Group of defendants at the Nuremberg trials, from which the Nuremberg principles were established
The principles
Principle I
Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.
Principle II
The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under international law.
Principle III
The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law, acted as Head of State or responsible governmentofficial, does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.
The fact that a person acted
pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve
him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice
was in fact possible to him.
This principle could be paraphrased as follows: "It is not an
acceptable excuse to say 'I was just following my superior's orders'".
Previous to the time of the Nuremberg Trials, this excuse was known in common parlance as "superior orders". After the prominent, high-profile event of the Nuremberg Trials, that excuse is now referred to by many as the "Nuremberg Defense". In recent times, a third term, "lawful orders" has become common parlance for some people. All three terms are in use today, and they all have slightly different
nuances of meaning, depending on the context in which they are used.
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions
on political, racial, or religious grounds, when such acts are done or
such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connection with
any crime against peace or any war crime.
Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in
the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit
any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by
any persons in execution of such plan.
Principle VII
Complicity
in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime
against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under
international law.
In the period just prior to the June 26, 1945 signing of the Charter of the United Nations, the governments participating in its drafting were opposed to conferring on the United Nationslegislative power to enact binding rules of international law. As a corollary, they also rejected proposals to confer on the General Assembly
the power to impose certain general conventions on states by some form
of majority vote. There was, however, strong support for conferring on
the General Assembly the more limited powers of study and
recommendation, which led to the adoption of Article 13 in Chapter IV of the Charter. It obliges the United Nations General Assembly to initiate studies and to make recommendations that encourage the progressive development of international law and its codification. The Nuremberg Principles were developed by UN organs under that limited mandate.
Unlike treaty law, customary international law
is not written. To prove that a certain rule is customary one has to
show that it is reflected in state practice and that there exists a
conviction in the international community that such practice is required as a matter of law. (For example, the Nuremberg Trials
were a "practice" of the "international law" of the Nuremberg
Principles; and that "practice" was supported by the international
community.) In this context, "practice" relates to official state
practice and therefore includes formal statements by states. A contrary
practice by some states is possible. If this contrary practice is
condemned by other states then the rule is confirmed.
In 1947, under UN General Assembly Resolution 177 (II), paragraph (a), the International Law Commission was directed to "formulate the principles of international law recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal
and in the judgment of the Tribunal." In the course of the
consideration of this subject, the question arose as to whether or not
the commission should ascertain to what extent the principles contained
in the Charter and judgment constituted principles of international law.
The conclusion was that since the Nuremberg Principles had been
affirmed by the General Assembly, the task entrusted to the commission
was not to express any appreciation of these principles as principles of
international law but merely to formulate them. The text above was
adopted by the Commission at its second session. The Report of the
commission also contains commentaries on the principles (see Yearbook of
the International Law Commission, 1950, Vol. II, pp. 374–378).
Examples of the principles supported and not supported
For examples relating to Principle IV (from before, during, and after the Nuremberg Trials), see Superior Orders.
The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Concerning
Nuremberg Principle IV, and its reference to an individual's
responsibility, it could be argued that a version of the Superior Orders defense can be found as a defense to international crimes in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
(The Rome Statute was agreed upon in 1998 as the foundational document
of the International Criminal Court, established to try those
individuals accused of serious international crimes.) Article 33,
titled "Superior Orders and prescription of law," states:
1. The fact that a crime within the
jurisdiction of the Court has been committed by a person pursuant to an
order of a Government or of a superior, whether military or civilian,
shall not relieve that person of criminal responsibility unless:
(a) The person was under a legal obligation to obey orders of the Government or the superior in question;
(b) The person did not know that the order was unlawful; and
(c) The order was not manifestly unlawful.
2. For the purposes of this article, orders to commit genocide or crimes against humanity are manifestly unlawful.
There are two interpretations of this Article:
This formulation, especially (1)(a), whilst effectively
prohibiting the use of the Nuremberg Defense in relation to charges of
genocide and crimes against humanity, does however, appear to allow the
Nuremberg Defense to be used as a protection against charges of war
crimes, provided the relevant criteria are met.
