Uneducated Bigotry

History is being re-written to discredit Christians.

For example, a non-Christian recently made this statement in my presence: 

“When it was founded, everyone thought the KKK was a good Christian organization.” 

Not true. 

The truth: there may be fake Christians involved in white supremacist organizations, but genuine believers have always opposed them.

Why only “fake” Christians? Because “anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him” (1 John 3:15).

It takes very little research to discover that the KKK was seen as a “secret hate organization” from its founding (source). And it takes even less research to discover that genuine Christians were the main players in the abolition of slavery. 

In England, William Wilberforce was the driving force to end slavery, and he was deeply inspired by his Christian faith. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, was another outspoken abolitionist.

In America, “aggressive, interdenominational evangelicalism” led the movement against slavery along with Quakers like the Grimke Sisters. “During the 1830s, the majority of abolitionists were Northern white churchgoers and their clergy” (source). Harriet Beacher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin informed Americans about the evils of slavery, and she was strongly influenced by Christian abolitionists in the seminary where her father was president.(1)

The first Grand Wizard of the KKK was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a bigoted Confederate leader. Two years after it was founded, he tried to disband it because he felt it was too violent.

If a bigoted Confederate leader thought it was bad, we can rest assured that it was never considered a “good Christian organization.”

Dear Christians, we need to be prepared for this type of uneducated bigotry. Some people make these statements out of ignorance and some with purposeful intent to discredit and misrepresent Christianity. We must be prepared to defend our faith with Scripture and historical facts (1 Peter 3:15-16).

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Note: The Klan (which never associated itself with Christianity) disbanded shortly after it was founded. Then, 50 years later it was resurrected claiming itself to be a Protestant organization, but only bigots who were fake Christians would have bought that lie (source / source). 

Claiming the KKK was viewed as a "good Christian organization" is similar to claiming that Nazis were viewed as a good Christian organization. Hitler claimed the Nazi party reflected Christianity, but only a fool or a bigoted Nazi would think that was true.

(1) Uncle Tom's Cabin is undeniably Christian in its content. The character called Uncle Tom is a Christian slave who clearly illustrates 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 2 Timothy 1:12 in his life. To read my 1-minute devotion about the book, see Who Owns You?

"It is reported that upon being introduced to Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, Abraham Lincoln fondly commented she was 'the little woman who wrote the book that started this great [Civil] war.'" (source)

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