BY TANYA BRICKING
and JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEW VIENNA - The sight of swastikas and a ''Whites Only'' sign in the sanctuary of a Clinton County church appalls and angers many Christians.

But the justification of hate on religious grounds is almost as old as religion itself.

''In the name of religion there's been an awful lot of hate - even within the same sects - against those who disagree,'' said Steve Holler, a professor of liberation theology at Thomas More College.

Authorities say the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in New Vienna is a mask for the political goals of a white separatist organization called the Aryan Nations. That political agenda: to overthrow the government, exterminate Jews, deport African-Americans and execute President Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno as war criminals.

Hate and separation, Mr. Holler said, are usually preached against outsiders who are perceived as threats to an accepted way of life.

''Ever since the Jews were liberated from Egypt 4,000 years ago, I think people have been phobic about immigrants taking over their land and their stuff.

''Situations like the New Vienna church are going to keep popping up, even in the name of religion,'' he said, ''because we're becoming a global world now, and it's spilling over everywhere as we try to live and survive.''

But modern people of faith are still angered when one group uses religious justification to promulgate ill will toward others.

''It's a prostitution, it's a violation, it's a degradation of Christianity,'' said Paul Knitter, a Xavier University theology professor. ''It hurts me and it angers me that someone can use a religion that to me is so precious and distort it.''

Calling itself Christian

From the Crusades to American slavery, from present-day Bosnia to Algeria, people throughout the ages have turned to religion as a justification for violence. The Nazis used Christianity when it supported their political aims; segregationists during the civil-rights movement pointed to the Bible to back up their claims.

The Aryan Nations can call itself Christian because it bases its beliefs on members' interpretation of the Bible, said Skipp Porteous, national director of the Massachusetts-based Institute for First Amendment Studies.

''They believe Eve had two children - Cain and Abel - and Satan mated with Eve and produced Cain,'' he said. ''This is a very strange belief to most of us, but it's what they believe. In most Christian theologies, you have God and you have Satan. If God has children, then, they reason, Satan has children.''

The Rev. Harold ''Ray'' Redfeairn, 44, pastor of the New Vienna church, confirms that is what his church teaches.

''We go by the commandments of separation of the races,'' he said. ''We believe that the white race is the chosen race, that we are the descendants of Abraham.''

To Xavier's Dr. Knitter, that interpretation makes little sense.

''In some warped way, they've been able to turn the Bible upside down,'' he said. ''The basic psychological motivation here is that they need justification in their own minds, as well as in the public eye. What better justification than religion?''

The fact that hate groups can use religion as a fig leaf demonstrates how readers can manipulate Scripture to support their ideas, said Edward Linenthal, a professor of religion at the University of Wisconsin. One saying likens such usage to how a drunk uses a lamppost - for support rather than illumination.

''The power of Scripture is such that people want their own blueprints for themselves or society rooted in what is sacred,'' he said. ''Particularly in America, if you convince people that Scripture is on your side, you've won half the (public relations) battle.''

But Americans have no monopoly on using religion to support violence and hatred. ''In Bosnia you have Eastern Orthodox clergy blessing Serb soldiers as they go off to fight,'' he said.

Scholars also cautioned that authorities should take the religious beliefs of such groups seriously. The debacle at Waco, Texas, involving the Branch Davidians, several academics said, was caused in part by a lack of religious understanding.

''We have to make an attempt to understand (such groups) on their terms, instead of going in with pre-set notions,'' said James Aho, a professor of sociology at Idaho State University who has written about white separatism. ''The authorities made serious mistakes (at Waco), even in the face of warnings from religion scholars and students.''

Locals taking notice

In New Vienna, other churches have had few dealings with the Church of Jesus Christ Christian since it moved in eight months ago.

It became a high-profile presence only after two Feb. 15 shootouts with police 12 miles away in Wilmington. Fugitives Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe - brothers who belong to the Aryan Nations chapter based in Hayden Lake, Idaho - brought new attention to the church itself.

When the church first came to Clinton County, evangelist Sidney Clay, a minister at the New Vienna Church of Christ, saw the leaflets that used derogatory words.

''I felt like they were hiding behind the name church and certainly not Christ-like at all.''

Mr. Clay said he has chosen to downplay the presence of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in the area, though in light of all the recent activity it's bound to come up at the May semi-annual meeting of the community's churches.

Church of Christ members talked about the separatist church at their Wednesday meeting last week, and Mr. Clay referred to the group Sunday from the pulpit as he discussed the Ten Commandments.

''I said, we wouldn't be having the problems we're having in our area if people followed these (commandments),'' he said.

Minorities in the county also have taken notice.

''It's distressful and discouraging,'' said Art Brooks, director of multicultural affairs at Wilmington College, who is black. ''We don't feel there should be any particular group hating other groups. This is not our definition of Christianity.''

But criticism doesn't matter to the Rev. Mr. Redfeairn. His church, which has no tax-exempt status and won't seek it, isn't for the mainstream, he said.

The local attention has been enough for him to receive a stack of new applications, he said. There are limits, however, to those he'll let in the door.

Leslie Isaiah Gaines, motivational speaker and former judge who has a weekly radio show on WLW, told The Enquirer he'd like to speak about brotherhood at the church.

But the Rev. Mr. Redfeairn said he isn't welcome.

''I would think that it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that if he's black and our sign says 'Whites Only,' he can't come in.''

Previous stories

SEPARATE SOCIETY DOESN'T ALWAYS CARRY A SIGN Ramsey column: March 1, 1997
SOLDIERS OF SEPARATISM Feb. 22, 1997
MILITANTS POUND LOCAL PULPITS Feb. 22, 1997