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Creativity Movement

(Formerly World Church of the Creator)

Note: A prexisting group using the name Church of the Creator sued for control of that name and won. However much of the literature for the Creativity movement and most early reports on the group use the name World Church of the Creator (WCOTC) to refer to the race hate group. We apologize for this confusion and to the group currently claiming the name, and hope people are clear that there is no connection between the two groups.

The Creativity movement was founded by Ben Klassen who wrote a series of books about his idiosyncratic philosophy.  The current leader is Matt Hale.  According to Klassen, his religion--Creativity--is the recognition that the natural destiny of the White Race is to rule the world and thus fulfill the purpose of the universe.  To attain this destiny, it is necessary to destroy the enemies and race traitors who prevent this from happening. The primary enemies are Jews, Blacks and other "mud people," and White race traitors, including most Christians. Klassen credits the influence of Hitler's Mein Kampf in the development of his views. Creativity may be a despicable religion, but it can claim to be a religion because it aspires to an understanding of the purpose of life, seeks transcendence, and has an articulated set of beliefs and rituals.

What Klassen did was to pick up ideas from  the theories of Nietzsche, pantheisim, Odinism, and Celtic paganism as filtered through German Nazi retelling of the Norse heroic warrior myths, to create a  religion of Aryanist White supremacy.  Discarding the details, he created a form of cosmotheism in which the supreme power is the collective will of the Aryan race. The duty of every member of the Aryan race is to reflect the ideals of the heroic warrior and do battle with the enemies of the race.  The group's battle cry is RAHOWA, which stands for RAcial HOly WAr. Like other forms of fascism, the idea of action is central to the philosophy, as is the celebration of violence and the spilling of blood as part of a rite of passage to full adulthood.  While this ideas was originally a concept of men and manhood, it has been extended to include women and womanhood. Some do not see this as progress for feminist ideas.

When some people examine Klassen's book The White Man's Bible, they accurately point out that it does not seem to clearly articulate a religious viewpoint. This is true, however, the earlier book, Nature's Eternal Religion is the foundation document of the religion. The White Man's Bible is more of a handbook for clean living. Another Klassen book is On the Brink of a Bloody Racial War: With the White Race Targeted for Extermination.

In Nature's Eternal Religion, Klassen writes:

"It was then I decided to compile my creed into a book. I decided to formulate a new religion for the White Race that would lead it out of the quagmire of Jewish entrapment, out of despair and degradation, and into the bright light of greatness, to the heights of the wonderful destiny that Nature herself, in her great wisdom, has destined for this magnificent race." p. 444.

"The niggers is (sic) the vital  means of bastardizing the White Race…The Jews are therefore madly pushing a program  of upgrading the niggers and pulling down the White." The suggested solution is to ship Blacks back to Africa, "drive the Jews from power and render them harmless," and "hang the traitors of our own race." p. 184

Benjamin Nathaniel Smith  went on a shooting rampage in 1999 in Illinois and  Indiana, targeting Jews, Blacks and Asians. He then killed himself. Smith was influenced  by the World Church of the Creator.  

In Klassen's book, On the Brink of a Bloody Racial War, the inevitability of genocide carried out by White racial warriors is obvious throughout, however, while the WCOTC is struggling to gain total control over the political system in a country, Klassen urges followers to stay within the boundaries of what is "legal, constitutional, and non-violent. This is a tactical, not a strategic, command.  Klassen, On the Brink of a Bloody Racial War, p. 375.

Klassen's words are reprinted by Hale as part of a public statement in the WCOTC newsletter The Struggle, that includes the claim: "Our Church does not condone or advocate violence or illegality in any way."  The Struggle, Issue XC, Dec. XXIXAC, p. 12

In his article "Creativity's Strategy for White Victory," Hale makes it clear that the call for nonviolence is merely a temporary tactic. Hale cites Klassen's admonition to use legal means to win the struggle.  "We must spread the message of Creativity legally so that we can continue to spread it, rather than wind up in jail."  Matt Hale, "Creativity's Strategy for White Victory."

Yet the WCOTC philosophy makes it clear that once in power, the Church will create the conditions whereby people of color, Jews, and White "race traitors" will wither away and eventually disappear off the face of the Earth.  This fits the UN definition of genocide.

Hale writes: "It cannot be denied that Ben Klassen envisioned that one day, there would probably be an all-out war with the mud races. After all, he did not speak the words 'RAHOWA! This Planet is Ours!" for nothing. In Nature's Eternal Religion, he describes how once we get the White Race's thinking straight, the White Race will cease to subsidize the mud races, and they shall wither on the vine. Then, the White Race under the banner of Creativity shall expand its territory until all the good lands of this planet earth are ours. The mud races may very well offer some resistance and that resistance will have to be destroyed."

