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  • Essay / The Ku Klux Klan and its ideologies

    Since the creation of the first Klan in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan has anchored its values ​​in its perception of Christianity. In one case we see people like Sam Bowers who was a professed Methodist, yet was one of the most powerful voices in the revival of the Klan in the 1960s. After going underground in the 1920s, Bowers was a Mississippi leader known as the Grand Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He often used his religion as a reference point for the morality of what he did, even though he often contradicted himself and the Bible. Alongside him we have someone like Richard K. Tucker who identifies what made the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century successful and why it could very well happen again. Tucker goes on to describe the similarities between Klan values ​​and modern Christian values, as well as comparisons to average American values. Even today, when we look at the official website of the American Christian Dixie Knights, we can see that they so often refer to God and his "chosen people" to justify their twisted beliefs. These comparisons are not coincidences, and the more we examine the core values ​​of the Klan and what they interpreted through the Methodist Church, it becomes clear that they are not simply choosing to be morally corrupt people , but that their understanding of God and his message allowed them to act as they do. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayThe early Ku Klux Klan, as depicted by Richard K. Tucker in The Dragon and the Cross, is different from the people in white dress imagine today. The Klansman's main enemy was Jewish and Catholic Americans, or those they saw as a threat to what their idea of ​​a good American Christian was. Racism against African Americans played a role in the 1920s, but it was not the main role. Tucker wrote: "For his millions of followers and supporters across America, it was a far cry from the paranoid racist violence so often associated with the red-robed fringe that calls itself the Klan today" (Tucker) . He mentioned that Christianity had more of an effect on the Klan's success than white supremacy at the time. "All responsible sources, including those who actively fought the Klan, agreed that the Invisible Empire was largely composed of people of substantial and decent status, mostly active members of Protestant churches, with ideals precise if somewhat narrow” (Tucker). At that time, the Klan drew its strength from numbers. Before his arrest in 1925, David Curtis Stephenson was the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan and the most powerful man in Indiana. It was through him that many Klansmen held power in the state and wielded enormous influence. In Indiana alone there were about a quarter of a million members. Ultimately, Stephenson's arrest played a significant role in the downfall of the Klan at the time. Stephenson went from idol to rapist and murderer, and the politicians he had supported had to flee public scrutiny. Although Tucker's book was illuminating when comparing common Christian values ​​and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century, his book was published. in 1991 and does not take into account the more current ranking of the American Christian Dixie Knights. In particular, their current website speaks in depth about their origins, their values ​​as Knights, and their supposed purpose in modern America. First, they start talking about what makes them.