"A Christian Looks
At the Religious Right"
Fundamentalism and the Klan
The father of Texas Fundamentalism, J. Frank Norris once brought the Klu Klux Klan into his First Baptist Church in Fort Worth. This event, which took place in 1924, according to author Gwin Morris, symbolized a chummy relationship Norris and Fundamentalism had with the Klan.
The twenties in America were known as the high point of Klan popularity in the country. Gary Clabaugh in his book THUNDER ON THE RIGHT , claims the Klan during this time was a Fundamentalist oriented group. Observers might view with suspicion such a link wondering how these two movements could be wed. Other authors claim a similar merger existed.
The rekindling of the Klan took place in America after the turn of the century. The spark that set the Invisible Empire aglow with new membership was silent movie "The Birth of a Nation". The movie was based on a book written by a Baptist minister from North Carolina. The epic, produced in 1914, was a drama about Southern white debutantes being assaulted by black men. Black soldiers chased white women and told the ladies they had to marry them because of recent laws passed during Reconstruction. One line in the movie reads, "Former slaves ape the manners of their former masters." The Klan rides into town as heros and saves the honor of these women and the South.
This curious link between the Klan and Fundamentalism has many interesting points of contact. Many Klan oaths had Bible passages as part of the ceremony. George Marsden in his book about understanding Fundamentalism said that the Klan..."represented an amalgamation of Christian tradition with nationalistic folk religion, self-interest, and hatred."
Wyn Wade's work, THE FIERY CROSS, describes the history of the Klan in America. Wade documents Klan-Fundamentalists links. He claims that of the 39 Kolords or national lecturers employed by the Klan in the earlier part of the century, 26 of the speakers were Fundamentalists ministers. James Smith, according to Wade, was a Presbyterian minister who once claimed if Jesus were alive today He would be a Klansman. Recently a Texas Klan leader said he had a Bible in one hand and a 38 in the other and knew what to do with them, quoted Wade. Wade also noted the Klan rode on the shoulders of the Moral Majority. The Klan often passed out voter guides in the earlier part of the century.
The Center for Democratic Renewal says, "The old rhetoric of the Ku Klux Klan is now echoed throughout the nation by various groups who tout Christianity as justification for their anti-democratic agenda, including the militia movement, Christian Reconstructionists and the Chrsitian Coalition."
The anniversary of the slain Civil Rights workers buried in a pond in Mississippi, reopened old wounds. It has just been publicly noted that the man from the inside who blew the whistle on fellow Klan members involved in this plot was a minister. Danny Welch of Klanwatch in Montgomery, Alabama, lists Baptist ministers allegedly working in the Klan in the 1990s. The Klan's twisted version of the cross Jesus died on is a curious sight in the light of the revolution in racial equality Jesus instilled.
Author Barry Hankins writes that J. Frank Norris often spoke favorably of the Klan. Recall the Klan claimed to support Portestant principles often attacking Catholics and Jews. This made them acceptable to the outer fringe of those within Fundamentalist circles. More polished Fundamentalists in the South did not visibly identify with the Klan as much as they did with the White Citizens Council. As the motion picture "Ghosts Over Mississippi" brought out, more respectable Southern segregationists belonged to the Council but tolerated the activities of the Klan.
Christian Identity web pages link Klan groups in their listings. There is a historical precedent for such liasons. The outer fringes of the Religioius Right like the Council on National Policy are often staffed with ex Klansmen and racists types.
According to the websight hatewatch.org Thomas Robb is the current leader of the remaint of David's Duke's Klan. As history repeats itself, Klans from the nation rival one another claiming to house the official head in their chapter. Robb makes his petition to the nation's Klans seeking status as the national spokesman. It is significant that Thomas Robb claims to be an ordained minister. Fundamentalism has a peculiar historical link with the Klan movement.
Gary Clabaugh, THUNDER ON THE RIGHT, Ne1son & Hall, Chicago, 1974, pg. 165.
George Harsden, UNDERSTANDING FUNDAMENTALISM & EVANGELICALISM,
Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1991, pg. 55.
William Pitts, Ed., TEXAS BAPTIST HISTORY VOL.VII, Texas Baptist Mistorical Society, 1987, pg. 5.
Wyn Wade, THE FIERY CROSS, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York, 1987, pgs. 122,171,178,373,383.
Mary Ann Hauney Ed., THE RIGHT UNMASKED, Summer, 1996, PG. 7.