How do Protestants deal with the KKK legacy?

[Xavierlives]

Many Protestants on these boards have brought up the inquisitions which happened centuries ago. I wonder how they deal with the much closer (in time) KKK episodes in their own churches.

I’m not bringing this up today to talk about the Protestants’ acceptance of and participation in such an anti-Christian group. I bring it up today to ask, why, when Protestants bring up the Inquisitions of centuries ago, they don’t also bring up the organized attacks by the KKK, when many members of their Protestant churches today were members of the KKK when it perpetrated these atrocities and controlled the police headquarters, city halls, and state houses–when it had influence over the organizations that could have stopped the attacks.

Of course the KKK goes back further than the civil rights era–back to before people still alive today were born. So I’m talking only about the KKK atrocities perpetrated more recently.

How does the Protestant Christian community address this issue? Is it ever mentioned in sermons? Have former KKK members been asked to speak at Bible studies or other church-organized events? Have the churches made formal statements renouncing the KKK and accepting responsibility when appropriate (when their own congregants/ministers) were participants or supporters(members)?

And for individuals who belong to a church that had ministers and congregants involved, especially those who were actively involved (not just supporters (ie members), do you feel like you still have to prove that things are different now? Do you think that someone’s reluctance to accept that things have really changed so soon after the events (people who committed the acts are still alive) is justified?

Please, I’m not starting this thread to attack Protestantism over the evil of the KKK. I’m asking only to find out how Protestantism is dealing with this very recent episode in its history.

I would love to know how the CC dealt with the inquisitions after the fact. If they were asked to explain the behavior. I’m thinking that they probably weren’t. News traveled much more slowly then, and I wouldn’t be surprised, given the very small number of executions in any given year, that people outside of the immediate areas that were targeted would have very little knowledge of what happened. Without mass media, I wonder if people outside of the cities got much information about anything. If anyone knows, please post here.

Well, last time I checked the KKK was never part of any organized religion. So, while the Inquisitions are an actual Catholic Church Action, the KKK was not.

That would be like saying, I’d like to talk to all the Catholics and Anglicans about football hooliganism. (No, I am not equating the KKK to soccer hooligans, just saying, they are two groups of people who don’t answer to the others).

 

[Norrin]

Well, last time I checked the KKK was never part of any organized religion. So, while the Inquisitions are an actual Catholic Church Action, the KKK was not.

That would be like saying, I’d like to talk to all the Catholics and Anglicans about football hooliganism. (No, I am not equating the KKK to soccer hooligans, just saying, they are two groups of people who don’t answer to the others).

Probably a more apt comparison is the Inquisition of Catholic Spain with the Inquisition of Protestant England. The purpose of the Spanish Inquisition was to discover and punish converted Jews (and later Muslims) who were insincere. However, soon no Spaniard could feel safe from it. It evolved into something similar to what happened in the U.S in the 1950s–McCarthyism. McCarthyism is a political practice of accusing people of treason or anti-government activities without having solid truth.

However, In England there was a much more coordinated effort to to execute Catholics, which was both promoted and sanctioned by the crown. These executions lasted for hundreds of years. It was not until the 1820s that these acts were considered illegal.

Here is an excerpt of an article in Wikipedia describing the extreme anti-Catholicism of Protestant England:

*"Institutional anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom began with the English Reformation under Henry VIII. The Act of Supremacy of 1534 declared the English crown to be ‘the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England’ in place of the pope. Any act of allegiance to the latter was considered treasonous because the papacy claimed both spiritual and political power over its followers. It was under this act that saints Thomas More and John Fisher were executed and became martyrs to the Catholic faith.

Anti-Catholicism among many of the English was grounded in the fear that the pope sought to reimpose not just religio-spiritual authority over England but also secular power of the country; this was seemingly confirmed by various actions by the Vatican. In 1570, Pope Pius V sought to depose Elizabeth with the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis, which declared her a heretic and purported to dissolve the duty of all Elizabeth’s subjects of their allegiance to her. This rendered Elizabeth’s subjects who persisted in their allegiance to the Catholic Church politically suspect, and made the position of her Catholic subjects largely untenable if they tried to maintain both allegiances at once.

