Phineas Priesthood



The Phineas Priesthood or Phineas Priests (also spelled Phinehas) are American domestic terrorists who follow the ideology set forth in the 1990 book, Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood by Richard Kelly Hoskins.

The ideology set forth in Hoskins' book includes Christian Identity beliefs which oppose interracial relationships, the mixing of races, homosexuality, and abortion. It is also marked by anti-Semitism, and anti-multiculturalism.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "Many people mistakenly believe that there is an actual organization called the Phineas Priesthood, probably because there was a group of four men in the 1990s who called themselves Phineas Priests. The men carried out bank robberies and a series of bombings in the Pacific Northwest before being sent to prison. But there is no evidence that their organization was any larger than those four individuals."

The Phineas Priesthood is not considered an organization because it is not led by a governing body, its members do not hold gatherings, and it does not have a membership process. One simply becomes a Phineas Priest by adopting the Priesthood's beliefs and acting upon them. Adherents of the Phineas Priesthood ideology are considered terrorists because among other things, their crimes include numerous abortion clinic bombings in 1996, the 1996 bombing of The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, bank robberies, and plans to blow up FBI buildings. Four members of this organization were convicted of crimes that included bank robbery and bombings and each of them was sentenced to life in prison in 1997 and 1998.