Nevertheless, this interpretation of ICC Article 33 is open to
debate: For example, Article 33 (1)(c) protects the defendant only if
"the order was not manifestly unlawful." The "order" could be considered
"unlawful" if we consider Nuremberg Principle IV
to be the applicable "law" in this case. If so, then the defendant is
not protected. Discussion as to whether or not Nuremberg Principle IV
is the applicable law in this case is found in a discussion of the Nuremberg Principles' power or lack of power.
An individual must be involved at the policy-making level
to be culpable for a crime against peace ... the ordinary foot soldier
is not expected to make his or her own personal assessment as to the
legality of a conflict. Similarly, such an individual cannot be held
criminally responsible for fighting in support of an illegal war,
assuming that his or her personal war-time conduct is otherwise proper.
In Asia, Indians in Ancient India considered all foreigners barbarians. The Muslim scholar Al-Biruni wrote that the Indians called foreigners impure. A few centuries later, Dubois observes that "Hindus
look upon Europeans as barbarians totally ignorant of all principles of
honour and good breeding... In the eyes of a Hindu, a Pariah (outcaste) and a European are on the same level." The Chinese also considered the Europeans repulsive, ghost-like
creatures, and they even considered them devils. Chinese writers also
referred to foreigners as barbarians.
Great Russian chauvinism (Russian: великорусский шовинизм, romanized: velikorussky shovinizm) is a term defined by the early Soviet government officials, most notably Vladimir Lenin,
to describe an ideology of the "dominant exploiting classes of the
nation, holding a dominant (sovereign) position in the state, declaring
their nation as the "superior nation". Lenin promoted an idea for the
Bolshevik party to defend the right of oppressed nations within the
former Russian Empire to self-determination and equality as well as the language-rights movement of the newly formed republics.
Sinocentrism
Sinocentrism refers to a worldview that China is the cultural, political, or economic center of the world. Sinocentrism was a core concept in various Chinese dynasties. The Chinese considered themselves to be "all-under-Heaven", ruled by the emperor, known as Son of Heaven. Those that lived outside of the Huaxia were regarded as "barbarians". In addition, states outside of China, such as Vietnam, Japan or Korea, were considered to be vassals of China.
During the 19th century, "The White Man's Burden",
the phrase which refers to the thought that whites have the obligation
to make the societies of the other peoples more 'civilized', was widely
used to justify colonial policies as a noble enterprise. Historian Thomas Carlyle, best known for his historical account of the French Revolution, The French Revolution: A History,
argued that western policies were justified on the grounds that they
provided the greatest benefit to "inferior" native peoples. However, even at the time of its publication in 1849, Carlyle's main work on the subject, the Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question, was poorly received by his contemporaries.
According to William Nicholls, religious antisemitism can be distinguished from racial antisemitism which is based on racial or ethnic grounds. "The dividing line was the possibility of effective conversion ... a Jew ceased to be a Jew upon baptism." However, with racial antisemitism, "Now the assimilated Jew was still a Jew, even after baptism ... . From the Enlightenment
onward, it is no longer possible to draw clear lines of distinction
between religious and racial forms of hostility towards Jews... Once
Jews have been emancipated and secular thinking makes its appearance,
without leaving behind the old Christian hostility towards Jews, the new
term antisemitism becomes almost unavoidable, even before explicitly
racist doctrines appear."
One of the first typologies which was used to classify various human races was invented by Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854–1936), a theoretician of eugenics, who published L'Aryen et son rôle social (1899 – "The Aryan and his social role") in 1899. In his book, he divides humanity into various, hierarchical races,
starting with the highest race which is the "Aryan white race,
dolichocephalic", and ending with the lowest race which is the
"brachycephalic", "mediocre and inert" race, that race is best
represented by Southern European, Catholic peasants". Between these, Vacher de Lapouge identified the "Homo europaeus" (Teutonic, Protestant, etc.), the "Homo alpinus" (Auvergnat, Turkish, etc.), and finally the "Homo mediterraneus" (Neapolitan, Andalus,
etc.) Jews were brachycephalic just like the Aryans were, according to
Lapouge; but he considered them dangerous for this exact reason; they
were the only group, he thought, which was threatening to displace the
Aryan aristocracy. Georges Vacher de Lapouge became one of the leading inspirations of Nazi antisemitism and Nazi racist ideology.
