How have KKK leaders used the Old Testament versus the New Testament in their rhetoric?
Executive summary
KKK leaders have drawn on both Old and New Testament texts but in sharply different ways: Old Testament narratives and symbols are repurposed to claim a racialized lineage for “white” Christians and to provide a mythic, tribal origin (notably the Twelve Tribes motif), while select New Testament passages — even relatively obscure ones like 2 Peter — have been weaponized for protectionist, exclusionary rhetoric and to delegitimate opponents [1] [2]. Scholarly work and contemporary watchdog reporting show the Klan fused Protestant religious language with its own rulebook (the Kloran) to make its racism appear doctrinal [3] [1].
1. How the Old Testament was turned into a racial origin story
KKK propaganda and allied Christian Identity thinkers treated the Old Testament as ethnogenesis: the Bible became a “family history” for the white race, with the Twelve Tribes of Israel recast as the origins of white Christians and used to assert moral and spiritual superiority over others [1]. This is not casual citation; the Old Testament’s people-and-land narratives offered a convenient template to ground claims of chosen status and territorial entitlement. The Southern Protestant milieu that fed the second Klan (1915–1930) amplified this reading, integrating Old Testament symbolism into ritual and identity construction — a tactic documented by historians who treat the second Klan as religiously organized rather than merely rhetorical [3] [4].
2. New Testament exegesis as tactical rhetoric and exclusion
KKK leaders and propagandists also mined the New Testament, but often for tactical, protectionist passages rather than the universalizing themes many Christians emphasize. Recent analysis points out that even an obscure epistle like 2 Peter has been quoted or alluded to in Klan circles to frame opponents as false prophets and to justify social separation and distrust — the Klan adopts the letter’s “protectionist strategy” and its hostile imagery to circulate fear and legitimize exclusion [2]. Watchdog and encyclopedia accounts add that the second Klan couched its agenda in Protestant moral language, using New Testament-sounding claims while being denounced by mainstream denominations [5] [1].
3. Ritual, the Kloran, and Biblical symbolism
The Klan did not depend solely on scripture; it fused Biblical imagery with an internal manual, the Kloran, and ritual practices. Cross burnings, white robes, and pseudo-baptismal induction rites were framed with religious symbolism — the cross as “light of Christ,” white garments as purity — creating a performative Christianity that masked political and racial aims [1]. Scholars argue that for the second Klan, Protestant religiosity was not merely window-dressing: it drew members through religious language and shaped Klan conceptions of race, gender and nation [3].
4. Two competing interpretations in the record
Sources diverge on whether the Klan’s use of scripture is sincere theology or cynical rhetorical appropriation. Kelly J. Baker’s scholarship treats the second Klan as genuinely religious — a movement whose Protestant faith shaped its ideology — while many other studies emphasize that Klan religion functioned chiefly as a rhetorical device masking racism [3]. Watchdog groups and encyclopedic entries underscore the instrumental nature of scripture in white supremacist propaganda but also note the degree to which adherents viewed these readings as literal truth [1] [5].
5. Limits of available reporting and what’s not mentioned
Available sources document that Klan interpreters leaned on Old Testament tribal imagery and selective New Testament passages like 2 Peter, and that the Kloran and ritualized symbolism undergirded their religionized identity [2] [1] [3]. What the current reporting does not comprehensively map are the full catalogs of specific Old Testament verses most frequently cited by Klan leaders over time, or systematic longitudinal analyses comparing which biblical texts rose or fell in popularity across Klan eras — not found in current reporting [2] [3].
6. Why this matters: theology, politics, and the danger of scriptural veneer
The Klan’s selective exegesis shows how scripture can be repurposed to naturalize exclusion and violence: Old Testament tribal narratives supply a genealogy of belonging, New Testament polemics provide language to delegitimate opponents, and ritual symbolism sanctifies organization. Mainstream Christian institutions have repeatedly rejected the Klan’s claims, but watchdogs warn that the combination of scriptural cover plus organizational texts like the Kloran can make extremist ideas appear doctrinally respectable [1] [5].