Is the KKK a religious organization?

[varkam]

I had heard that they have their own little brand of theology, but don't really know much about it. Anyone else more familiar with the KKK?

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. They claim to be "Christian"

KKK types consider the "true" nature of this country to be "White Christian America", and that any other race or religion shouldn't have a vote in the matter.

[Captain Hilts]

2. It's anti-Catholic. despite the outfits. So it's probably anti-Jewish too. nt

[cobalt1999]

3. Well, the biblical god is a crazy, racist, sexist, mass killing SOB

I figure the KKK is probably closer to his image than most other religions.

[NeedleCast]

4. They pretty much go hand in hand

Which is not to say that all Christians (or even a small percentage of them) are in league with the KKK. The kinder, gentler face of the KKK seems to want to sell itself as a separatist white christian group instead of the hate group that they are.

[physioex]

13. Tis true.....

Organized religion is evil either ways.

[BuyingThyme]

5. Only to the exact same extent that the Repulican Party is.

[GinaMaria]

6. I have heard that you can recognize a Klan home

because it will have a Bible in the front room open to a certain passage. As I type this, it occurs to me that this is an urban legend or something.... sounds too weird and urban legendy.

[conscious evolution]

26. Probably not

The kluckheads love their little secret signs and such.Makes them think they are up their with the big boys like the masons or skull and boners and other fraternal orgs.
Another old code was a hand signal where they stand with their their thumb and pinky finger are tucked in the pocket with the middle three fingers hanging out.To the unaware they just look like they are standing around with their hand in their pocket.Those in the know understand that the three fingers are supposed to represent the three Ks.

[Ghost in the Machine]

35. Don't forget "Mr. Ayak" or "Mr. Akia"...

One person would ask "Mr. Ayak?" The second person, if he understood the question, would answer "Ah, Mr. Akia!"

Ayak = Are you a klansman?

Akia = A klansman I am!

[lunatica]

7. From wikipedia

The KKK started just after the Civil War.


The KKK has a record of terrorism,<2> violence, and lynching to intimidate, murder, and oppress African Americans, Jews and other minorities and to intimidate and oppose Roman Catholics and labor unions.


In 1915, the second Klan was founded. It grew rapidly in a period of postwar social tensions. After World War I, many Americans coped with booming growth rates in major cities, where numerous waves of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and the Great Migration of Southern blacks and whites were being absorbed. After World War I, labor tensions rose as veterans tried to reenter the work force. In reaction to these new groups of immigrants and migrants, the second KKK preached racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Communism, nativism, and anti-Semitism. Some local groups took part in lynchings, attacks on private houses and public property, and other violent activities. Members used ceremonial cross burning to intimidate victims and demonstrate its power. Murders and violence by the Klan were most numerous in the South, which had a tradition of lawlessness.<4>

The film The Birth of a Nation and the sensationalized newspaper coverage of the trial, conviction and lynching of Leo Frank of Georgia sparked the Klan's revival. The second Klan was a formal fraternal organization, with a national and state structure. At its peak in the mid-1920s, the organization included about 15% of the nation's eligible population, approximately 4–5 million men.<5> Internal divisions and external opposition brought about a sharp decline in membership, which had dropped to about 30,000 by 1930, and the Klan's popularity fell further during the Great Depression and World War II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Is the Pope Catholic?

[baldguy]

9. Google "Christian Identity" to see how fucked up their belief system is.

[Donnachaidh]

10. the ones I've met who actually admitted to being Klan were Baptist

They hate Catholics, they hate Jews, they hate people of color. :shrug:

[lunatica]

12. Baptists are under the 'Christian' umbrella

[Donnachaidh]

19. no really?

:eyes:

[lunatica]

38. I was responding to a post, but I bet you didn't realize that

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. Some Klan groups use a "church" as a cover

so they can send out mass mailings detailing their racism and hatred and have more people open up the letter to read. This happened several years ago in our community. The mass mailing was condemned by the county council as "not indicative of the mindset of our community". Once their "church" was outed by the council, they didn't mail out letters again.

[nc4bo]

24. Right! Here's a perfect example...

Scroll down to the bottom left margin to take you to the "church of the fiery cross": http://www.knightskkk.com/

I wonder if they are tax exempt? :eyes:

[BreweryYardRat]

14. They're a terrorist group and an argument for making damned sure you hang war criminals.

I did something for one of my classes talking about this, so I'll repost it.

Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest oversaw the Fort Pillow massacre, where a couple hundred black Union soldiers were murdered after being taken prisoner. I think there was a plan to have Forrest tried and hanged for the massacre, but it was disrupted by Lincoln’s assassination. When things settled down, Andrew Johnston -- who disgraced the Presidency to a degree not seen again until Ronald Reagan -- let the murdering bastard go rather than hanging him. (If you ask me, Forrest should have been skinned alive and flogged through the streets of Richmond by men wielding bullwhips soaked in brine, but Lincoln was a better man than I.)

I’ll give you three guesses who was one of the KKK's most prominent founders and one of its major financial backers. The first two don’t count.

[EFerrari]

17. That's right. They are a terrorist group. n/t

[dustbunnie]

15. Here's some interesting info on the Grand Dragon of the early 20s who started out a dem -

and was once a member of the Socialist party. Very influential guy, great orator, who got people to join in droves. He eventually became a Repug and sick rapist/murderer who brought down the second wave of KKK illustriousness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._C._Stephenson

Not sure why the dems would ever have been attracted to the movement, but apparently at one time some were.

[Political Heretic]

16. I'm not sure how that works... they claim to be Christian, though.

I don't think KKK have churches and such.

[and-justice-for-all]

18. I know what it started as....

and it is nothing like the hate parade they are now.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Huh?

Explain.

[and-justice-for-all]

21. the original intent of the club was not for any racist means at all..

It has just evolved into a hate parade.

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/history.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

[and-justice-for-all]

23. Well, its true...just sayin...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. Puhleese.

Confederate officers running around at night in hoods scaring people, but not intending to, and certainly not racist?

Are you kidding?

[and-justice-for-all]

27. Whatever fuckwad...nt

[conscious evolution]

28. For once I agree with

pornsyrup.
The KKK has never been about the love vibe.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. Wanna buy a bridge, Klan apologist?

[RoyGBiv]

34. I don't think apologist is the term ...

The idea it wasn't racist is nonsensical, but that's mostly because almost all social groups of any variety involving white people in any part of the country were racist by definition.

The precise origins of the Klan aren't fully known, partly because at the time it was created, fraternal organizations were springing up across the entire nation with various purposes. In the South, many were centered on what could loosely be described using the modern idea of a "survivors" group. That is, soldiers affected harshly by war and privation joined together in what amounted to social clubs to lend assistance and "fraternity" to each other and to work out their demons amongst themselves.

Of course, that *very quickly* changed as the part about working out demons was soon directed at terrorizing former slaves and anyone who in any way supported or even avoided outright denouncing the federal occupation. These groups -- not just the Klan, but the Knights of the White Camelia, etc. -- were then used for political purposes in a loosely organized terror campaign to attempt to force what amounted to the reinstitution of the status quo antebellum.

For more, read:

Trelease, Allen, White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction.

[nomorenomore08]

31. ??????

:wtf: How in the figgity-fuck does that even make sense??? Reminds me of Rush Limbaugh describing the Abu Ghraib atrocities as "frat pranks," only even more senseless and wrongheaded.

For the second time, :wtf:

[cynatnite]

36. It's purpose was to restore white supremacy to the south after the civil war n/t

[RoyGBiv]

30. Depends on the group ...

The modern Klan has very little centralization in and of itself and the various factions do pretty much what they want.

Most of them do purport to ascribe their belief system to some sort of theology.

[muntrv]

32. As much as Al-Qaeda is a religious organization.

[McCamy Taylor]

33. No, they are not religious. They are politcial. You do not have to be a "good Church goer"

to be a Klan member. They have plenty of sinners. You just have to not be a Catholic or Jewish or a member of some religion they associate with non-white people. Hell, there are probably KKKers who hate Episcopalians and Methodists.

[tnlefty]

37. May I suggest that you spend some time on the Southern Poverty

Law Center's site and google, KKK, Southern Alliance, Christian Identity and various groups and see what you find. This will take hours of filthy reading, but many klan groups also use the 'Christian Flag', and I'm pretty sure that you will discover a common theme, in that they think they are 'true christian' doing 'god's work'. :hi: