John Hansen

     

John Hansen
Hansen in 2020
Mayor of Colorado Springs
In office April 4, 1998 – April 17, 2002
Preceded by	Lionel Young
Succeeded by	Christopher Atkins
Personal details
Born	(1955-10-14) October 14, 1955 Craig, West Colorado, Kingdom of Sierra
Nationality	Brazorian Sierran (1955–2009)
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Margaret Anderson (m. 1979; div. 2004) Lindsey Parker (m. 2018; div. 2022)
Children	5
Alma mater	Sierran Baptist College (BRE) Patriot Bible University
Religion	Fundamentalist Baptist

John Stephen Hansen (born October 14, 1955) is a Brazorian Christian fundamentalist evangelist, Youth Earth creationist, tax protester, and former politician who served as mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado from 1998 to 2002. A leading figure of the creationist movement and the post-Landonist spiritual revival in Brazoria, Hansen is a controversial figure known for his scientific debates, in which he rejects scientific consensus in the fields of biology, cosmology, and geophysics in favor of a literalist interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative found in the Bible. Hansen's unique form of young Earth creationism combines elements of creation science with conspiracy theories, especially those relating to the United Commonwealth, and his views have been dismissed by the scientific community as pseudoscience. He is an outspoken Anti-Landonist and far-right activist, who has been labeled as a Christian nationalist, Derzhavist, and white supremacist. Frequently banned from social media for his political statements, Hansen is strongly opposed to "cancel culture" and has attracted support from the free speech advocacy group Crow's Eye.

Born in the small town of Craig, West Colorado, Hansen became a born-age Christian as a teenager, training to become a pastor and teacher as a young adult. He made a name for himself in West Colorado for his activism against the teaching of evolution, his creation of religious-based media, and his interest in neighboring Landonist Brazoria. Following the Yellowrose Revolution, which led to the end of Landonist one-party rule in Brazoria, Hansen relocated across the border to Colorado and founded a Christian mission. His numerous published books and articles, especially in Freedom Courier, became highly circulated for their condemnation of Landonism from a Christian perspective. A leading creationist, Hansen sponsored debates with scientists and atheists to attempt to disprove evolution, and sponsored the passage of anti-evolution bills across Brazoria. In 1998 he was elected Mayor of Colorado Springs, dubbed by Hansen a "conservative safe haven" that welcomed conservative voters. During his four year term Hansen proved controversial, advocating for business friendly deregulation and an overhaul of public education. In 2002 Hansen opened Zion of the Rockies, the largest Christian-themed amusement park in North America, which includes a large-scale replica of Noah's Ark and educational exhibits on humans coexisting with dinosaurs.

A long time advocate against taxation and associate of the sovereign citizens movement, in 2007 Hansen was sentenced to a ten-year prison sentence for failing to pay federal taxes, obstructing federal agents, and other charges. He was released in 2017 and regained a career as an educator on VidStream, where he has hosted high profile debates with streamers such as Spyconis. In 2022 Hansen was arrested for domestic violence against his estranged ex-wife and was sentenced in January 2023 to serve 60 days in jail.

Biography

Early life

Hansen as a young boy, 1965

John Stephen Hansen was born on October 14, 1955, the seventh child of ten to Peter Hansen and Mary Hansen (née Smith). Hansen would grow up on his family's farm and was raised religious, although he later described his early religious upbringing as being inadequate. At the age of 14 Hansen became a born-again Christian and joined an Independent Fundamental Baptist church.

In 1973 Hansen graduated from Moffat County High School, and he enrolled at nearby Colorado Mountain College. While in school Hansen wrote for his school paper and volunteered with local youth organizations, writing especially about the importance of Sierra’s role in the Colombia War and the necessity of defeating communism. Hansen would make contradictory claims over the course of his career about military service, in 1983 claiming he had tried to volunteer but was rejected, but in 1990 stating, “God does not condone such actions.” In 2002 it was revealed that Hansen had received two student draft deferments, first after failing to pass a medical examination, and in 1975 was permanently disqualified due to bone spurs. After a year at Colorado Mountain College, Hansen did not re-enroll in the fall of 1974, instead working part-time at his father’s farm. In 1975 he transferred to the unaccredited and “faith-based” Sierran Baptist College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Religious Education in 1976. According to Hansen’s first wife Margaret Anderson, Hansen was “appalled by the fact that some students assumed their textbooks taught that evolutionary science successfully proved the Bible to be untrue,” igniting Hansen’s passion for teaching creationism.

