KKK and Christian Fundamentalism (ZT) (图)

The KKK offered disoriented people simple answers to complex problems. It articulated decisively what many conservatives, nativists and also some liberals were already concerned about - and it called them out of their apathy into organised action. The KKK would receive much tacit support from local and state governments. However, a major platform in the rise of the KKK was Conservative Protestant Christianity.

Simmons and his right hand man Clarke shared an evangelical heritage. They were acutely aware of the power of evangelical Christianity over the Protestant masses and the vast inroads that Christian Fundamentalism had been making. Both the old and new Klan defined itself as Protestant. The issue which the KKK won most support from the churches was its vehemently anti-Catholic stance. Nationally, one of the KKK's main strategies was to win over the Protestant clergy. It should, I believe, remain an indictment upon American Protestantism that it did this so easily. While more liberal clerics and theologians were often outspoken against Klan activities, the KKK won remarkable support amongst local churches and ministers. The KKK was supported most notably by Methodists, Baptists and the Disciples of Christ; all of which had been the most susceptible to Fundamentalism. These were the three largest Protestant denominations in the U.S; between them numbering millions of adherents. This provided the KKK with a huge audience to sow their "gospel" of hate, racism and intolerance. This occurred in cities but had most effect in towns and rural centres where most people went to church. It was an era too when a minister or pastor carried a high community status. By 1925, the KKK had proselytised over 40, 000 clergy and a significant number became Klan officials.(iii) This in turn resulted in whole communities becoming pro-Klan.

By the mid 1920s the mid-West had become "klanified." The KKK dominated the state governments of Oregon, California, Indiana, Oklahoma and Colorado. In Denver, Colorado, the KKK with big business backing, succeeded in having two KKK members elected as U.S. senators. Furthermore, Denver's governor, mayor and chief of police were all KKK by this time. In 1922, a Klansman was elected as a senator to represent Texas and in this state particularly, KKK membership was " ... literally a who's who of business."(iv) According to historian Wyn Wade, as early as 1921, just as a congressional investigation of the KKK's violent and racist activities was being carried out , the Klan had already eaten its way into the ultimate seat of U.S. power. President Warren G. Harding agreed to be sworn in as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Accordingly, a five man Klan team, presided over by Simmons, conducted the initiation in the Green Room of the White House.(v)



KKK members displaying the Nazi salute and advocating Holocaust denial.