Later several accusations fueled strong anti-Catholicism in England including the Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy Fawkes and other Catholic conspirators where accused of planning to blow up the English Parliament while it was in session. The Great Fire of London in 1666 was blamed on the Catholics and an inscription ascribing it to ‘Popish frenzy’ was engraved on the Monument to the Great Fire of London, which marked the location where the fire started (this inscription was only removed in 1831). The “Popish Plot” involving Titus Oates further exacerbated Anglican-Catholic relations."
*

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism

 

[Lutheranteach]

The KKK is a multiple pronged issue. It’s not just anti-Catholic or anti-semite, but Xenophobic to the extreme. It promotes a very narrow agenda: White (american born), protestant…or as they called it American Christianity, conservative and most of all no one who has any accountability to another country, or voice other than what they promote, in any way shape, or form. The other thing one has to remember about the KKK is that they were, at heart, geared toward keeping political power in the hands of those they selected.

 

[Guyonthestreet]

I bring it up today to ask, why, when Protestants bring up the Inquisitions of centuries ago, they don’t also bring up the organized attacks by the KKK, when many members of their Protestant churches today were members of the KKK when it perpetrated these atrocities and controlled the police headquarters, city halls, and state houses–when it had influence over the organizations that could have stopped the attacks.

Like how the catholic church was able to stop the IRA atrocities in Northern Ireland you mean

 

[KathleenGee]

The Catholic Church, through John Paul II, has asked the world for forgiveness of its sins.

I and assume many others now ask the Protestants to also acknowledge theirs and the misuse of the Bible to form more divisions within the Body of Christ…

We have to…united we stand, divided we fall and the world is just too small now…

 

[kalt]

I think if you study the history of the leaders of the KKK you will find it hard to call them even remotely ‘christian’.
Their was a social upheavel at the beginning of the 20th century. Remember these were the days of Presbyterian fundamentalist Billy Sunday and Prohibition. (Sunday BTW, was a liberal Democrat. ) It also marked the birth pangs of fundamentalism in America, which was a Protestant movement. But not all Protestants alligned themselves with it. If you do some research, you will find the Protestants who were part of the KKK were primarily fundamentalists.
A better question might be: how do fundamentalists and modern evangelicals deal with the KKK legacy.

On this we disagree. There is nothing in Christian theology that states that Christians will behave perfectly. If sinners are not Christians, then no man is Christian.

 

[kalt]

I suppose if we’re going to look for denominational failures, then I may as well add Aparthied in South Africa to the list. By and large the Dutch Reformed Church gave its spiritual imprimatur to aparthied.

And we could go on - Henry VIII’s bloodthirstiness, Cromwell’s massacre of the Irish, Luther’s violent polemic to slaughter peasants and Catholics.

However I don’t see the point in making current generations responsible for past abuses. I’m a real cynic when it comes to these official apologies for past abuses carried out by others. For example, not long ago we had our PM apologise to the aboriginal people for past abuses, not one of which he caused himself. But at the same time we kill 100,000 of our own unborn children every year, and no one apologises to them, or does much to stop the immense slaughter.

Anyone can apologise for someone else’s behaviour after the event. So what? Let the perpetrators themselves take the responsibility, in not in this world, then certainly in the next.

I agree with your take on apologies by later generations. But I wasn’t asking if their churches have apologized or suggested that they do. I asked how they’re dealing with the KKK legacy. Do they mention it at all? It is less than a generation old–meaning that the people involved are still alive, and many must still be members of the various churches. This isn’t ancient history after all.

If we go by the responses here, it seems that the Protestant churches don’t discuss this topic at all.

