{{Short description|Church located in Laporte, Colorado}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Christian Identity sidebar|Organizations}} '''LaPorte Church of Christ''' is an independent church in Laporte, Colorado, led by Peter J. Peters (November 13, 1946 – July 7, 2011) from 1977 until his death.<ref name="died">{{cite web |last=Morlin |first=Bill |date=July 15, 2011 |website=Hatewatch |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |url=https://splcenter.org/hatewatch/2011/07/15/influential-christian-identity-pastor-dies|title=Influential Christian Identity Pastor Dies |access-date=March 7, 2021 }}</ref>
== History == After completing study at the Church of Christ Bible Training School in Gering, Nebraska, Peters began preaching as a minister for the Church of Christ. In 1977, he went to the LaPorte Church of Christ.{{Sfn|Burlein|2002|pp=35-36}} The church was unable to support him full time, so he also worked for the US Department of Agriculture, as he also held degrees in agri-business and economics.{{Sfn|Burlein|2002|p=36}} This was during the farm crisis of the 1980s and Peters witnessed many farmers who lost everything. During this time, Peters converted to Christian Identity as a result of listening to radio sermons by Identity minister Sheldon Emry.{{Sfn|Burlein|2002|p=36}} This caused Peters to lose all but five of the original congregants of LaPorte Church of Christ.{{Sfn|Burlein|2002|p=36}}
The church served mainly as a platform for Peters's views and its membership never went above 100. It attracted white supremacists, including the members of the terrorist organization The Order who murdered radio talk show host Alan Berg with whom Peters had clashed on Berg's radio program.{{Sfn|Atkins|2011|p=146}}
The church became involved in a controversy in Colorado, related to an amendment against homosexuality, which led to it being fined for a minor violation of election laws. Peters refused to pay the fine and the church was seized by the state in February 1993 as the debt exceeded $10,000.{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=241}}
LaPorte operates Scriptures for America, a shortwave radio service that broadcasts via WTWW in Lebanon, Tennessee.<ref>[http://www.sfawbn.com/ Scriptures for America Worldwide Broadcasting Network], retrieved January 5, 2023</ref> Peters's programming had previously been carried on WRNO and WWCR.<ref name=adlreport>{{cite web| url=http://archive.adl.org/presrele/dirab_41/2655_41.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045543/http://archive.adl.org/presrele/dirab_41/2655_41.html|title=ADL REPORT FINDS RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS USE SHORTWAVE RADIO TO TARGET U.S. AUDIENCES; ASKS FCC TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE VIOLATION OF REGULATIONS |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=2023-09-11|quote=Pastor Pete Peters, a leading figure in the bigoted pseudo-religious "Christian Identity" movement, preaches anti-Semitism on his show, "Truth for the Times," on WRNO and WWCR.}}</ref>
== Beliefs == Peters proclaimed that Europeans are the true Israel and that contemporary Jews may be of the synagogue of Satan (based on {{Bibleref2|Revelation|2:9}} and {{Bibleref2-nb|Revelation|3:9}}) and the descendants of the biblical Esau (Edom), the brother and nemesis of Jacob (Israel).{{Sfn|Burlein|2002|p=59}} Critics labeled his message to be that of Christian Identity,<ref name="adl">{{cite web |title=Peter J. "Pete" Peters |website=Anti-Defamation League |url=http://www.adl.org/Learn/ext_us/Peters.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628174230/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Peters.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=8 |archive-date=June 28, 2008 |access-date=March 8, 2021}}</ref>{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=239}} although he rejected this label.<ref name="peters">{{cite web |last=Peters |first=Peter |title=Be Wise as Serpents--Reject the 'Identity' Label |website=Scriptures for America |url=http://www.scripturesforamerica.org/ADL/be_wise.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703051427/http://www.scripturesforamerica.org/ADL/be_wise.html |archive-date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=March 8, 2021 }}</ref> The church is no longer associated with the decentralized group of churches that use the name "Churches of Christ".
==References==
=== Footnotes === {{reflist}}
=== Sources === * {{Cite book |last=Atkins |first=Stephen E. |author-link=Stephen E. Atkins |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Right_Wing_Extremism_in/xnfDEAAAQBAJ?hl=en |title=Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism in Modern American History |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-59884-351-4 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Burlein |first=Ann |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lift_High_the_Cross/2-rXsKsdz5sC?hl=en |title=Lift High the Cross: Where White Supremacy and the Christian Right Converge |date=2002 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-2864-3 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Jeffrey |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_White_Power/nNWbbhUYv8oC?hl=en |title=Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right |date=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |isbn=978-0-7425-0340-3 |language=en}}
==External links== * [https://www.sfaw.org Scriptures for America Worldwide] (Peter J. Peters' church website & radio show) * [https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2011/07/15/influential-christian-identity-pastor-dies Influential Christian Identity Pastor Dies] {{Coord|40.62584|-105.13496|format=dms|display=title|type:landmark_region:US-CO}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laporte Church Of Christ}} Category:Buildings and structures in Larimer County, Colorado Category:Christian Identity groups