Dr. Thomas Lecaque: Holy War and the Far Right – Crusading Rhetoric in Contemporary America

Click here to watch the recorded presentation on our YouTube Page. 

Join us Friday, November 18, 12p for special guest Dr. Thomas Lecaque, associate professor of history at Grand View University and member of Laboratiore d’etudes sur les Monotheismes, who’ll discuss  “Holy War and the Far Right: Crusading Rhetoric in Contemporary America”

The rhetoric of holy war is meant to be a memory in contemporary America. Either a relic of the Medieval Past, safely 500 years behind us, or levied by extremist groups, or, unfortunately, called for by Russian politicians against Ukraine to widespread condemnation. We do not expect it to be present across America, something seen and heard from politicians and religious leaders and extremist groups here and now. But crusading rhetoric and imagery is, unfortunately, alive and well in the far right, with all of the genuine menace it implies. This talk will look at a handful of prominent examples–the Crusader rifles, holy war memes, the Catholic Identity Conference, and a series of military officers who have engaged in the rhetoric and trappings of holy war–as a window into a broader phenomenon in contemporary American society.

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