Before the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America was founded with a constitution that contained clauses which restricted the government's ability to limit or interfere with the institution of "negro" slavery. In the 1861 Cornerstone Speech, Confederate vice president, Alexander Stephens declared that one of the Confederacy's foundational tenets was White Supremacy over African American slaves. Following the war, a hate group, known as the Ku Klux Klan, was founded in the American South, after the end of the American Civil War. Its purpose has been to maintain White, Protestant supremacy in the US after the Reconstruction period, which it did so through violence and intimidation.
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany, under the rule of Adolf Hitler, promoted the belief in the existence of a superior, AryanHerrenvolk, or master race. The state's propaganda advocated the belief that Germanic peoples, whom they called "Aryans", were a master race or a Herrenvolk whose members were superior to the Jews, Slavs, and Romani people, so-called "gypsies". Arthur de Gobineau, a French racial theorist and aristocrat, blamed the fall of the ancien régime in France on racial intermixing, which he believed had destroyed the purity of the Nordic race.
Gobineau's theories, which attracted a large and strong following in
Germany, emphasized the belief in the existence of an irreconcilable
polarity between Aryan and Jewish cultures.
Cornel West, an African-American philosopher, writes that black supremacist religious views arose in America as a part of black Muslim theology in response to white supremacy.
Hutu supremacism
Hutu Power, or Hutu Supremacy, is an ethnic supremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa,
and therefore, they are entitled to dominate and murder these two
groups and other minorities. Espoused by Hutu extremists, widespread
support for the ideology led to the 1994 Rwandan genocide
against the Tutsi, the moderate Hutu who opposed the killings, and the
Twa, who were considered traitors. Hutu Power political parties and
movements included the Akazu, the Parmehutu, the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic and its Impuzamugambi militia, and the governing National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development and its Interahamwe militia. Hutu supremacy is most common in Rwanda and Burundi, where Hutu comprise most of the population. Due to its sheer destructiveness, the ideology has been compared to Nazism in the Western world.
Arab supremacism
In Africa, black Southern Sudanese allege that they are being subjected to a racist form of Arab supremacy, which they equate with the historic white supremacism of South Africa's apartheid. The alleged genocide and ethnic cleansing in the ongoing War in Darfur has been described as an example of Arabracism. For example, in their analysis of the sources of the conflict, Julie Flint and Alex de Waal say that Colonel Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, sponsored "Arab supremacism" across the Sahara during the 1970s. Gaddafi supported the "Islamic Legion" and the Sudanese opposition "National Front, including the Muslim Brothers and the Ansar, the Umma Party's military wing." Gaddafi tried to use such forces to annex Chad from 1979 to 1981. Gaddafi supported the Sudanese government's war in the South during the early 1980s, and in return, he was allowed to use the Darfur region as a "back door to Chad". As a result, the first signs of an "Arab racist political platform" appeared in Darfur in the early 1980s.
Academics Carol Lansing and Edward D. English argue that Christian supremacism was a motivation for the Crusades in the Holy Land, as well as a motivation for crusades against Muslims and pagans throughout Europe. The blood libel is a widespread European conspiracy theory which led to centuries of pogroms
and massacres of European Jewish minorities because it alleged that
Jews required the pure blood of a Christian child in order to make matzah for Passover. Thomas of Cantimpré writes of the blood curse which the Jews put upon themselves and all of their generations at the court of Pontius Pilate
where Jesus was sentenced to death: "A very learned Jew, who in our day
has been converted to the (Christian) faith, informs us that one
enjoying the reputation of a prophet among them, toward the close of his
life, made the following prediction: 'Be assured that relief from this
secret ailment, to which you are exposed, can only be obtained through
Christian blood ("solo sanguine Christiano")." The Atlantic slave trade has also been partially attributed to Christian supremacism. The Ku Klux Klan has been described as a white supremacist Christian organization, as are many other white supremacist groups, such as the Posse Comitatus and the Christian Identity and Positive Christianity movements.