 

[kalt]

Well, last time I checked the KKK was never part of any organized religion. So, while the Inquisitions are an actual Catholic Church Action, the KKK was not.

That would be like saying, I’d like to talk to all the Catholics and Anglicans about football hooliganism. (No, I am not equating the KKK to soccer hooligans, just saying, they are two groups of people who don’t answer to the others).

As I said in an earlier post, this was a Protestant group. There is no such thing as a Protestant hierarchy that compares to the CC, so though this was clearly a Protestant movement, it can never be “pinned on” them as a group. But look at the number of people who participated in this group–women, men, and youth. I’ve read estimates that 40% (more?) of elligible people became members. (They wouldn’t accept anyone they didn’t consider “100% American”, so anyone who wasn’t Protestant, white, and of good character wasn’t elligible. We have evidence of Protestant ministers giving sermons favorable to the KKK, and even drumming up membership through rallies.

It’s clear that this was a Protestant movement. How do Protestants deal with this episode in their history?

 

[Rightlydivide]

I agree with your take on apologies by later generations. But I wasn’t asking if their churches have apologized or suggested that they do. I asked how they’re dealing with the KKK legacy. Do they mention it at all? It is less than a generation old–meaning that the people involved are still alive, and many must still be members of the various churches. This isn’t ancient history after all.

If we go by the responses here, it seems that the Protestant churches don’t discuss this topic at all.

We sure do not discuss it. We use the Bible as the source of our sermons. It is not applicable to any church that does not have that as part of their past.

 

[MarkBrown]

Many Protestants on these boards have brought up the inquisitions which happened centuries ago. I wonder how they deal with the much closer (in time) KKK episodes in their own churches.

I’m not bringing this up today to talk about the Protestants’ acceptance of and participation in such an anti-Christian group. I bring it up today to ask, why, when Protestants bring up the Inquisitions of centuries ago, they don’t also bring up the organized attacks by the KKK, when many members of their Protestant churches today were members of the KKK when it perpetrated these atrocities and controlled the police headquarters, city halls, and state houses–when it had influence over the organizations that could have stopped the attacks.

Of course the KKK goes back further than the civil rights era–back to before people still alive today were born. So I’m talking only about the KKK atrocities perpetrated more recently.

How does the Protestant Christian community address this issue? Is it ever mentioned in sermons? Have former KKK members been asked to speak at Bible studies or other church-organized events? Have the churches made formal statements renouncing the KKK and accepting responsibility when appropriate (when their own congregants/ministers) were participants or supporters(members)?

And for individuals who belong to a church that had ministers and congregants involved, especially those who were actively involved (not just supporters (ie members), do you feel like you still have to prove that things are different now? Do you think that someone’s reluctance to accept that things have really changed so soon after the events (people who committed the acts are still alive) is justified?

Please, I’m not starting this thread to attack Protestantism over the evil of the KKK. I’m asking only to find out how Protestantism is dealing with this very recent episode in its history.

I would love to know how the CC dealt with the inquisitions after the fact. If they were asked to explain the behavior. I’m thinking that they probably weren’t. News traveled much more slowly then, and I wouldn’t be surprised, given the very small number of executions in any given year, that people outside of the immediate areas that were targeted would have very little knowledge of what happened. Without mass media, I wonder if people outside of the cities got much information about anything. If anyone knows, please post here.

Kalt,

In Mobile, Alabama 1981 Michael Donald was lynched by the KKK. The men involved were Bennie Hays, Henry Hays and James Knowles. Only Bennie was not convicted, he died prior to his second trial. Knowles got life and Henry was executed in 1997. My Brother in law was his guard and walked him down to the electric chair the inmates nicknamed “yellow momma”.

Why is this important? The Hays and Knowles were Roman Catholics. Bennie Hays was a leader in the KKK in Mobile County. ArchBishop Lipscomb excommunicated the family with they would not renounce the Klan. The parish, which I will not name, according to the Archbishop had many klansmen in it. I heard this from the ArchBishop himself in December of 2009.

