William Bell Riley

==Antisemitism==

Some of Riley's beliefs and writings were [[antisemitic]]. He wrote and spoke extensively about Jews, especially in relation to [[Communism]], crime and historical social influence. He promoted the [[antisemitic canard]] of linking Jews with mysterious sources of influence, power and money. In his Introduction to a collection of Riley's anti-evolutionary writings <ref>William Trollinger, [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5860412 ''The Anti-evolution Pamphlets of William Bell Riley''] (New York: Garland Pub, 1995), xix.</ref> William Trollinger, the editor, describes Riley's belief in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to control the media and the economy. Trollinger believed Riley was partly influenced by the anti-Jewish Czarist forgery ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]''. [[Henry Ford]] had been promoting the Protocols at that time through his newspaper [[The Dearborn Independent]]. Riley believed that Jews had a prominent role in promoting evolution to undermine religious and social values. Riley saw this as part of a wider plot involving Communism's plan to conquer America, especially through the administration of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], whom he accused of being part of a communist conspiracy.<ref>Riley, William Bell. [http://www.cdm16120.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/riley/id/4894/rec/45 ''The Jew and Communism.'']{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Minneapolis: University of Northwestern: William Bell Riley Collection online. 1</ref> Riley declared that Soviet Russia "was under the dominance of a successful mob of atheistic Jews."<ref>[http://www.cdm16120.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/riley/id/4603/rec/158 ''Doom of World Governments.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102033424/http://cdm16120.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/riley/id/4603/rec/158 |date=2014-11-02 }} Minneapolis: University of Northwestern: William Bell Riley Collection online. 5</ref> Riley described the origins of World War I as the result of the maneuvering of Jewish bankers and arms dealers.<ref>Trollinger, William Vance. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22276771 ''God's Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism.''] Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. 72</ref> Riley preached a sermon entitled "Shivering at the sight of a shirt" <ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/59759935 ''Shivering at the Sight of a Shirt.''] [Minneapolis: L.W. Camp], 1936</ref> in support of the Fascist Silver Shirts (of the [[Silver Legion of America]]) calling them "defenders of the Constitution."<ref>Lundin, R. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/833047141 ''Christ across the disciplines past, present, future.] Grand Rapids, Michigan: [[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]], 2013.</ref> In his book, "The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century", Glen Yeadon <ref>Yeadon, Glen [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/750729691 ''The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century.''] (California: Progressive Press, 2008.),109.</ref> compares Riley's use of anti-Jewish imagery and rhetoric in his sermons and writings to Hitler's propaganda.

Some writers think that Riley moved towards anti Semitism after the failure of his crusade against evolution, blaming the Jews for his inability to influence Schools against teaching evolution.<ref>Trollinger, William Vance.[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/316082622276771 ''God's empire : William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism.''] Madison, Wisconsin. : University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.</ref> Trollinger also argues that Riley was influenced by and became a leading part of the antisemitism prevalent in [[Minneapolis]].<ref>Berman, Hyman. [http://www.worldcat.org/title/political anti-Semitism in Minnesota during the great depression] New York : 1979.</ref> There were also parts of wider fundamentalist culture at that time adopting antisemitic conspiracy theories.<ref>Dinnerstein, L. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28631951''Antisemitism in America.''] New York : Oxford University Press. 1994.</ref>

Riley denied that he was an [[antisemite]]. He argued that he was merely commenting on social conditions at the time, and that he theologically and personally supported the Jews. Soon after the British Army entered Jerusalem in 1917, Riley described his hopes of a restored Jewish state and the role of Jerusalem in end time events in a published sermon. Riley also believed that Jews as a race had been "under God's punishment", similar to the theology of [[Medieval antisemitism]]. Riley continued to be a supporter of more modern manifestations of antisemitism, such as belief in a worldwide [[Jewish Bolshevism|Jewish-Bolshevik-Darwinist]] conspiracy.<ref>[http://www.cdm16120.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/riley/id/4883/rec/36 ''Jerusalem and the Jew.'']{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Minneapolis: University of Northwestern: William Bell Riley Collection online.</ref>