holocaust Really Happen?” In this article, I analyze Anderson's Holocaust denial video in light of his theology, prior films, and connections to other Christian conspiracists, most notably Texe Marrs, I particularly show how Anderson frames the “Holocaust myth,” as he calls it, in light of a deeper spiritual warfare that negatively impacts the spread of Christianity.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Eric Goldstein, Dr. William Allington, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Holocaust Denial on Trial (HDOT), and the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University for their support and encouragement. I would also like to thank Dr. John Cox and the Center for Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Studies at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte for allowing me the opportunity to present a previous iteration of this paper at their 2019 conference, "Denial: The Final Stage of Genocide."

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.14.2.1721

Erratum

Footnotes omitted in original publication are available for download in Supplemental Content.

Recommended Citation

Brittingham, Matthew H. (2020) "“The Jews love numbers”: Steven L. Anderson, Christian Conspiracists, and the Spiritual Dimensions of Holocaust Denial," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal: Vol. 14: Iss. 2: 44-64.
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.14.2.1721

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