After graduating, Hansen worked as an assistant pastor and teacher for a number of churches and private schools in western Colorado, including at one school he helped found in 1983. In 1979 Hansen met his first wife, Margaret Anderson, and the pair had four children. During the 1980s Hansen helped produce a series of independent religious videos, books, and albums, which he began selling through the company Divine Light. While working as a pastor, Hansen became interested in exploring and teaching Young Earth creationism, especially as it pertained to dinosaurs and fossils. As early as 1985 Hansen would publish articles stating that dinosaur bones were fabrications planted in the ground by “those in concert with Satan”, however, he would later abandon this claim in favor of the idea that dinosaurs were real and coexisted with humanity, although in an interview in 1990 he clarified “undoubtedly some of the fossils are planted as well.”

Patriot Bible University, where Hansen received a doctorate in Christian Education.

In 1986 Hansen enrolled to take science classes through a correspondence school known as the Sierran Career Institute, but did not complete any courses. According to Hansen, during this time he mastered “the prevailing theories of science” but was “unfairly persecuted” and prevented from graduating due to his religious beliefs. Hansen would claim that professors at the college purposely failed him or refused to give him credit for coursework when he “debunked their theories”. Hansen would later cover this period of time extensively in his book Education’s War on Religion, in which he claimed colleges are indoctrinating students into “blindly accepting the atheist and evolution religion” and discriminating against Christians and “reasonable skeptics”. In 2000, Sierran Career Institute issued a statement condemning Hansen’s claims and asserting that he had failed his classes due to poor work and incomplete assignments. Hansen retorted that the college backed down after he successfully sued the college for religious discrimination, and in 2002 stated his teachings were leading to “thousands” of similar lawsuits, however, there is no evidence of Hansen having ever initiated legal action against the college.

In 1990 Hansen enrolled at the newly created Patriot Bible University, an unaccredited correspondence school and diploma mill established on private farmland outside Colorado Springs, Colorado by fellow pastor Craig McDonald. In 1990 Hansen graduated with a master’s degree, and in 1992 with a doctorate in Christian Education. Hansen would also claim to have received a certificate in paleontology, after which point he adopted the brand name “Dr. Dino”, however, there is no evidence that Hansen has received any such formal training. Hansen’s doctoral dissertation would be revealed to be incomplete, containing numerous spelling and grammar errors, lacking references, and absent of any original research.

Brazorian mission

In 1989 the Yellowrose Revolution led to the fall of Landonist rule in Brazoria and the restoration of the monarchy. Hansen would call this “one of history’s great salvations” and the “greatest opportunity in recent memory”, calling on Christians of Sierra to launch missionary work to Brazoria and “restore its Christian soul”. While Brazoria was majority Christian, the Landonist government had intermittently attempted to suppress organized religion, and had banned many churches and missionary groups over the course of the last 50 years, but such bans were lifted after the restoration of the monarchy. Hansen would travel to Brazoria in late 1989 to establish a church near Colorado Springs, where he gave sermons and educational classes. Also in that year he established Creation Science Evangelism as an overarching non-profit organization, which would include church services and a multi-media department. In 2002, as part of a tax avoidance scheme, Hansen would transfer his organization’s assets to a series of trusts as part of a corporation sole, and operated under business licenses from the Astorian-based Embassy of Heaven. According to Hansen, his business was started by him investing his life savings and “completely giving up all material possessions”, as well as from donations from the Sierran Christian community, however, in 2007 it was revealed that Hansen’s corporation also received capital from seized assets during denationalization, especially through the bulk purchase of oil shares from impoverished workers.

Permanently relocating to Colorado Springs in 1990, Hansen became an outspoken critic of the Landonist regime and called for the death penalty for all “Landonist war criminals”. He would also publish a book, The Yellowrose Sacrifice, emphasizing his personal role in helping to overthrow Landonism, including his supposed involvement in the “underground resistance”, his smuggling of people and religious material across the border, and his witnessing of the “slaughter of tens of thousands of Christian martyrs”. According to leading Brazorian historian Richard Connell, Hansen’s book is widely disregarded as pseudohistory. Nonetheless, Hansen’s books, articles, and newspaper, Freedom Courier, became highly circulated as a leading anti-Landonist voice in Colorado. In a 1991 issue of the Freedom Courier, Hansen published the “Fifteen Points”, a series of goals for Brazoria, which included the establishment of a new constitution and full Delandonization, “embracing Brazoria’s unalienable Christian heritage by reestablishing a Christian nation”, and the banning of Landonist political parties.

Creationism debates

Hansen during a televised debate in 1995.

