World Christian Fundamentals Association
The World Christian Fundamentals Association, founded by William Bell Riley in 1919, was a militant fundamentalist organization that moved beyond the original five doctrinal fundamentals of Christianity into aggressive political, cultural, and sectarian warfare against liberal theology, modernism, evolution, Catholicism, and religious pluralism. Under leaders and allies such as Riley, Roy E. Davis, John Roach Straton, Gerald Burton Winrod, and William Jennings Bryan, the WCFA framed opponents as false Christians and enemies of the faith, promoted investigations of schools, pulpits, seminaries, missionaries, and denominations, and used publications such as The Fundamentalist to identify and attack perceived modernist threats. Its campaigns against Darwinism, public education, Catholic influence, and theological liberalism helped radicalize American fundamentalism into a combative movement that blended apocalyptic fear, political activism, anti-modern rhetoric, and exclusionary religious identity.
The World Christian Fundamentals Association (WCFA), also known as the Fundamentalist League, was established by William Bell Riley in 1919 to spread Christian Fundamentalism and combat Christian liberalism and cultural modernism. Compared to Christian Fundamentalism in general, it was a radicalized version of the movement that leveraged political strategies to form a militant position against "modernists." Converts to the movement were trained to believe those not of the same theological opinion were not "true Christians" and would be slaughtered during the apocalypse.[1]
Christian Fundamentalism began with five precepts essential to the movement. Fundamentalists believed that 1) The authors of the Bible were divinely inspired, guided, and/or controlled to keep the Bible text free from error. 2) Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. 3) Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and to reconcile converts to God. 4) Christ rose from the dead on the third day with the same body that had suffered, and 5) Jesus worked miracles, including divine healing, as examples for the Church. The earliest manifesto of the five precepts was published by the Presbyterian Church in 1910.[2] .
Riley's organization of the movement, however, included additional political agendas — including agendas aligned with British Israelism, Naziism, and white supremacy. Early directors of the organization included Ku Klux Klan leader Roy E. Davis,[3] John Roach Straton, head pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York,[4] Nazi promoter Gerald Burton Winrod,[5] and others. The group began using "modernism" as an overloaded word to describe anything not approved by the fundamentalists and strongly attacked those who were not of like mind.
Under their direction, the Fundamentalists adopted anti-Catholic themes and claimed that "modernism" in the form of Catholicsm was "seizing hold of all Christian agencies and destroying them."[6] The group strongly opposed Darwin's theory of evolution[7] and claimed that Catholics, through "modernism," had invaded the public school systems. In April 2023, three hundred members of the WCFA adopted a constitution pledging "to rout from pulpit, school, seminary, and missionary society all men found 'unsound in the faith.'"[8] Leaders in the movement declared war on non-Fundamentalists and demanded a probe of all Christian missionaries.[9] A committee of five was appointed to investigate records of foreign mission societies, accusing them of "having been under the control of 'modernists.'"[10]
Before long, the group began condemning anything and everything modern, from radio and film to automobiles.[11] Fundamentalist leaders began claiming that Christian denominations would dissolve within 25 years, and only two sects would emerge: fundamentalists and modernists.[12] It was predicted that within 50 years, all supernatural beliefs would be erased from religion by modernists.[13] A newsletter, "The Fundamentalist," was published, advertising itself as "An unequivocal, uncompromising, undaunted faith. Every issue a militant and mighty message against all foes of the Master." The newsletter contained "Who's Who in Modernism — The Black Book of Baptist Unbelief," naming those foes.[14]
In 1921, Former Congressman and ex-Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan became the political champion for the WCFA. Bryan began delivering speeches, "The Menace of Darwinism" and "The Bible and its Enemies," earning him great respect among the Fundamentalists.[15] When John Thomas Scopes was indicted in May 1925 for violating Tennessee's anti-evolution law, Bryan joined the prosecution in the famous Scopes Trial, ensuring that the trial received national interest.[16]