Numerous massacres and ethnic cleansing of Jews, Christians and non-Muslims occurred in some Muslim-majority countries including in Morocco, Libya,
and Algeria, where eventually Jews were forced to live in ghettos. Decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues were enacted during the Middle Ages in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. At certain times in Yemen, Morocco, and Baghdad, Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face the Islamic death penalty. While there were antisemitic incidents before the 20th century, antisemitism increased after the Arab–Israeli conflict. Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Palestinian exodus, the creation of the State of Israel and Israeli victories during the wars of 1956 and 1967 were a severe humiliation to Israel's opponents – primarily Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. However, by the mid-1970s the vast majority of Jews had left Muslim-majority countries, moving primarily to Israel, France, and the United States. The reasons for the Jewish exodus are varied and disputed.
Ilan Pappé, an expatriate Israeli historian, writes that the First Aliyah
to Israel "established a society based on Jewish supremacy" within
"settlement-cooperatives" that were Jewish owned and operated. Joseph Massad, a professor of Arab studies, holds that "Jewish supremacism" has always been a "dominating principle" in religious and secular Zionism.
In 2002, Joseph Massad said that Israel imposes a "Jewish supremacist system of discrimination" on Palestinian citizens of Israel,
and that this has been normalized within the discourse on how to end
the conflict, with various parties arguing that "it is pragmatic for
Palestinians to accept to live in a Jewish supremacist state as third
class citizens".
Feminist scholars argue that in patriarchy,
male supremacism is upheld through a variety of cultural, political,
religious, sexual, and interpersonal systems and relations. Since the 19th century there have been a number of feminist movements
opposed to male supremacism, usually aimed at achieving equal legal
rights and protections for women in all cultural, political and
interpersonal relations.
Social cleansing
Social cleansing (Spanish: limpieza social) is social group-based
killing that consists of the elimination of members of society who are
considered "undesirable", including, but not limited to, the homeless,
criminals, street children, the elderly, the poor, the weak, the sick, the needy and the disabled.This phenomenon is caused by a combination of economic and social
factors, but killings are notably present in regions with high levels of
poverty and disparities of wealth.Perpetrators are usually of the same community as the victims and they
are often motivated by the idea that the victims are a drain on the
resources of society. Efforts by national and local governments to stop these killings have
been largely ineffective. The government and police forces are often
involved in the killings, especially in Africa, Asia, and South America.
The conservative holiness movement is a loosely defined group of theologically conservative Christian denominations with the majority being Methodists whose teachings are rooted in the theology of John Wesley, and a minority being Quakers (Friends) that emphasize the doctrine of George Fox, as well as River Brethren who emerged out of the Radical Pietist revival, and Holiness Restorationists in the tradition of Daniel Sidney Warner. Schisms began to occur in the 19th century and this movement became distinct from parent Holiness bodies in the mid-20th century amid disagreements over modesty in dress, entertainment, and other "old holiness standards". Aligned denominations share a belief in Christian perfection (entire sanctification), though they differ on various doctrines, such as the celebration of the sacraments and observance of ordinances,
which is related to the denominational tradition of the specific
conservative holiness body—Methodist, Quaker, Anabaptist or
Restorationist. Many denominations identifying with the conservative holiness movement, though not all, are represented in the Interchurch Holiness Convention; while some denominations have full communion with one another, other bodies choose to be isolationist.
Theological emphases
The nature of sin
The father of Methodism, John Wesley, taught that "Nothing is sin,
strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God.
Therefore, every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin; and nothing
else, if we speak properly. To strain the matter farther is only to
make way for Calvinism." With this narrower understanding of sin, John Wesley believed that it
was not only possible but necessary to live without committing sin.
Wesley explains this in his comments on 1 John 3:8:
"Whosoever abideth in communion with Him—By loving faith, sinneth
not—While he so abideth. Whosoever sinneth certainly seeth Him not—The
loving eye of his soul is not then fixed upon God; neither doth he then
experimentally know Him—Whatever he did in time past." Holiness adherents therefore believe in the possibility and necessity of living a life without committing sin.
Leading Holiness Scholar Leslie D. Wilcox concluded that "holiness
writers, following the Wesleyan theology, define sin as a willful
transgression of a known law of God." The Inter-Church Holiness Convention following John Wesley defines sin
as "a willful transgression against a known law of God. This means that
there must be knowledge of wrongdoing, or of refusing to obey God,
before sin is committed. Mistakes are not sin." H. E. Schmul, the founder of the Inter-Church Holiness Convention
actually explains how some of our "theological wunderkind" including S.