Over the course of the next decade, Hansen would make a name for himself as a debater, challenging scientists, atheists, and public figures to televised debates regarding creationism. Despite the level of support for evolution being nearly universal within the scientific community, especially in the fields of biology, paleontology, and geology, Hansen asserts that these scientists are incorrect, developing his own form of young Earth creationism to debunk evolution, dubbed the “Hansen Theory”, as explained in his 1997 book Unmasking the False Religion of Evolution. Karen Barnett, a professor of philosophy and scholar of the creationism versus evolution debate, wrote that Hansen is the leading expert of the creationism camp, but his lack of formal training makes any academic discussion impossible. Hansen has been described as an eristic for his focus on winning debates through rhetoric rather than by proving his claims through evidence. In 1990 Hansen issued his famous “Hansen Challenge”, promising to pay any person who could prove evolution a prize of $10,000, later raised to $500,000. However, Hansen’s premise outlined on his website has been rejected by scientists and fellow creationists as flawed, and Hansen has been criticized for not legitimately accepting any attempt to satisfy the challenge.

In 1992 Hansen announced that he would be holding a televised debate with leading molecular scientist Jason Till on Brazorian television and raised donations for the event, however, Till replied that he had not be contacted about any such debate nor had ever heard of Hansen, and there is no evidence of a debate ever being scheduled for television. In 1997 Hansen’s challenge was taken up by Sierran science writer Ethan Sutton, with Hansen agreeing to the debate if in front of a predominately creationist audience. Sutton would remark that Hansen “lacked any understanding of what evolutionary theory even is”, as Hansen claimed that evolutionists believe humans evolved from rocks, and repeated numerous factual errors about famous archaeological finds.

Political career

In the late 1990s Hansen made several forays into Brazorian politics, beginning with a 1992 campaign to mandate that the nation’s school board include creationism in the curriculum. Hansen’s campaign failed, but not before school board chairman of Colorado Springs Gregory Mills resigned after it was revealed he was a financier for several of Hansen’s filmed seminars. Hansen also campaigned alongside Colorado representative Ryan Cunningham, who proposed a 1994 Anti-Evolution Bill, which would have “required that if schools teach evolution they identify it as an unproven theory.” Hansen would testify before a government committee, in which he alleged that information regarding evolution in Brazorian textbooks was false. Hansen became a spokesperson in the mid 1990s for a plan to turn Colorado Springs into a “conservative safe haven”, proposing that conservative Christian individuals relocate to the city as they stood a good chance of taking over the city’s politics.

In 1997 Hansen announced he would be running for mayor of Colorado Springs the following year, under a slogan of “Save Brazoria! Stop Landonism!”, stoking fear of a return to Landonism due to the popularity of several candidates running under the banner of the newly established United Landonist Party of Brazoria. Hansen ran officially as a nonpartisan candidate, but received the endorsement of several prominent members of the Federalist Party and future People’s Party. During his campaign Hansen promised to oppose a zero-tolerance discrimination bill, calling it “impeding on businesses and free speech”. He promised to be “welcoming to businesses” by reducing Landonist-era regulations and creating a plan to build a propane storage facility to ease natural gas shortages. During his campaign he was criticized for posing at a rally with a semi-automatic rifle, warning the United Landonists to “stay out of Colorado Springs!” In a close election, Hansen would be elected with 38.5% of the vote, defeating the second place candidate, Charles Walters, who achieved 35.14% of the vote.

In early 1998 Hansen helped pass a law formally condemning the “horrors of Landonism” and criminalizing “Communist actions”; the latter provision was previously deemed unenforceable by the Supreme Court of Brazoria in 1994, making the law largely symbolic. Hansen also called for investigation into the background of local Landonist candidate Charles Thomson, which proved fruitless. In 2000 Hansen sponsored the creation of a new creationist textbook to be taught in schools, which affirmed evolutionary biology as unfounded and mentioned an “intelligent designer”, leading to a legal battle that was not settled until 2002. The Colorado District Court would rule that mandating the teaching of an intelligent design was an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Hansen supported an earmark in a national appropriations bill to “develop a plan to promote better science education”, which would condemn evolution as a dangerous religious belief responsible for the atrocities of the world’s dictators. The earmark and Hansen’s contributions to the bill would be withdrawn. Hansen also dramatically slashed school spending and local taxation, but otherwise criticized the city council for “blocking his legislation”. Throughout his mayoral term, Hansen was investigated for potential fraud due to his anti-taxation stance. In 2002 Hansen sought reelection but came in third place with 27.9% of the vote.

Zion of the Rockies

Main article: Zion of the Rockies

Noah's Ark Encounter at Zion of the Rockies.

