Christian Nationalism Echoes the Ideology of the Ku Klux Klan
by Tony Klimek
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the Dayton Daily News. We are grateful for permission to share it on RightingAmerica.
Tony Klimek is a retired engineer who regular columnist for the Dayton Daily News.
History can help our nation understand its past, provide clarity about current events, and help us move forward and fulfill the ideals of our country. As we commemorate our 250th anniversary, we should acknowledge our successes and our darkest moments, including the painful history of the Ku Klux Klan. After the civil war, the first Klan was a local, southern organization focused on terrorizing newly freed Black Americans. The second Klan of the 1920s was a larger nationwide political force and had a strong presence in the Miami Valley.
I recently attended a presentation about the second Klan by William Trollinger, a retired professor from the University of Dayton. The presentation provided information about our region’s history and the basis to see similarities between the second Klan and today’s Christian nationalism.
Many changes were occurring in America in the 1920s. Waves of Catholic and Jewish immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe were continuing to arrive, folks from the country were moving to cities, women were gaining more freedom and rights, and the great migration of Black workers from the south to northern and Midwest cities was beginning. The second Klan exploited these changes by spreading fear that our traditional way of life was in danger and only white Protestants were 100% American. The Klan said that the character of America was being erased by outsiders, and that they were protectors of our country’s heritage. They wrapped their bigotry and white supremacy ideology in the symbols of Christianity and patriotism. American flags and Bibles were prominently displayed during their events. They said that their burning cross represented the sacrificial service of Christ, but it soon became a symbol of terror.
The Klan conflated American history with their bigoted brand of Christianity and proclaimed themselves as defenders of 100% Americanism. Blacks, Jews and Catholics were identified as threats to the American way of life. Klan literature, and pro-Klan ministers asserted that “Jesus was the first Klansman” and proposed that white supremacy was a mainstream Christian duty. Protestant clergymen supported the movement and Klan ideology.
During the second Klan, Ohio had more Klan members than almost any other state in the country, with approximately 400,000 members. It had a strong presence in the Miami Valley and operated as a visible, mainstream organization with an estimated 15,000 members in Dayton. In 1923, more than 7,000 hooded Klansmen held a massive parade in Dayton. The group held regular rallies and cross-burnings at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.
The local targets of the Klan included the growing Black population and the region’s large Catholic and immigrant communities. Klan propaganda warned that the University of Dayton (UD) was the headquarters of Catholic subversion in southwest Ohio. They even claimed that UD’s ROTC program was training a Catholic army to fight religious wars on behalf of the Pope. In December 1923, the local Klan exploded twelve bombs on campus and lit a cross on fire on the west side of campus. There were no more bombings after that event, but cross burnings continued until 1926. The Klan terrorists that placed and exploded the bombs were never identified or brought to justice.
The Klan collapsed in the late 1920s because widespread financial corruption and moral scandals within the organization. Politicians stopped espousing the Klan rhetoric and, in an effort to avoid confrontation, people and organizations quit talking about the Klan and tried to bury its history.
Unfortunately, as we face changes and uncertainty today, the Klan ideology has been resurrected and repackaged as Christian nationalism. Members of the movement do not wear white robes or burn crosses, but their rhetoric is similar to the Klan’s and they promote the false narrative that America was founded as divinely ordained white Christian nation. They create and exploit the fear of immigrants, a changing world, and uncertainty. They blame immigrants and those that are different for our problems and promote the false nostalgia of a mythical time of pure white protestant bliss.
The concept of Christian nationalism is false and un-American. The creed and the success of our country is not aligned with rhetoric and policies of the Klan and Christian nationalism. Americans are not defined by race, ethnicity, religion, or where your ancestors are buried. We and our leaders need to acknowledge and reject the dark history of the Klan and the false narrative of Christian nationalism.
We will continue to be a great country by continuing to attract and welcome a diversity of smart and hardworking people from around the world, upholding the ideals of our creed, and creating an environment for continued success for all Americans.