As a protestant I have never heard of KKK membership being tolerated in either the Southern Baptist or Anglican Churches. The SBC does not like for members to be Masons. I remember when this occurred, I was in highschool, we prayed for the Donald family and for the evil in the men’s hearts to be replaced by the love of Christ.

Living in small town Alabama and having friends who had/have different shades of skin color, in highschool I had run ins with the Klan. I never knew them recently to belong to a particular church as most churches I know of would not accept their unrepented evil and sins.

In the past did churches commit grave sin by allowing or supporting their evil. Yes. I do not hold the past sins against any group who has repented and changed. Therefore, the inquisition is in the past. I am reminded of Jesus, “he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” If protestants try to be up the inquisition around me, I can easily remind them of the sins of the protestants during the same time.

Fr.Mark
ACNA

 

[kalt]

Like how the catholic church was able to stop the IRA atrocities in Northern Ireland you mean

Why is everyone trying so hard not to discuss the actual topic - how the Protestant churches deal with the KKK legacy? It’s a simple question.

Does your church discuss this topic at all? I wonder especially about the churches who had members in the KKK. (individual congregations)

 

[kalt]

Kalt,

In Mobile, Alabama 1981 Michael Donald was lynched by the KKK. The men involved were Bennie Hays, Henry Hays and James Knowles. Only Bennie was not convicted, he died prior to his second trial. Knowles got life and Henry was executed in 1997. My Brother in law was his guard and walked him down to the electric chair the inmates nicknamed “yellow momma”.

Why is this important? The Hays and Knowles were Roman Catholics. Bennie Hays was a leader in the KKK in Mobile County. ArchBishop Lipscomb excommunicated the family with they would not renounce the Klan. The parish, which I will not name, according to the Archbishop had many klansmen in it. I heard this from the ArchBishop himself in December of 2009.

As a protestant I have never heard of KKK membership being tolerated in either the Southern Baptist or Anglican Churches. The SBC does not like for members to be Masons. I remember when this occurred, I was in highschool, we prayed for the Donald family and for the evil in the men’s hearts to be replaced by the love of Christ.

Living in small town Alabama and having friends who had/have different shades of skin color, in highschool I had run ins with the Klan. I never knew them recently to belong to a particular church as most churches I know of would not accept their unrepented evil and sins.

In the past did churches commit grave sin by allowing or supporting their evil. Yes. I do not hold the past sins against any group who has repented and changed. Therefore, the inquisition is in the past. I am reminded of Jesus, “he who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” If protestants try to be up the inquisition around me, I can easily remind them of the sins of the protestants during the same time.

Fr.Mark
ACNA

But you still haven’t answer the question.

Again, I’m not asking you to discuss the Protestant KKK movement here. I’m asking how Protestants deal with the episode. Is it ever discussed in sermons? At Bible study groups? Is it a topic covered in religion classes?

Really, though I’ve responded to the comments of others, this isn’t about any other group of Christians. It’s not a comparison to any other episode. It’s just a question on how Protestants deal with the KKK topic.

And for those who think that KKK members were predominantly Fundamentalist nutcases, this from an encyclopedia.

"
Historians in recent years have obtained membership rosters of some local units and matched the names against city directory and local records to create statistical profiles of the membership. Big city newspapers were unanimously hostile and often ridiculed the Klansmen as ignorant farmers. Detailed analysis from Indiana[42] shows the stereotype was false:
static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/0/0e/Stone-mountain2.jpg/200px-Stone-mountain2.jpg static.newworldencyclopedia.org/pskins/common/images/magnify-clip.png
The huge Confederate memorial at Stone Mountain, site of the founding of the second Klan; work was begun in 1923 and was completed in 1970.