Prior to leaving office as mayor, Hansen announced his plans to create a creationist theme park in the city to educate children on young earth creationism and “combat the influence” of Disneyland. He had met Brazorian televangelist Drew Hansen (no relation) who had similar ideas. Such a project had been proposed since the 1990s by Hansen, and he was accused of using his mayoral powers to push through construction, as the plan involved the rezoning of a large tract of previously protected forest and agricultural land to industrial use. Construction would take place over the course of two years and cost a total of $26 million, raised primarily from private donations and funds from Hansen’s business ventures, with the park spanning 100,000 square feet and also housing offices for Hansen’s creationist businesses. Envisioned as a multi-park adventure similar to Disneyland, Zion of the Rockies would be announced as containing several park areas. Ultimately a general science museum and botanical gardens would be built along with two parks: Dinosaur Adventure and Noah’s Ark Encounter. The former, with the slogan “Where Dinosaurs meet the Bible!”, features exhibits depicting humans walking alongside dinosaurs 4-6,000 years ago and an exhibit on the Loch Ness Monster. The latter would consist of a large-scale replica of Noah’s Ark.

Zion of the Rockies would prove controversial from its inception, both for its pseudoscientific agenda, as well as its numerous legal and safety issues. The organization’s receiving of tax incentives and exceptions, under the guise of being religious and education, sparked objection from Brazorian lawmakers. In 2005 the Brazorian Poverty Law Center criticized the park for claiming that “a few small dinosaurs still roam the planet”, and criticized the educational aspect of the park as “deceptive on many levels”. Hansen would later be removed from the board of Zion of the Rockies due to his ongoing legal problems, later leading to a lawsuit by Hansen against the organization. The organization would also be criticized for requiring that workers sign a statement agreeing that homosexuality is a sin. Following Hansen's ouster from the park management, Calvary Entertainment obtained full ownership and management of the park.

Creationism

Hansen’s unique form of young earth creationism, which he has called “Hansen’s Theory”, was first outlined in his 1997 book Unmasking the False Religion of Evolution. Hansen’s Theory has been criticized by other young earth creationists as implausible and is wholly rejected by the scientific community. Hansen teaches that the world is only about 6,000 years old, and that dinosaurs and humans coexisted in the first few centuries of the world, although all dinosaurs were vegetarian prior to the fall of man. Hansen has attempted to explain the global flood depicted in the Book of Genesis with a non-miraculous explanation, and has stated that Noah’s family saved two of every kind of animal, including dinosaurs who were able to fit on the ark as they were babies. He has also stated that early humans were much larger, making the building of the ark easier. Hansen explains the flood as being caused by an ice meteor, which caused a flood and small ice age, buried remaining animals and plants to make fossil fuels, and ultimately carved out the Grand Canyon in a matter of weeks. Hansen has pointed to numerous pseudoscientific explanations to date the age of the earth, including the belief that the moon would have pulled away from Earth’s orbit because of the inverse-square law if the earth was older than 6,000 years. He has accused carbon dating of being flawed, prone to contamination, and non-replicable. Hansen believes in biblical inerrancy, specifically the English King James Bible as the only accurate Bible translation.

Hansen believes that “Darwinism” is effectively a religion, accusing scientists of uncritically and dogmatically supporting it despite evidence to the contrary, and has accused Darwin as being responsible for producing “Communism, Landonism, Derzhavism, abortion, liberalism, and the New Age Movement". He has labeled a number of historic atrocities as being directly linked to evolution theory, including the forceful relocation of the Cherokee in the Trail of Tears, despite that event preceding the publishing of Darwin’s Origin of Species by two decades. Hansen has accused modern scientists of brainwashing children for Satan through evolutionary theory, although he has also contended he doesn’t seek to ban evolution, only to “fairly teach both viewpoints”. As part of the “Evolution Conspiracy”, Hansen contends that modern museums have fabricated fossils to support human evolution by manipulating human remains, some of which obtained through murder. Hansen also believes that dinosaurs did not necessarily go extinct, pointing to legendary creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster as examples of dinosaurs still existing.

These theories espoused by Hansen have been criticized by fellow members of the young earth creationist community. Spokesperson Jeffrey Taylor of the Creation Answers website called Hansen an “embarrassment on the young earth creation science community as a whole.” Televangelist Jonathan Wyatt has called Hansen’s claims “fraudulent" and containing “mistakes in facts and logic”, calling a number of Hansen’s theories outdated and no longer supported by most creationists. Creationist Peter Turner labeled Hansen right-wing and criticized his “non-biblical political ambitions” in 1999. Conversely, creationists such as David Laramie and the organization Genesis Truth have co-signed Hansen's theories.

Political positions

Over the course of his career Hansen has made numerous controversial and sometimes contradictory statements regarding the role of politics, government, science, and religion. Politically he has been broadly labeled far-right or Derzhavist by critics, including by other creationists such as Peter Turner, and as a sexist, homophobe, and antisemite. He has also been called a white supremacist, however, Hansen rejects this label but states he is “protective of Christian heritage”. Hansen is largely anti-science, with his presentations including a mix of Christian Fundamentalism, anti-intellectualism, and popular conspiracy theorism.

