Gospel According To The Klan

Gospel According To The Klan

Adult nonfiction
"According to Hiram Wesley Evans, the second Imperial Wizard of
the Klan, 'The angels that must have anxiously watched the Reformation
from its beginning must have hovered around Stone Mountain
Thanksgiving night, 1915, and shouted Hosannahs to the highest
Heaven.' For Evans, the founding moment of the order was the second
Reformation. Those joyous angels watched in awe as the order was
born, and that event signalled that society might be salvaged. Evans
believed that the Klan had the potentiality to reform Christianity
much in the same way that Martin Luther had 'saved' the church within
the first Refornation."
Yes, I realize that Kelly J. Baker's Gospel According To The
Klan is the third KKK book we've read recently. Although they contain
much of the same information, each has a different slant. Baker
claims that other scholars have underestimated the centrality of
Protestantism to KKK beliefs and practice, even to go as far as accuse
them of cynical manipulation of beliefs, and uses documentation of how
they officially saw themselves to show the importance to them of the
correct religious beliefs. Among the topics covered are:
*how rites and symbols such as the baptism like initiation and the
flaming cross were connected with Christ's life and teachings and the
white robe and hood symbolized members' loyalty not only to the
organization, but to Christ.
"Who can look upon a multitude of white robed Klansmen without
thinking of the equality and unselfishness of that throng of white
robed saints in the Glory Land? May the God in Heaven, who looks not
upon outward appearance, but upon the heart find every Klansman worthy
of the robe and mask he wears.";
*how the Klan insistence on nationalism and Protestantism being one
and the same led to vehement objections to the Bible being taken out
of public schools,
and *how a masculinized Christ was to be the role model for every
Klansman.
Basically, without downplaying the quite repulsive deeds of the
Klan, Baker shows us that in a number of ways the KKK's difference
from many evangelical Protestants who didn't burn crosses was one of
degree, not absolutes. The reborn Klan was a lot more mainstream than
we may feel comfortable admitting.
On a personal note, I've been seeing a lot of signs of spring: my
first robin, a chipmunk, a tiny squirrel with a tail the size of my
pinkie finger, new grass... The daffodils in front of Wells are on
bloom and mine have started coming up. We had the traditional Easter
gathering at the in-laws. It was wonderful seeing all my kids. My
brother-in-law was there. I never can take him for granted because he
keeps getting redeployed. It was nice to see one of Eugene's cousins
without anyone having to die for that to happen. All in all, it was a
really nice gathering on a dreary, drizzly day.
A great big shout out goes out to all my readers who celebrate Easter
with hopes you are having a blessed one.
jules hathaway


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