Indiana’s Klansmen represented a wide cross section of society: they were not disproportionately urban or rural, nor were they significantly more or less likely than other members of society to be from the working class, middle class, or professional ranks. Klansmen were Protestants, of course, but they cannot be described exclusively or even predominantly as fundamentalists. In reality, their religious affiliations mirrored the whole of white Protestant society, including those who did not belong to any church."

The blue font color is from the entry.

There doesn’t seem to be any validity in saying that it was the “other” Protestant groups that were involved, and I’m not pointing fingers anyway. There’s no blaming going on. That the KKK movement was a Protestant movement is indisputable. It’s a historical fact.

Now, how do Protestants deal with this legacy?

 

[KathleenGee]

That is very insightful to know, however, that the convicted were Catholics…

And I saw a picture of Hitler walking out of a Catholic Mass in Germany…yes he was a baptized Catholic…

But I also know he was an anti-christ.

So it reflects on the writings of John Paul II how even in the same household you have different soils…some are good and some are bad…and it is a mystery.

But the greater reality is that people in our country have used the Bible, gone to Sunday church, practiced slavery and bigotry, condemned and killed other Christians for it.

All that has been wrong in our country is coming to its apex. I think we all must ask God and each other for our sins and those of the past…for our country to begin anew, and purged.

I ask that through this thread and others like it that people acknowledge the Word of God has been used to commit evil and this is what the left wing and secularists have taken hold of and use against us.

We need to acknowledge in this country-- that has the most fractured Christianity-- that the bible has been terribly misused. Something is wrong in the use of the bible and those who have the ability need to clarify and redefine this problem to our nation’s Christians. KKK, etc.

 

[MarkBrown]

But you still haven’t answer the question.

Again, I’m not asking you to discuss the Protestant KKK movement here. I’m asking how Protestants deal with the episode. Is it ever discussed in sermons? At Bible study groups? Is it a topic covered in religion classes?

Really, though I’ve responded to the comments of others, this isn’t about any other group of Christians. It’s not a comparison to any other episode. It’s just a question on how Protestants deal with the KKK topic.

And for those who think that KKK members were predominantly Fundamentalist nutcases, this from an encyclopedia.

"
Historians in recent years have obtained membership rosters of some local units and matched the names against city directory and local records to create statistical profiles of the membership. Big city newspapers were unanimously hostile and often ridiculed the Klansmen as ignorant farmers. Detailed analysis from Indiana[42] shows the stereotype was false:
static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/0/0e/Stone-mountain2.jpg/200px-Stone-mountain2.jpg static.newworldencyclopedia.org/pskins/common/images/magnify-clip.png
The huge Confederate memorial at Stone Mountain, site of the founding of the second Klan; work was begun in 1923 and was completed in 1970.

Indiana’s Klansmen represented a wide cross section of society: they were not disproportionately urban or rural, nor were they significantly more or less likely than other members of society to be from the working class, middle class, or professional ranks. Klansmen were Protestants, of course, but they cannot be described exclusively or even predominantly as fundamentalists. In reality, their religious affiliations mirrored the whole of white Protestant society, including those who did not belong to any church."

The blue font color is from the entry.

There doesn’t seem to be any validity in saying that it was the “other” Protestant groups that were involved, and I’m not pointing fingers anyway. There’s no blaming going on. That the KKK movement was a Protestant movement is indisputable. It’s a historical fact.

Now, how do Protestants deal with this legacy?

Kalt,

It is not just a protestant legacy. It appears to have infected the Church. And those not in the church.

When I was a Baptist, no we did not discuss the KKK or the sins of any church group in the past. I heard sermons against current catholic teachings and how the Church got things wrong. Even how a certain Roman Emperor created the Catholic Church
But the inquisition, KKK or any other such acts or movements were not discussed.

You must understand, most (I said most)protestants do not study church history. Baptist for the most part do not and think they came from Mennos instead of the particular baptist who came from the puritian who came from the Anglican Church.