D. Herron, and Leslie Wilcox came up with this definition:
An act of sin is any uncoerced word or thought or deed that violates the
will of God, performed by an intelligent responsible person within the
age of accountability done in defiance of God or not prompted by love to
God or desire to please him. Sin, then, is a responsible act.
With
this definition in mind, Christian denominations aligned with the
Conservative Holiness Movement believe that "The lowest type of
Christian sinneth not and is not condemned. The minimum of salvation is
salvation from sinning." Following the lead of John Wesley, denominations identifying as being a
part of the Conservative Holiness Movement hold that "calling every
defect a sin, is not well pleasing to God." "Mistakes, and whatever infirmities necessarily flow from the
corruptible state of the body, are no way contrary to love; nor
therefore, in the Scripture sense, sin." This definition of sin is vitally important because "If this definition
is compromised, victorious Christian living becomes meaningless, and
entire sanctification an impossibility." Historian Charles Jones explains that "Believing that sin was conscious
disobedience to a known law of God, holiness believers were convinced
that the true Christian, having repented of every known act of sin, did
not and could not willfully sin again and remain a Christian."
Entire Sanctification
The word Holiness
refers specifically to the belief in entire sanctification as a
definite, second work of grace, in which original sin is cleansed, the
heart is made perfect in love, and the believer is empowered to serve
God. The Conservative Holiness movement is known for its emphasis on the
possibility, necessity, and instantaneous nature of Entire
Sanctification, also known as 'Christian perfection' in Methodism and 'Perfectionism'
in Quakerism, as well as the second work of grace. This doctrine is
shown in the founding documents of the Holiness Movement, the 1885
Declaration of Principles which explained:
"Entire Sanctification... is that great work wrought
subsequent to regeneration, by the Holy Ghost, upon the sole condition
of faith...such faith being preceded by an act of solemn and complete consecration. This work has these distinct elements:
The entire extinction of the carnal mind, the total eradication of the birth principle of sin;
Entire sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by
which the child of God is cleansed from all inbred sin through faith in
Jesus Christ. It is subsequent to regeneration, and is wrought when the
believer presents himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto
God, and is thus enabled through grace to love God with all the heart
and to walk in His holy commandments blameless. Gen. 17:1; Deut. 30:6; Ps. 130:8; Ezek. 36:25–29; Matt. 5:48; Luke
1:74, 75; John 17:2–23; Rom. 8:3, 4; 11:26; 1 Cor. 6:11; 14:20; Eph.
4:13, 24; 5:25–27; Phil. 2:5, 7; Col. 4:12; 1 Thes. 3:10; 5:23; 2 Thes.
2:13; 2 Tim. 3:17; Tit. 2:12, 14; Heb. 9:13, 14; 10:14, 18–22; Jas.
1:27; 4:8; 1 Pet. 1:10; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 John 1:7, 9; 3:8, 9; 4:17, 18;
Jude 24.
John Wesley, who articulated the doctrine, taught that those who had
been entirely sanctified would be perfect in love, engaging in works of piety and works of mercy—both of which are characteristic of a believer's growing in grace.
Plain lifestyle
Members
of the Conservative Holiness movement generally hold that the lifestyle
restrictions found in the New Testament are still binding today and
must be followed. This generally shows up in areas of entertainment,
keeping the Sunday Sabbath, and modest clothing.
This is taught in the doctrine of outward holiness (for Methodist denominations in the conservative holiness movement), the testimony of simplicity (for Quaker yearly meetings in the conservative holiness movement), the doctrine of nonconformity to the world (for River Brethren denominations in the conservative holiness movement), and the principle of separation from the world (for Restorationist denominations in the conservative holiness movement).
Though there is variety in application of these principles, there is general consensus that they must be followed.
The Holiness movement
was largely contained within mainline Methodism during the 19th
century, with some members of the holiness movement continuing to remain
in the mainline Methodist Churches to this day (the "stay-inners").
Wesleyan-Holiness doctrine influenced adherents of other denominations
as well. By the 1880s a persistent wave of "come-outism" was beginning
to gather steam. The come-outers were concerned that mainline Methodism
had begun to water-down Holiness teachings and even shun its more
outspoken proponents.
