Secret Societies of ARMY of God

Secret Societies of ARMY of God

This loose-knit coalition of religious zealots, devoted to eliminating legalized abortion in the United States, made its first appearance in August 1982 when self-styled members kidnapped Dr. Hector Zevallos and his wife from their home in Illinois.

Dr. Zevallos, the operator of a women’s clinic in Granite City, was held captive for six days until he promised to stop performing abortions. (Ringleader Don Anderson received a 30-year prison sentence for that crime; he subsequently earned another 30 year stretch for torching two Florida clinics.)

Since that incident, the Army of God (AOG) has claimed credit for various acts of TERRORISM across the United States, generally bombings, arson, and other acts of vandalism against women’s clinics. Convicted clinic bomber Michael Bray describes himself as “chaplain” of the group while simultaneously denying any culpable knowledge of its ongoing criminal activities.

Some critics argue that the AOG does not exist, per se, but that its name is simply invoked by perpetrators of various violent crimes in a bid to make the scattered “pro-life” movement seem well organized. In 1997–98 letters signed by the AOG claimed credit for fatal bombings in Atlanta and Birmingham, subsequently linked to neo-Nazi fugitive Eric Rudolph. Following an Atlanta gay-bar bombing linked to Rudolph in February 1997, a letter signed by the AOG announced:

“We declare and will wage total war on the ungodly communist regime in New York and your legislative-bureaucratic lackey’s [sic] in Washington. It is you who are responsible and preside over the murder of children and issue the policy of ungodly perversion [sic] that[’]s destroying our people. . . . Death to the NEW WORLD ORDER.”

Despite this and similar pronouncements through the years, spokesmen for the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) in Washington have declared that its “Terrorist Section does not consider the ‘Army of God’ as a terrorist group, and therefore no FBI investigation appears warranted at this time.” In 2001 the group was blamed for sending dozens of hoax ANTHRAX mailings to clinics across the United States.