The New Mission of the KKK (and why we should stay away from it)

Read the story here. (Hat tip: Dustin Stephens)

So, the KKK is recruiting new members. (In my former hometown to boot!) However, no need to worry, they claim to be less interested in violence and intimidation this time around and simply want to lend a hand to the “Christian,” “right wing” causes they see needing political support in today’s political climate.

As this member put it:

“The KKK is not a violent or prejudice group. It’s a Christian group. This is not the Old Klan… This is the second era. The way the political climate is now, we’re trying to give some stability, some help to the right wing.”

Now, every sane “Christian” (which surely means Protestant—not Catholic—in this clansman’s comment) Right-winger will  decline any assistance offered by the KKK and for good reason. Nonetheless, the question that lingers is this: Under what conditions does the mere possibility of this KKK/Christian-Right alliance come to be? And what does that mean?

After all, we couldn’t reasonably imagine other political factions for this to happen in, politically speaking. Just think of the absurdity of the KKK coming to the aid of the Left. Sure, both major parties have storied memberships as clansmen (more Democrats than Republicans, in this regard), but, today, the Christian-Right seems to be the only place left for them to exist in.

Now the bigger question for Catholics is this: What in the world are Catholics doing trying to fit into this Protestant/Fundamentalist version of conservatism?! Surely there are better and more compatible places for a self-respecting Catholic to be a consistent conservative. This article in the Washington Post seems to get it at a certain level—even though I disagree with the idea that Catholic political thought is reducible to a matter of preserving Western Judeo-Christian culture through “voluntary” distributive capitalism.

This is not to say that we ought to wipe out the Right because it is tantamount to this “new” KKK. Instead, it is to note that there are different strands of conservatism that range from forms of classical liberalism and individualism, to the more coherent (to me) reactions against liberalism (a la Burke). Of all these strands, the one occupied by the Christian/Fundamentalist-Right—neo-liberalism, in other words— should not be on the table for a Catholic, it seems to me.

If it is, then, you should feel weird about who considers you to be a political ally and—if you’re white—a potential new member.