Whites only Christian conference

[maybeizfundie]

Gag. And the "sacred christian cross lighting ceremony". :evil: Say what? Where in the Bible?

[DistantStar]

Goddamn the First Amendment sucks balls sometimes. Even though that's when it works. These dipshits have the right to do this. Fortunately we have the right to call them dipshits right back.

I bet they're loving all this publicity for their little Klanfest. Assholes.

[FloraDoraDolly]

I swear that time is going backward.

I don't think so, really. Racist groups like this Christian Identity church are heavily stigmatized and only exist on the margins of society. Does anyone here actually know somebody who belongs to the Klan or to a neo-Nazi organization? How do you think your co-workers (not to mention your boss) would react if some new hire came in and started talking about the cross burning ceremony he attended last weekend? What would happen in your neighborhood if some racist group tried to distribute flyers? Would your local public high school allow a group of kids to start a White Pride club? What would happen if you attended a large party and some white friend-of-a-friend declared that she would never let her teenaged daughter date a (insert N-word)? See, I can't even type that word. If you go back 50 years or so, it wouldn't be a big deal.

So no, I don't think we're going backwards. The reason the initial story made it into the Huffington Post in the first place is because these Christian Identity racists are regarded as freaks. I doubt there will be more than a handful at their rally, probably the members of the one church plus a few extra weirdos plus the federal agents who are keeping tabs on them.

[TVR]

I read this to my husband and when I got to the end, he said: "Is there a punchline? This isn't for real, is it?"

That is exactly what I thought! It is unbelievable!

[notacleverpony]

I'm glad that they have the freedom to amass like this publicly and without fear. That way, we can keep tabs on exactly who these douchecanoes are. If this sort of expression was made illegal, then they'd just go underground and good luck finding them then! A cockroach is a lot easier to squish in the middle of the kitchen linoleum than behind the cabinets.

[FloraDoraDolly]

I'm glad that they have the freedom to amass like this publicly and without fear. That way, we can keep tabs on exactly who these douchecanoes are. If this sort of expression was made illegal, then they'd just go underground and good luck finding them then! A cockroach is a lot easier to squish in the middle of the kitchen linoleum than behind the cabinets.

I have studied these groups, mainly World Church of the Creator (they were the focus of a project I did for a sociology course), but I did a lot of reading on the white nationalist movement as a whole. There are so many undercover agents in those groups that they can barely function. Nobody trusts anybody. Also, the people who are attracted to organized racist groups tend to be dysfunctional and antisocial. Basically, these are angry folks with very poor social skills. They can't even get along with each other. Some of them have serious mental health issues. Their organizations are always splitting up or splintering off because of old leaders dying off, other leaders going to prison, and infighting among the Hitler wannabees. If you have the stomach for it, go over to Stormfront and spend a few minutes reading their various forums. You'll see what I mean.

[VintageJen1984]

Recently my mother's church hosted a ladies telecast by a women's ministry leader Priscilla Shirer. (Basically, she did a seminar, and instead of traveling to every region to re-do it she let them film it and show it to people who bought a license). Priscilla Shirer is black. The day the telecast was set to air a man called the church office and said "I'm the president of the KKK." And before it could even register to the secretary what he meant, he hung up. My stepdad was organizing some stuff up at the church that evening, and she asked him if he would hang around in case something happened. Thankfully, it was an empty threat.

There's a man who lives the next town over who can basically not leave his house because of so many threats from the Klan.

My dad calls Obama a monkey, and it's not (just) because he disagrees with his policy. (To clarify, my dad is not in the Klan and he is not part of a church that believes only whites can be saved, but he is a racist and no, our relationship isn't that great.)

These dangerous people definitely haven't gone away completely yet, and as someone who is bi and has friends from many races and cultures I figure the chance that I'll die at the hand of racist or homophobic fuckwads is out there, however small. The best I can figure to do for now is just be an example of how to be a decent human being.

[Guest Anonymous]

I just hope that nobody gets hurt.

[Esther]

Goddamn the First Amendment sucks balls sometimes. Even though that's when it works. These dipshits have the right to do this. Fortunately we have the right to call them dipshits right back.

I bet they're loving all this publicity for their little Klanfest. Assholes.