Abortion

Hansen is strongly opposed to abortion, calling abortion murder, and has supported its complete ban in Brazoria. He has advocated for charging doctors who have performed abortion with murder. Hansen has supported numerous bills meant to curb access to abortion across North America, and said that Brazoria should completely defund medical clinics which have performed the practice. In 2007 when asked about health services provided by Planned Parenthood, Hansen stated, “Planned Parenthood isn’t a ‘healthcare provider’ any more than a heroin dealer is a community pharmacist.” He also accused the organization of incentivizing abortion by acting as an “abortion factory”. He has accused the Conference of American States as supporting or possibly funding abortion in Brazoria through their legislation, and has called abortion a “genocide” being perpetuated across the world.

In 2002 when asked if Hansen would consider exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or for the life of the mother, Hansen replied that “It is important to not disregard God’s plan. Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,” and said that performing an abortion to save the mother’s life is still “unadvisable” as it “can desecrate the child’s body”. He also called exceptions a “slippery slope” that should be avoided due to their “ability to be abused” and for normalizing the practice. In 2004 he added that rape exceptions were unnecessary as, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has a way of shutting that whole thing down.” In 2006 Hansen voiced support for fellow pro-life activist “Pro-Life” (who legally changed his name to such), in his campaign for governor of Washumko.

Hansen also objects to the use of contraception and called for their banning in 2004. He has called several forms of contraception, such as birth control, “medical, on-demand abortion”, and has made the claim that young women may be “recreationally becoming addicted” to birth control. Other forms of contraception, Hansen asserts, incentivize premarital sex and promiscuity, and cause “unknown health complications”. Hansen supports abstinence only education and laws to deter extramarital sex. He has called for institutions that provide contraception, such as college campuses providing free condoms, to be defunded or even persecuted.

Climate change and the environment

Hansen rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and has called climate change a hoax and a communist conspiracy. In response to the Environment Solutions Act of 2021, which proposed a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by the year 2040, Hansen rallied support against the bill. He has called for fracking to be legalized in American nations, and for the government to not interfere with oil corporations, calling oil the backbone of the Brazorian economy. He has decried gas taxes as being an unjust swindle that should be immediately repealed. Hansen has accused those critical of petroleum use “saboteurs” who seek to undermine the Brazorian economy for Continental gain. He likewise considers coal to be “clean and virtually infinite”. In response to the 2006 Discovery Enterprise oil spill, Hansen called for an investigation believing the oil spill to be the result of a Continental attack.

Conspiracy theorism

In addition to his well publicized belief in Anti-Landonist, COVID-19 denialism, and other major conspiracy theories, Hansen has also been accused of being generally welcoming to miscellaneous theories as a result of his distrust of government. For instance, he asserts that the 1969 Continental moon landing was fabricated in order to unfairly win the Space Race, and that no landing has ever taken place. He has accused the Continental government of being behind numerous terrorist attacks, but conversely has also accused the Sierran and Brazorian governments of fabricating terrorist attacks of their own, such as the 2022 Porciúncula bombings, for the purpose of restricting public opinion or instigating political reform. On the topic of UFOs, Hansen has claimed that “some UFOs are government experiments with electrogravitic propulsion as opposed to jet propulsion, coming straight from Snrith Gulch, while others are Satanic apparitions." In 2015 he asserted that the Brazorian government successfully covered up a “military disaster” by fabricating a UFO incident.

Death penalty

Despite the death penalty being illegal in Brazoria since the Landonist regime, Hansen is one of only a few public figures who has praised the death penalty. In 1989 and 1990 Hansen called for all former Landonist leaders of Brazoria to be tried and possibly sentenced to death for “crimes against humanity”. Since then he has called for the death penalty to return for heinous crimes, and asserts the lack of a death penalty has caused crime to spike. In 2004 he said in an interview, “Criminals no longer have that penalty weighing over them, so they’re not afraid anymore, and you’re seeing crime explode.” In 2017 Hansen controversially called for modern-day Landonists to be threatened with execution for treason against the state.

Education

Hansen is a firm believer that creationism should be taught in public schools as fundamental science, deemphasizing “unsubstantiated sciences” such as gravity and evolution, if not outright banning the “malicious indoctrination of our children in evolutionist rhetoric”. He has asserted that the rejection of creationism in academia is largely a result of a New World Order conspiracy, led by Satan, and involving the monarchy of the United Kingdom, the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth, Jewish bankers, musicians and actors such as Charles Manson and Tom Kenny, and the Sierran Civil Liberties Union (which Hansen derogatorily calls the “Sierran Communist Lawyers Union”). After failing to influence the curriculum of public schools, Hansen denounced public schools as being communist in nature. He is a member of the Brazorian Homeschool Association, and has called for Christians to homeschool their children and control the media they are exposed to, to prevent indoctrination and propaganda. In 2007 he criticized the budget of the Brazorian public school system as “wasteful” and said that in the hands of private and voluntary associations and charities public education could be more efficient.

