Jeffrey Kaplan

Kaplan in 2023

Jeffrey Kaplan (March 23, 1954 – March 12, 2025) was an American academic who wrote and edited a number of books on racism, religious violence, terrorism and the far-right. He was an associate professor of religion at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and a member of the board of academic advisors of the university's Institute for the Study of Religion, Violence and Memory.

Quotes

• Radical right-wing groups — from the survivalists to the neo-Nazis, the Klan — tend to draw people who don't fit well into organizations. They would never make it in the Middle Eastern terrorism game. They are constantly arguing with each other, constantly splitting and forming new groups and changing ideologies.
  • "Home-grown suspects evoke relief, worry quoted by the Associated Press, April 22, 1995

Radical Religion in America (1997)

• Apocalyptic millenarianism starts with a dream. It is a dream of a past that never was and of a future that may never be—a dream, in a word, of perfection. This dream, moreover, seeks to link a past golden age with a future promise of a world governed by a sinless elect under the benevolent rule of the Savior himself. The millennial dream has for two thousand years served as a beacon of hope to all, and as a call to action to a few.
  • p. xiii
• Christian Identity eschatology is clearly no "pie in the sky" set of speculations. Rather, it is closely matched to the everyday lives of its adherents, who in turn live each day as if it were their last. How could it be otherwise when proofs of the End are so abundant?
  • p. 50
• It is an accepted truth that in every age and in every corner of the globe, small groups of people have become unalterably convinced that the processes of history are coming to an end. Although such groups of seekers invariably adopt an oppositional stance to the perceived pattern of changes in their respective societies, seldom are these movements catalyzed from the typical response of selective withdrawal from the dominant culture to a violent determination to act on the belief that the final drama has begun.
  • p. 165

Encyclopedia of White Power (2000)

• But I found something else as well, and it took a considerable amount of time before I was able to fully understand it's import. What I found most puzzling was that the monsters of terra incognita, upon closer examination, were not really monsters at all. They held political views which were repugnant, and religious views based on fantastically eccentric interpretations of sacred text. But whatever their belief structure, these were not monsters. They were not the violent and hate filled people I had expected to find.
  [...] Far from monsters, these strange and isolated people seemed, if anything, to feel too much and understand too little. In their words and deeds they harmed mainly themselves and their families.
  • "Racism, Anti-racism, and the Americans: Reflections on the European Year Against Racism", November 3, 1998 address, pp. xxxi–xxxii
• Before considering these real world consequences however, it is important to note at this point that none of this is said to condone racism as "just another idea" or, more subtlety, to rationalize evil. Rather, this is to suggest that all human beings can be approached on a human level. That contact can be made. This human contact will in turn invariably neutralize the caricatures which skew scholarly analysis and distort the historical record. [...] The demonization of the radical right ill serves us when now, more than ever before, it is vitally important to know all we can about this esoteric milieu's nature and potentialities.
  • "Racism, Anti-racism, and the Americans: Reflections on the European Year Against Racism", November 3, 1998 address, p. xxxiii