As an Anglican, in confirmation class the dirty deeds of the Anglicans nor the Catholic or any denomination was covered. The theological issues, but not the political or the dastardly acts committed by all sides.

A book I have that the local Catholic Diocese uses for RCIA does not discuss the inqusition. Nor should it. So I guess I would say that the protestants discuss their past sins just as much as Catholics. By the way, I have never heard or heard of a catholic priest preaching on the inquisition. Nor have I see or heard of Catholic Bible study groups covering it, as I have already referenced the RCIA material that does not discuss it.

All that being said, I am sure somewhere there are groups of catholics and protestants discussing the inquisition and the KKK. Just not where I am.

Fr.Mark
ACNA

 

[Guyonthestreet]

Why is everyone trying so hard not to discuss the actual topic - how the Protestant churches deal with the KKK legacy? It’s a simple question.

Does your church discuss this topic at all? I wonder especially about the churches who had members in the KKK. (individual congregations)

I’m not a member of any church.

I’m not sure why any protestant would feel the need to deal with any KKK legacy, when the KKK did not act in their name or in the name of any particular protestant church.

Unlike the inquisition, which was unambiguously enacted in the name of the Pope and the catholic church and really is a catholic legacy.

 

[kalt]

I’m not a member of any church.

I’m not sure why any protestant would feel the need to deal with any KKK legacy, when the KKK did not act in their name or in the name of any particular protestant church.

Unlike the inquisition, which was unambiguously enacted in the name of the Pope and the catholic church and really is a catholic legacy.

As the ecyclopedia entry indicates, the KKK roles include all brands of Protestants, including those who didn’t belong to any church.

And we’ve already gone over the difference in hierarchy in the CC and Protestant churches.

If you don’t want to discuss how the Protestant churches deal with the legacy, that’s fine. From the responses so far, it seems like Protestantism in general doesn’t discuss it.

 

[kalt]

Kalt,

It is not just a protestant legacy. It appears to have infected the Church. And those not in the church.

When I was a Baptist, no we did not discuss the KKK or the sins of any church group in the past. I heard sermons against current catholic teachings and how the Church got things wrong. Even how a certain Roman Emperor created the Catholic Church
But the inquisition, KKK or any other such acts or movements were not discussed.

You must understand, most (I said most)protestants do not study church history. Baptist for the most part do not and think they came from Mennos instead of the particular baptist who came from the puritian who came from the Anglican Church.

As an Anglican, in confirmation class the dirty deeds of the Anglicans nor the Catholic or any denomination was covered. The theological issues, but not the political or the dastardly acts committed by all sides.

A book I have that the local Catholic Diocese uses for RCIA does not discuss the inqusition. Nor should it. So I guess I would say that the protestants discuss their past sins just as much as Catholics. By the way, I have never heard or heard of a catholic priest preaching on the inquisition. Nor have I see or heard of Catholic Bible study groups covering it, as I have already referenced the RCIA material that does not discuss it.

All that being said, I am sure somewhere there are groups of catholics and protestants discussing the inquisition and the KKK. Just not where I am.

Fr.Mark
ACNA

Would it matter if the KKK weren’t “just a Protestant legacy”. I think the record is clear that the KKK was a Protestant-formed, Protestant-run, Protestant-supported (from the pulpit) organization. The facts are indisputable. No one is pointing fingers and expecting Protestants to address the KKK episode here. The question is a simple question. How do Protestants deal with the KKK legacy. That the Protestant KKK existed can’t be disputed. The goals and activities of it are recorded. No one can claim that the KKK didn’t exist or that it wasn’t what it was–that it’s goals were somethind different or that it wasn’t a Protestant movement. These are the facts, not the question.

We really weren’t discussing how converts are instructed in the faiProtestant or Catholic.

Catholics do learn about the inquisitions in school. It’s part of the history, so it’s taught.

Thank you for answering, finally. I think your answer is that Protestants in general don’t discuss the KKK. Further, they don’t discuss any of their history. But they do discuss Catholic Church history. Topics may include doctrinal and papal history.