The majority of the denominations which now comprise the Conservative holiness movement were once among a number of Holiness movement groups which had a history of coming out or having left mainline Methodism
to teach and practice Holiness doctrine uninhibited. The denominations
that left mainline Methodism and the mainstream holiness movement to
form the conservative holiness movement did so because they saw a
relaxation of the prohibitions on certain behaviours that they
considered to be "worldly". The list of prohibitions varies from
denomination to denomination, but the prohibitions include the wearing
of gold (which includes wedding rings), television in the home (an
extension to previous bans on theater patronage), women not cutting
their hair (in accordance with historic interpretations of I Corinthians
11), the prohibition of men wearing shorts, the prohibition of women wearing short skirts, and the prohibition of patronizing sporting events on the Sunday Sabbath. Members of denominations in the conservative holiness movement align themselves with the temperance movement and practice teetotalism, thus abstaining from alcohol and other drugs. Each major denomination enforces some of the disciplines listed above,
so there is some variation amongst the groups. It is these disciplines
that characterize the Churches of the conservative holiness movement.
The Church of God (Holiness) was created as a result of a schism with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1883 due to differences in interpretation of the Methodist doctrine of Christian perfection, as well as standards of dress. In the Restorationist tradition, the Church of God (Guthrie, Oklahoma) left the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) in the 1910s due to issues concerning "worldly conformity in dress". The body that is now the Bible Holiness Church originated in 1896 as a schism with the Wesleyan Methodist Church and originally had a Holiness Pentecostal orientation; the Bible Holiness Church, however, formally rejected the possibility of a third work of grace in 1948. The Central Yearly Meeting of Friends is a Quaker Yearly Meeting emphasizing George Fox's doctrine of perfectionism and was founded in 1924. The Reformed Free Methodist Church left the Free Methodist Church in 1932; the Immanuel Missionary Church and the Emmanuel Association of Churches
left the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1936 and 1941, respectively—these
schisms were due to what the departing bodies perceived as a laxity in
traditional doctrine and standards. Samuel West spearheaded the formation of the Reformed Free Methodist Church, which held its annual Flatwoods Camp Meeting in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania; the RFMC emphasized the traditional Methodist doctrine of plain dress. The Emmanuel Association, belonging to the subgroup of "Holiness
Pacifists" in the conservative holiness movement, is known for its opposition to warfare
and its holiness standards are codified in a manual known as
"Principles of Holy Living"; the Immanuel Missionary Church, the First
Bible Holiness Church and the Church of God likewise teach nonresistance and are conscientious objectors, thus falling under this category too.
The Holiness movement, for the most part, huddled together tightly from its early history to later when Pentecostalism was competing for the hearts and minds of its adherents. During the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy of the 1920s and onward, most Holiness groups found themselves at home in the Fundamentalist camp or allied with them. While many Holiness groups made the jump toward the Evangelical movement in the late 1930s, there were groups that felt their Holiness peers were drifting away from Biblical inerrancy and separation from the world.
By the post-World War II era, a more relaxed societal attitude
toward morality and theological differences continued to accompany many
mainstream Holiness conferences, districts and local churches
reinforcing longstanding prohibitions on behavior in their governing
documents. Not at home with other Fundamentalist alliances (which had a
more Calvinistic and non-Holiness tone to them), an Interdenominational Holiness Convention
(IHC) was called at a Wesleyan Methodist campground in Fairmont,
Indiana, in 1951, though it did not include all denominations that are
characterized as belonging to the conservative holiness movement,
especially those of a more isolationist nature. Entire sanctification (in Methodism) or Perfectionism
(in Quakerism), as well as traditional holiness strictures on dress and
entertainment, held a prominent place in convention sermons. The
swelling divorce rate, the relentless spread of Communism (with its
promotion of state atheism), and the effects of television on society were also prominent themes. Participants resisted a call to form a new denomination, but became an
ally toward a series of prior and future institutional secessions.
In 1955 the Bible Missionary Church
(BMC) was formed in Idaho and soon grew nationwide as local
congregations left the Church of the Nazarene over "worldliness" issues.
In 1963, the Pilgrim Holiness Church of New York seceded from the
Pilgrim Holiness Church to become an independent organization (in
1966–68, the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church
proposed a merger to form the Wesleyan Church, which today has more in
common with the Christian Holiness Partnership-affiliated Holiness churches such as the Nazarene Church).