Immigration

Although previously supportive of the right of refugees to flee across the “Rocky Road”, in 1996 Hansen called for immigration to be highly regulated, as “a flood of Continental refugees overwhelms the country”, and stated, "When Continentals flee the country, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems to us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists." Hansen has also accused the United Commonwealth government of routinely infiltrating Brazoria with spies and saboteurs. In 2006 Hansen stated that immigration should be closed completely if it constitutes a “demographic threat” to the country. He was outspoken in favor of a proposed 2016 law which would establish a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence for immigrants convicted of reentering the country after being deported, and opposed a bill requiring warrants for immigration officer searches.

Landonism

Hansen is a firm believer in the Continentalist-led Globalist conspiracy theory, asserting that the United Commonwealth is the leading instrument of Satan and the “vanguard of the New World Order”, and has called for all forms of Continentalism to be banned in Brazoria, Sierra, and beyond. He has written about the “international Jewish plan to takeover the world through Landonism”, asserting that Isaiah Landon was Jewish, and that the modern day Jewish population controls public discourse through control over the media and the “creation of cancel culture”. At a conference in 2005 he told his followers that “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion explains it all”, a well known antisemitic hoax, for which fellow creationist Peter Turner criticized Hansen as “insensitive”. In 2006 Hansen stated that the Jews “largely exaggerate” pogroms committed against them in Derzhavist Russia, and that such things were fabricated to allow for Jews to take over institutions in the west.

Hansen has written extensively about the brutality of the Continentalist takeover of Brazoria, including in his 2004 book The Victims of Communism, which asserted that at least 100 million were killed a the hands of Communist governments, including some 3-6 million in Brazoria alone. Hansen has characterized the Continental Invasion of Brazoria during Great War I as a “brutal conquest” in which “Brazorians were indiscriminately slaughtered” and “Christians were tried for their beliefs”. Hansen has called the war as a whole the fault of the United Commonwealth and a Continental conspiracy to destroy the world, which was defeated by the “heroes of the West”. He has also written about Operation Rapture and the Continental Replacement conspiracy theory, asserting that there is “evidence of extermination camps all across Brazoria as proof that the Landonists attempted to genocide across North America”. Hansen has asserted this is the “true genocide” (in reference to the genocide of Jews), and one that “Christians are still fighting to this day” against Landonists.

He has accused the Continentalist Party of Brazoria of being a “Continental invasion”, asserting the organization is a front for Continental operations to undermine Brazoria. He has widely circulated anti-Continentalist Party propaganda and conspiracy theories, including that party leader Ben Shears was a known associate of an unsubstantiated celebrity sex ring operated in the basement of a Toxi’s, that the organization attempted to rig the 2019 Brazorian general election, and that the organization receives funding and “arms shipments” from across the Continental border to fuel drug and gang violence.

LGBT and women’s rights

Hansen completely condemns homosexuality as sinful and degenerate based on biblical teachings, and has called for its persecution. He is opposed to gay marriage, which in 2002 he called an “abomination” and a “desecration of an actual sacrament”. Hansen has spoken out against the “LGBT agenda”, asserting that there is an international conspiracy to force or brainwash people into being gay or accepting homosexuality, which includes media control, cancel culture, and “possible chemical experimentation”, asserting the herbicide atrazine was “turning the frogs gay, for example.” He has called homosexuality a choice, and has supported gay conversion therapy. Hansen has supported numerous controversial bills targeting the LGBT community, including gay marriage and sodomy bans, transgender participation in sports bans, and bathroom bans. Hansen's amusement park Zion of the Rockies required all employees to sign a statement affirming homosexuality as a sin.

He has similarly attacked transgender individuals as being “even worse degenerates” and “sexual perverts” in an interview in 2004, and in 2007 elaborated that transgender people were “grooming children”. He has called medically-assisted gender transition a “desecration of God’s design” that should be punishable “perhaps with the death penalty”. In 2020 Hansen published a manifesto outlining the supposed evidence for a “trans agenda”, which includes the indoctrination of children, forced body mutilation, and widespread child molestation. According to Hansen, many transgender people have been brainwashed or tricked into transitioning by Satan and communists at a young age, and want to “go back to normal” if not for the “woke agenda that prevents aid to them.” In 2022 he supported a Colorado law to ban “transgender exhibitionism” by regulating public dancing and other activities by outlawing the "exhibiting of a gender identity that is different from the performer's gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other accessories that are traditionally worn by members of the performer's opposite sex; and singing, lip-syncing, dancing, or otherwise performing before an audience of at least two people for entertainment, whether performed for payment or not and is not intended to appeal to the prurient interest."