Why, do you think, don’t they discuss their own church history. Do most Protestants know the who, what, where, when and why of their own church’s founding?

 

[JustaServant]

As the ecyclopedia entry indicates, the KKK roles includes all brands of Protestants, including those who didn’t belong to any church.

And we’ve already discussed the difference in hierarchy in the CC and Protestant churches.

If you don’t want to discuss how the Protestant churches deal with the legacy, that’s fine. From the responses so far, it seems like Protestantism in general doesn’t discuss it.

First my friend, just because something is in an encyclopedia doesn’t make it correct.
Today, the average pew-warming Protestant is appalled at a group like the KKK. But that wasn’t always true in history. The KKK is a historical phenom, peculiar to the American South. It was an extreme group dedicated to keeping the status quo of American segregation. The reason it appealed to Protestant fundamentalists was they had the same goals. Americanism, the Bible, morality. They were against liberals, evolution, ect.
Obviously not all fundamentalists or even all Protestants were part of the KKK, but it is inacurate to say they were purely secular in nature.
They apparently lived by the Arab proverb “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. So, although they might not have agreed with everything the KKK did, they certainly did not oppose them either.
Interesting piece of information about Bob Jones University BTW:
When Martin Luther King was assasinated, the state of South Carolina asked all colleges to fly their flags at half mast. According to eyewitnesses, when Jones refused, the entire student body let out a whoop and a cheer.

 

[kalt]

First my friend, just because something is in an encyclopedia doesn’t make it correct.
Today, the average pew-warming Protestant is appalled at a group like the KKK. But that wasn’t always true in history. The KKK is a historical phenom, peculiar to the American South. It was an extreme group dedicated to keeping the status quo of American segregation. The reason it appealed to Protestant fundamentalists was they had the same goals. Americanism, the Bible, morality. They were against liberals, evolution, ect.
Obviously not all fundamentalists or even all Protestants were part of the KKK, but it is inacurate to say they were purely secular in nature.
They apparently lived by the Arab proverb “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. So, although they might not have agreed with everything the KKK did, they certainly did not oppose them either.
Interesting piece of information about Bob Jones University BTW:
When Martin Luther King was assasinated, the state of South Carolina asked all colleges to fly their flags at half mast. According to eyewitnesses, when Jones refused, the entire student body let out a whoop and a cheer.

Good Lord. I’m not saying that Protestants today support the KKK. Again, the question is, “How do Protestants deal with the KKK legacy.”

 

[MarkBrown]

Kalt,

Protestants do not consider the KKK their legacy or part of their legacy. You and other may consider it, but protestants do not. Since they do not, they do not teach about it. Just like they do not teach on slavery, forced Indian migrations, concentration of indians on reservations, causes of the Civil War (War between the States or War of Northern Agression etc) etc. To protestants these are not church history. Just because a member of a certain church may have belonged or even lead an historical event, does not in their minds link it to their church or movement.

The only Church history I recieved was in seminary. Two core course used to teach 2000 years of history. Now if an 11th grade highschool history class can not cover about 500 years of US history, two seminary classes can not cover 2000. It was in seminary the inquisition was mentioned, as were some protestant abuses. It was included in an hour class covering many other aspects of church history. Our teacher said all these abuses, catholic and protestants, were sins of the church.

Most protestants do not have classes on church history, their bible classes cover other subjects. Protestants, like most people, mainly live in the here and now. They will be more concerned with what is happening now in their town, church, etc. Their classes will discuss ways to strengthen your relationship with Christ, how to walk with the Lord, finances, local political issues (school prayer), how to fund missionaries, where to send missionaries etc.

So in my experience, the abuses of the past (whether catholic or protestant)are not discussed in the protestant churches I have attended or pastored. They do not believe they have anything to deal with. The sins of the father are the father’s in most peoples minds.

Fr.Mark
ACNA