In 1966, the Church of the Bible Covenant was created as a result of a schism with the Church of the Nazarene
under the leadership of Remiss Rehfeldt and Marvin Powers; in August
1988, the Church of the Bible Covenant largely became the International
Fellowship of Bible Churches, though at that time, a minority of
Covenanters joined the International Conservative Holiness Association.
In the wake of the Wesleyan Church merger, the Bible Methodist
Connection of Churches, the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection of
Churches, the Bible Methodist Connection of Tennessee (Tennessee Bible
Methodists), the Bible Methodist Connection of Alabama (Alabama Bible
Methodists), Bible Methodist Connection Mid-America (formed in 2018),
and Pilgrim Holiness Church (Midwest Conference), were organized.
Social change constantly confronts Conservative Holiness
Christians. The Church of God (Holiness) in 1999 removed a ban on owning
televisions, urging charity over “the ownership or use of television,
videos, movies, the internet, and such like.” Other denominations in the
conservative holiness movement, such as the Evangelical Wesleyan Church, continue to forbid the watching of television, which they hold to be an occasion of sin. Issues over doctrine and standards have resulted in schisms in
denominations identifying with the conservative holiness movement too;
for example, in 1979, a schism in the body now called the Bible Holiness Church resulted in the formation of the Wesleyan Holiness Alliance. The Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches, the Wesleyan Bible Holiness Church, the United Missionary Church the Pilgrim Nazarene Church, and Churches of Wesleyan Brethren originated as a result of schisms with the Bible Missionary Church, with the former being established under the leadership of Glen Griffith in 1959 to uphold the discipline of prohibiting remarriage after divorce and the latter departing in 2003 "over personal commercial use of the Internet." However, mergers have occurred as well; for example, in August 2019 the
Pilgrim Nazarene Church (PNC) voted to join the Bible Methodist
Connection. While not all the churches took part in the merger, it is
estimated that approximately two-thirds of the PNC churches joined the
Bible Methodist Connection.
Denominations and associations of churches aligned with the
conservative holiness movement include the following though independent
churches aligned with the common themes of the conservative holiness
movement exist too:
Christian denominations aligned with the conservative holiness movement all share a belief in the doctrine of Christian perfection
(entire sanctification); apart from this, denominations identified with
the conservative holiness movement differ on several issues, given that
there are Methodist, Quaker, Anabaptist and Restorationist churches
that comprise the conservative holiness movement and these denominations
have unique doctrines. Methodist denominations that are a part of the conservative holiness movement, such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection or Evangelical Wesleyan Church, affirm the celebration of the sacraments, chiefly Holy Baptism and Holy Communion; on the other hand, denominations of the Quaker tradition, such as the Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, are entirely non-sacramental. Anabaptist denominations aligned with the conservative holiness movement, such as the Calvary Holiness Church—a River Brethren group—teach the observance of ordinances, such as baptism by trine immersion, communion, headcovering and footwashing. While the Methodist denominations of the conservative holiness movement hold to church membership (such as the Evangelical Methodist Church Conference),
the concept of membership rolls is rejected in conservative holiness
denominations of a Restorationist background, such as the Church of God (Guthrie, Oklahoma).
There are a number of elementary, middle and high schools affiliated
with various denominations of the conservative holiness movement.
Colleges affiliated with the conservative holiness movement include:
Wesleyan Holiness Bible College/West Virginia Training School (Point Pleasant, WV)
Missions
A number of mission endeavors exist within the conservative holiness movement with active mission fields in the Philippines, South Africa, Ukraine, Haiti, Peru, Mexico, Asia, Eastern Europe, India, Myanmar, and South Korea.
Listed below are a few of the mission organizations affiliated with the
conservative holiness movement. Most of the denominations listed above
also maintain their own missions boards and departments for both Home
and Foreign Missions.
Bible Methodist Missions
Evangelical Bible Mission
Evangelistic Faith Missions
Hope International Missions
Worldwide Faith Missions
Pilgrim Missions
Society of Indian Missions
ICHA Ministries
Publications
Publications,
publishing companies, periodicals and discipleship tools affiliated
with the conservative holiness movement include:
