Was/is the Klan a domestic Christian terrorist group?

[Igel]

20. You're doing the whole/part thing backwards.

Not every trait held by part of a group has to apply to the entire group.

The AME Church is historically black, probably still is mostly black, but that doesn't mean all Xians are black (or mostly black).

Charismatics indulge in glossalalia. It's not a Catholic or Methodist thing. But in some sense they're all still Xians.

My church (that I don't attend these days) keeps a Saturday sabbath. It would come as a shock to the Pope, the Bishop of Cantebury, and numerous others that they're sabbath keeping. (They'd rather say my church wasn't Xian, even if we do believe in a Jesus who was God made flesh, born of Mary, who died the third day for our sins and was resurrected to sit at the right hand of God.)

The KKK can be Christian in that sense but still not be representative of the group.

We play the same game with Muslim terrorists. They're not true Muslims. At least when it comes to Xianity we're honest enough to say that there are different definitions: Do we have a minimal definition, rely on self-definitions, or look at how different sets of doctrines pattern? Do we judge Xianity based on comparison with other groups who call themselves Xian, or compare and contrast with groups that say they're not Xian?

So I can call the KKK Xian while at the same time saying that I don't even think the Pope is Xian or MLK was Xian, so there's no chance in hell the KKK was Xian. Whatever its roots were, what different Klan groups were like, how they merged, split, and transformed both on their own terms and in the public's mind.