Hansen has launched attacks against high profile members of the transgender community, in 2020 asserting that Sara West and James West (the former being transgender) were “forcing trans rhetoric into TV shows”, and criticized the appointment of Livia Perrier in the United Commonwealth. Hansen has pointed to transgender politicians in the United Commonwealth as proof of a “communist trans connection”. Hansen routinely refuses to use accurate pronouns and “deadnames” transgender individuals, calling pronouns “too confusing to remember”.

Medicine

According to Hansen, Alzheimer's disease, Crohn's disease, HIV, and rheumatoid arthritis were all engineered by the Landonist governments of the world, and aided by the “money masters” for the purpose of global domination. Conversely, he asserts that the compound amygdalin is a proven cancer cure that the governments of the world suppress to keep profits high. As early as 2001, Hansen claimed that world governments were implanting pet-tracking microchips into people so that they could be tracked by satellite, even when such technology was thus far impossible. He also claimed that Universal Product Code barcodes were the Mark of the Beast after “numerous reports” of people paying for groceries by having their bodies scanned. He has stated that genetically modified organisms are “poison” and “against God’s plan”, that they are “subtly changing biological functions”, and should be banned nation-wide.

He claims that the United Commonwealth directly manufactured the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 writing that the pandemic was a “false panic” for a “nonexistent or at least unproven virus”. Hansen later revised his claim, asserting that the virus was genetically engineered “like other GMOs” by the Continental government to weaken the population. He condemned mandatory lockdowns as unconstitutional and the “first step of the takeover”, calling on his supporters to resist COVID-related measures and to not wear masks, as “God didn’t design us to wear masks”. In August 2020 Hansen supported the “No New Normal Campaign”, a nation-wide protest of COVID mandates and lockdown orders through public demonstrations.

Pornography

Hansen is opposed to all forms of pornography, calling it sinful and an “accessory to degeneracy”, and has called for its prohibition. Hansen asserts that deviants have successfully convinced media companies to peddle explicit content to children through movies, television shows, and music, destabilizing the country. Hansen has claimed that pornography is part of the Jewish-led global conspiracy to control the population, by keeping them docile and by “brainwashing the viewer to accept a voyeuristic view of sex”. Hansen asserts that pornography creates erectile dysfunction, addiction, and mental disabilities, in order to train the viewers that “watching someone else fornicate with your spouse is normal”. As part of the Jewish connection, Hansen points to an alleged 1983 story of sectarian violence in Palestine where a Jewish rebel group played pornography over a hijacked television station.

Role of government

Since the 1970s Hansen has been an outspoken critic of Landonism and after 1989 supported the restoration of a “Christian monarch” in Brazoria. While serving as mayor, he stated he supported liberal democracy as a bulwark against the “onslaught of Landonism”, but he also has denounced democracy as “evil and contrary to God’s laws”. When pressed for clarification at an interview in 2019, Hansen stated North America should be “redeemed” as a Christian theocracy that ascribes to the “ideals of the founding fathers”, but that “no one can rule except as a custodian of Jesus Christ”. He called the Conference of American States part of the globalist conspiracy and called for Brazoria to resist integration into the organization. In 2017 he stated the organization undermines national sovereignty and independence, forces Brazoria to be subservient to Sierran influence, and robs the country of its tax money, supporting a push to secede from the organization. After the establishment of a post-Landonist constitution in Brazoria, Hansen criticized the new government as not going far enough, and in 1999 called the new government “still beholden to global interests instead of God’s will”. After 2009 he renounced his Sierran citizenship, calling Sierra “fallen” and corrupted by Landonist influences and “wokeness”.

Legal problems

2003 sexual harassment claim

On July 11, 2003, Hansen was arrested for assault, battery, and burglary as a result of an altercation with his secretary at Creation Science Evangelism, however, the charges were dropped several months later. In 2015 a former anonymous employee at the organization reported that Hansen had acted inappropriately and had touched female employees, but Hansen denied any wrongdoing. A second woman, Samantha Dawkins, later corroborated this claim and said that Hansen sexually harassed and disrespected female peers frequently.

