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Alabama residents denounce Christian conference's planned cross-burning
Whites-only gathering draws ire from locals and civil rights groups, but organisation maintains they aren't breaking any laws
Adam Gabbatt in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 July 2012 15.58 EDT
Residents living near a whites-only Christian conference in Alabama, which culminates on Friday with the burning of a cross, have denounced the group holding the event.
The mayor of Winfield, where flyers for the three-day event were left with homes and businesses, described the organisers as a "radical KKK group" and said locals wanted nothing to do with it.
Flyers posted by the Church of God's Chosen around Lamar County, in north-west Alabama, invited attendees with the tag line: "Annual pastors conference – all white Christians welcome."
Wayne 'Rebel' Silas, the mayor of Winfield, 15 miles from where the conference is being held, said he had received complaints about the flyers from locals. "We don't condone that in Winfield," Silas told the Guardian. "They did that under the cover of night."
He added: "It's just a radical KKK group and we don't agree with it."
The three-day event, which will feature lunches, prayer and games, will indeed end with the burning of a cross – an act most commonly associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
Event organiser Rev William C Collier says that his Church of God's Chosen is not a hate group, although he does believe "the white race is God's chosen people".
"We don't have the facilities to accommodate other people," Collier told a local Fox affiliate when asked why the conference was white only.
He added: "We haven't got any invitations to black, Muslim events. Of course we are not invited to Jewish events and stuff."
The event is reportedly being held in conjunction with Christian Identity Ministries, a group set up by Reverend Mel Lewis. Some reports have linked Lewis's church to an Australian organisation's website of the same name, but while the groups appear to share some common ground, they seem to be separate entities.
Lewis, interviewed by local TV channel WAFF 48 News, said: "The mayor ordered our fliers to be taken down. When did they start religious censorship?" The report showed a large amount of Ku Klux Klan memorabilia on show at the conference.
"We are not breaking any laws. We're not violating any ordinances. We're bringing the word of God to people who want it, obviously, or they wouldn't be here," Lewis said.
When the WAFF reporter asked Lewis who white Christians are, the pastor replied: "They are part of the chosen race."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group set up to fight hate and bigotry in the south, describes the Christian Identity movement with which Lewis appears to associate as "a unique anti-Semitic and racist theology". The anti-defamation league says Christian Identity adherents believe whites of European descent "can be traced back to the 'Lost Tribes of Israel'".
Silas says authorities are powerless to act as long as those at the conference are not breaking the law.
However Silas received an email, which he shared with the Guardian, on Friday morning which appears to threaten those attending the pastors event. "There will be a major incident at the conference," the anonymous email said. "I would expect you to stand down and let the blood fly. Those people deserve to die and they will."
Silas stressed that neither he nor most residents of Winfield condoned the email. But he described the group as propagating hatred. "What I don't like about it is they do it under the terms of religion," the mayor said. "That's not true religion. Jesus said you love your neighbour as yourself. They're using that as a cover for hatred, and that's all it is."
Whites-only gathering draws ire from locals and civil rights groups, but organisation maintains they aren't breaking any laws
Adam Gabbatt in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 July 2012 15.58 EDT
Residents living near a whites-only Christian conference in Alabama, which culminates on Friday with the burning of a cross, have denounced the group holding the event.
The mayor of Winfield, where flyers for the three-day event were left with homes and businesses, described the organisers as a "radical KKK group" and said locals wanted nothing to do with it.
Flyers posted by the Church of God's Chosen around Lamar County, in north-west Alabama, invited attendees with the tag line: "Annual pastors conference – all white Christians welcome."
Wayne 'Rebel' Silas, the mayor of Winfield, 15 miles from where the conference is being held, said he had received complaints about the flyers from locals. "We don't condone that in Winfield," Silas told the Guardian. "They did that under the cover of night."
He added: "It's just a radical KKK group and we don't agree with it."
The three-day event, which will feature lunches, prayer and games, will indeed end with the burning of a cross – an act most commonly associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
Event organiser Rev William C Collier says that his Church of God's Chosen is not a hate group, although he does believe "the white race is God's chosen people".
"We don't have the facilities to accommodate other people," Collier told a local Fox affiliate when asked why the conference was white only.
He added: "We haven't got any invitations to black, Muslim events. Of course we are not invited to Jewish events and stuff."
The event is reportedly being held in conjunction with Christian Identity Ministries, a group set up by Reverend Mel Lewis. Some reports have linked Lewis's church to an Australian organisation's website of the same name, but while the groups appear to share some common ground, they seem to be separate entities.
Lewis, interviewed by local TV channel WAFF 48 News, said: "The mayor ordered our fliers to be taken down. When did they start religious censorship?" The report showed a large amount of Ku Klux Klan memorabilia on show at the conference.
"We are not breaking any laws. We're not violating any ordinances. We're bringing the word of God to people who want it, obviously, or they wouldn't be here," Lewis said.
When the WAFF reporter asked Lewis who white Christians are, the pastor replied: "They are part of the chosen race."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group set up to fight hate and bigotry in the south, describes the Christian Identity movement with which Lewis appears to associate as "a unique anti-Semitic and racist theology". The anti-defamation league says Christian Identity adherents believe whites of European descent "can be traced back to the 'Lost Tribes of Israel'".
Silas says authorities are powerless to act as long as those at the conference are not breaking the law.
However Silas received an email, which he shared with the Guardian, on Friday morning which appears to threaten those attending the pastors event. "There will be a major incident at the conference," the anonymous email said. "I would expect you to stand down and let the blood fly. Those people deserve to die and they will."
Silas stressed that neither he nor most residents of Winfield condoned the email. But he described the group as propagating hatred. "What I don't like about it is they do it under the terms of religion," the mayor said. "That's not true religion. Jesus said you love your neighbour as yourself. They're using that as a cover for hatred, and that's all it is."
