Since the birth of the first Klan in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan has rooted its values in the perception of Christianity. In one case, we see people like Sam Bowers who was a supposed Methodist, but was one of the most powerful voices in reviving the Klan in the 1960s. After going into hiding in the 1920s, Bowers was a leader in Mississippi, appointed Grand Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He often used his religion as a point of reference for the morality of what he did, even though he often contradicted himself and the Bible. Along with him, we have someone like Richard K. Tucker identifying what made the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century so 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 commonly refer to God and his “chosen people” as the motivation for their distorted beliefs. These comparisons are not coincidences, and the more we examine the Klan's core values and what they have interpreted through the Methodist church, it becomes apparent that they do not simply make the choice to be morally corrupt people, but their understanding of God and His message has been allowed them to act as they do. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Ku Klux Klan in the beginning, as described by Richard K. Tucker in The Dragon and the Cross, seems different from the white-robed people you imagine today. The Klansman's main enemy was American Jews and Catholics, or those they saw as a threat to their idea of a good American Christian. Racism against African Americans played an important role in the 1920s, but it was not the main one. Tucker wrote, “to his millions of adherents and supporters across America he was a far cry from the paranoid racist violence so often associated with the robed, redneck fringe who today call themselves the Klan” (Tucker). He said Christianity had a greater effect on the Klan's success than white supremacy at the time. “Every responsible source, including those who actively fought the Klan, agreed that the Invisible Empire was composed largely of people of notable and respectable social standing, most of them active members of Protestant churches, with defined ideals even if a little narrow” (Tucker) . At the 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 the reason why many Klansmen held power in the state and had enormous influence, there were about a quarter of a million members in Indiana alone. Stephenson's arrest ultimately played a major role in the downfall of the Klan at that time. Stephenson went from idol to rapist and murderer, and the politicians he supported had to escape public scrutiny. Although Tucker's book was enlightening in 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 talks quite extensively about their origins, values as Knights, and their supposed purpose in modern America. First, they begin to talk about what makes them superior, stating, “We as Caucasians are indeed God's chosen race. Not long ago this fact was widely known and accepted” (ACDK). This is wrong.
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