|
I wish I'd seen this earlier. I did a college paper on hate groups, including the Klan.
Basically, there is no one single Klan, and there hasn't been one since around the 1940's. The original Klan was established as an anti-reconstruction group after the civil war by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, although he tried to disband it after it went terrorist. It began as a fraternal organization but quickly became violent. The original Klan was crushed during the reconstruction period. It was resurrected around the time of World War One. They had a lot of influence with the southern Democratic party for a long time. During the early 20th century many public officials were members including police officers, state legislators and even governors. It started fading in the 30's and dissolved in the 40's. Today there are a number of small Klans. Some are pretty antagonistic towards one another.
The name Ku Klux Klan itself comes from the Greek word for circle, kyklos. The people who founded it were all college educated and knew Greek, and they liked the alliteration. They chose bizarre names like "Grand Dragon" to make the organization inscrutable to outsiders.
They are a deeply christian group(although most other christians would argue they aren't.) You can't separate Christianity from their ideology. That's not a knock against the Christian religion or anything, that's just the way it is.
__________________
|