I actually don't think they should have the right to do this. It's racist and awful. It is objectively Really Bad.

[luckystone]

I don't understand why these people fail to notice that Jesus was born in the Middle East, and as such, was in all likelihood BROWN. He wasn't born in Germany, or Finland, or Norway. He wasn't all Scandinavian blonde hair and blue eyes. The cognitive dissonance frankly astounds me.

I was going to say the same thing...ignoring all the other disgustingness, it's not even logical!

[valsa]

I actually don't think they should have the right to do this. It's racist and awful. It is objectively Really Bad.

While I agree with you that it's racist and awful, if we could take away their right to have their rally, what's to stop people like the Duggars and other fundies from taking away other people's right to have a pro-woman rally or gay pride parade? Either everyone's rights have to be protected or no one's rights are safe.

[BoomerLynn]

Christian Identity. Similar, but worse. Kinists believe that interracial marriage and worship together is wrong but that people of all races can be saved and should be Christians. Christian Identity teaches that only whites can be saved, that whites are the true people of Israel and Jews are the seed of Satan (literally or metaphorically, depending on which division you follow). It's what Aryan Nations taught before they fell apart but many of the groups out there now are more extreme in their beliefs than AN was

Well I guess they are all Devil-worshippers then seeing as how Jesus was a middle-eastern Jewish man.

[Esther]

While I agree with you that it's racist and awful, if we could take away their right to have their rally, what's to stop people like the Duggars and other fundies from taking away other people's right to have a pro-woman rally or gay pride parade? Either everyone's rights have to be protected or no one's rights are safe.

I've heard that argument before... but in my country and many other European countries, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. This is a law and people are punished accordingly if they publish work denying the Holocaust. I find that a good thing, and it hasn't led to a slippery slope.

Obviously I see your point, generally, but I think there can be exceptions without things turning crazy dystopian. Some things are too damn awful to tolerate.

[valsa]

Obviously I see your point, generally, but I think there can be exceptions without things turning crazy dystopian. Some things are too damn awful to tolerate.

Have you ever lived in the U.S.? In the U.S., buses and billboards can't even carry ads that say "You can be good without God" without being destroyed (and having a majority of people think destroying them was justified) Hell, the highest court in our country staffed by a guy who doesn't know that the cross is a predominately Christian, not universal, symbol (seriously, the idiot said it was an "outrageous conclusion" when a Jewish lawyer told him that a cross on a war memorial does not honor non-Christian soldiers) Not to mention the entire Fox News empire pretty much makes its bread and butter on convincing people to be terrified of the "other", including Muslims, atheists, feminists, homosexuals, and brown people.

You can absolutely bet that the second a law came in to place saying the KKK couldn't rally, a thousand other petitions would be filed to exclude every other unpopular minority from being able to gather as well.

[SisiL78]

This is my bitchy side talking: I hope that cross falls down on them and they all go down in flames. It would be an ironic ending to their conference.

These sorts of people are irredeemable. THey are so hateful that I'm surprised they can muster up any love for their children. Then again their children are just spawned for the purpose of expanding the "purity of the white race". I'm going to bet that a lot of these racists aren't as pure as they think they are.

[geniebelle6901]

The town of Winfield can't wait for the spectacle to be over. The vast majority of residents and business owners have been sitting on pins and needles since the whole thing was announced.

[Esther]

Have you ever lived in the U.S.? In the U.S., buses and billboards can't even carry ads that say "You can be good without God" without being destroyed (and having a majority of people think destroying them was justified) Hell, the highest court in our country staffed by a guy who doesn't know that the cross is a predominately Christian, not universal, symbol (seriously, the idiot said it was an "outrageous conclusion" when a Jewish lawyer told him that a cross on a war memorial does not honor non-Christian soldiers) Not to mention the entire Fox News empire pretty much makes its bread and butter on convincing people to be terrified of the "other", including Muslims, atheists, feminists, homosexuals, and brown people.

You can absolutely bet that the second a law came in to place saying the KKK couldn't rally, a thousand other petitions would be filed to exclude every other unpopular minority from being able to gather as well.

I have lived in the US for two years and I see what you mean and I think you're right.

However, I don't think that's a sign that such a system never works - I think it's a sign that the US needs to work on creating an educated public and countering the crazy turn to the right.