Taxation scandal

Throughout his career, Hansen has spoken against taxation and has advised against paying taxes. In the early 1990s he boasted that his business did not operate under a proper business license, with the Brazorian government characterizing his business as “based on several dubious trust documents purchased from a known tax avoidance fraudster”. In 2005 Hansen remarked, “I haven’t filed a tax return in 30 years”; Hansen’s tax record was later revealed to be intermittent. Throughout his life Hansen was often associated with the sovereign citizen movement, declaring that the state of Brazoria had no legal jurisdiction or right to impose taxation upon him, and calling social security programs “ponzi schemes”. In 2006 the Brazorian Revenue Service opened an investigation into Hansen for tax fraud, leading to Hansen declaring bankruptcy on August 1, 2006 in order to avoid paying federal income tax, and later claimed that he was not a citizen of Brazoria. He would also make claims that as a minister he did not make an income, but rather gave all income and belongings automatically to God, which could not be taxed. On October 20 Hansen’s bankruptcy petition was denied, asserting that his claim was “filed in bad faith to avoid paying federal income taxes”.

Hansen responded by filing for a “revocation of signature” document in Colorado province, claiming that he had been coerced into signing documents against his will by government agents. He described the Brazorian government as being an illegitimate and bankrupt “corporation” that he was not a citizen of, as he was a “natural citizen of America and a natural sojourner”. He then initiated a lawsuit against the Brazorian Revenue Service for harassment. Both this lawsuit and Hansen’s revocation of signature documents were rejected in court. During this time, Hansen’s son Andrew and associate Charles Tanner, a representative from the Astorian Embassy of Heaven organization, attempted to prevent Hansen’s assets from being seized. Tanner, who falsely pretended to be a lawyer, would be arrested himself in 2015 and tried on unrelated charges to defraud the Astorian government. On January 19, 2007 a search warrant was executed on Hansen’s home and businesses, which produced financial records, $72,000 in cash, and a dozen semi-automatic rifles and pistols. On February 15, 2007 Hansen would be ordered to pay $4.2 million in back taxes and penalties for taxes not paid between 1990–1997.

In February 2007 Hansen would be indicted on 60 counts in the District Court of Colorado, including failure to pay income taxes, cash withdrawal structuring, impeding a revenue investigation, creating frivolous lawsuits, and threats against government agents. Hansen plead incompetence, stating that he could not understand the charges. When asked by the presiding magistrate judge if Hansen spoke and wrote in English, Hansen replied “to some degree”. Hansen also claimed he did not recognize the right of the government to try him on tax-fraud charges, and stated seized possessions such as his houses were actually legally recognized churches. He ultimately entered a not guilty plea “under duress”. Hansen was held without bail while awaiting trial, despite claiming he needed to travel to South Africa to conduct evangelist work. His trial would begin on May 25, 2007, in which Hansen claimed the profit generated from his amusement park and other ventures were “God’s property” which could not be taxed. During the trial it was also revealed that Hansen scammed social services by claiming he had no income and needed financial assistance throughout the 1990s. On June 6, 2007 Hansen would be found guilty on all 60 counts.

Hansen would be imprisoned as a “danger to the community” and flight risk while awaiting sentencing. On August 20, 2007 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years’ probation and ordered to pay the federal government restitution of over $1.2 million. According to the Brazorian Examiner, Hansen could have avoided prison time completely through cooperation. During sentencing, Hansen attempted to avoid a prison sentence by stating there were thousands of supporters out there would gladly pay back all the money he owed, so he should be allowed to be freed and return to preaching. Hansen’s tearful claims were contrasted with taped phone calls while in jail where he attempted to instruct his son to hide assets from government officials still. Hansen’s ex-wife Margaret Anderson would also be sentenced to three years in prison for her role in Hansen’s crimes. Both attempted to appeal but had their appeals denied in December 2008.

While in prison still, in June 2013 Hansen attempted to sue both the holding company for Zion of the Rockies, for removing him as a shareholder, and the Brazorian government for seizing court documents to delay a court appeal. The latter claim was denied and resulted in a federal judge finding Hansen in contempt of court for false fillings. On March 14, 2014 Hansen would be indicted by a federal grand jury for three counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy, and one count of criminal contempt for his role in interfering in the forfeiting of property from his initial conviction. Hansen would be found guilty on three charges on March 30, 2014, while his son, Andrew Hansen, would be sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years’ probation for his role in the ordeal. In December 2016 Hansen was released from prison on house arrest where he completed his prison sentence. He continued to maintain his innocence and claimed he was beginning preparations to renew the fight against his conviction and property seizure.

Domestic violence charge

On October 31, 2022 Hansen was arrested in Pecos after allegedly tracking down his estranged second wife, Lindsey Parker, and assaulting her. Parker asserted that Hansen beat her, had his associates threatened her, and petitioned for a restraining order. On January 22, 2023 Hansen would be found guilty of domestic violence and was sentenced to 60 days in jail, fined $500, and ordered to pay restitution for medical expenses. Hansen attempted to appeal but his request for a retrial was denied.