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[kiva]

28. The KKK is not a religion.

It is a secular organization that uses religion - specifically Protestant sects - to legitimize themselves.

Cross burning explained: "The practice dates back to Medieval Europe, an era the Klan idealizes as morally pure and racially homogenous. In the days before floodlights, Scottish clans set hillside crosses ablaze as symbols of defiance against military rivals or to rally troops when a battle was imminent. Though the original Klan, founded in 1866, patterned many of its rituals after those of Scottish fraternal orders, cross-burning was not part of its initial repertoire of terror." http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2002/12/why_does_the_ku_klux_klan_burn_crosses.html

Although more modern incarnations of the clan try to tie 'cross lightings' to faith, they have traditionally been about power, not religion...and this is where your analogy falls apart. Do Klansmen ask "Is this person a Protestant?" before they terrorize that person? During the 1920s there was an expansion of victims to include non-Protestants, but if you were black your religion didn't matter - only the color of your skin.

Historically people are X faith for one of two reasons - they either self-identify or they are identified by others; you either say "Yes, I'm Hindu" or a member of another group says "Your family is Jewish, so you are a Jew." So yes, people who say they are Muslim are Muslim.