While this call for future genocide is clear, Hale repeats his call for nonviolence at the present time. The intrinsic heroic warrior theme of Creativity, however,  rebuts that claim because it makes it clear that "real" masculine men take action against their enemies and advance their race. This creates a dynamic whereby followers of Creativity could easily decide to increase their status through aggression or even violence against their enemies.

Like many devotees of racial Aryanism, Hitlerism, and Nordicism, activists in the World Church of the Creator are fans of imperial Rome. This started with founder Klassen, who called himself Pontifex Maximus, the title in Latin used by all subsequent leaders. The Church newsletter, The Struggle, in recent years has sported Roman numeral years and issue numbers. One issue included a notice on how to obtain a language course for learning Latin.  "Interested in Learning Latin?" The Struggle, Issue LXXXVII, Sept. XXIXAC, p. 5

The back page of Issue XC (90) held a hand drawn Roman Legionnaire with a WCOTC shield and a sword battling a snake with a Star of David on its tail and a caricature of a "Jew's" face complete with stereotypic (antisemitic) features.  The Struggle, Issue XC, Dec. XXIXAC, p. 12

In another issue there is an article by Brother Donald Hansard, "Greatness," which proclaims, "When most of us look to the past and see those who have achieved greatness, we think about the likes of the Romans, the Third Reich, and the Babylonians…. With the Romans, it was Augustus and Hadrian along with a few other emperors who showed the people of Rome the truth about the Jews. With the Third Reich, it was Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebels, and Rudolf Hess along with a few others who would take Germany back from the Jews and restore the German pride the Jews had stolen."  Donald Hansard, "Greatness." The Struggle, Issue LXXXIX, Nov. XXIXAC, p. 5.  

The Imperial Romans and the Nordic Aryan Nazis are seen as the racial ancestors of White men in the U.S. in this formulation.

According to WCOTC teachings, Christianity is just another form of Judaism.  

More Information & Updates

Building Democracy Initiative of the Center for New Community

• Creating A Commotion: Matt Hale and the “World Church of the Creator” (PDF)
• World Church of the Creator: One Year Later (PDF)
• Creating" A Killer: A Background Report On Benjamin "August" Smith and The World Church Of The Creator (PDF)

Southern Poverty Law Center

• News about the Creativity Movement and background reports

Anti-Defamation League

• World Church of the Creator - ADL - short version for Boston Case
• World Church of the Creator - Anti-Defamation League - Backgrounder
• World Church of the Creator - ADL Online Report
• World Church of the Creator: Creed of Hate - Anti-Defamation League (1993)

Other

• NPR Program on WCOTC by Howard Berkes - 2/10/03  

Links to Creativity websites

• Homepage of the Creativity Movement in the U.S.
• Homepage of Creativity World Wide
  
  
• http://www.klassenwasright.cjb.net (Spanish & Portuguese)
• http://www.whitefaith.cjb.net (Spanish & Portuguese)

White Order of Thule

The White Order of Thule is a group influenced by Odinism, paganism, pantheism, Greek mythology, and Celtic lore, and is mirrored on German Nazi celebration of Nordic myths of the heroic warrior.  These myths were the basis of Wagner's Ring opera cycle, and influenced Hitler who merged them with his distorted understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy of the centrality of will and the concept of the Ubermensch which Hitler turned into the idea of an Aryan "Master Race."

Read the following for an excellent overview of the White Order of Thule

Damned, Defiant and Dangerous Continuing White Supremacist Violence in the U.S. Devin Burghart and Justin Massa Searchlight, July 2001

"The group’s educational programme teaches its few members everything from "Practical Occultism", "Jungian psychology" and "Archetypal Pathworking", to "Folkish Hygiene" and "Hermetic Philosophy". White Order of Thule study books include, Imperium, Mein Kampf, The Decline of the West, Might is Right, Revolt Against the Modern World, and Twilight of the Idols." Read More Here.

A newsletter circulated in the White Order of Thule, Fenris Wolf, carries a graphic of a farmer with a scyth, and the headline: "To give death and to receive it.....that is the power of the Ubermensch!!! Hail Queen Hela! Hail Death!" Cite: Fenris Wolf # 7.

This same issue discusses the importance of reading books such as Madison Grant's The Passing of the Great Race, and contains a number of music reviews of neonazi black metal music. (See: Soundtracks to White Revolution).

Leo Felton wrote an article in Fenris Wolf #7.
Read it here: page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | page 4
Read another article for Fenris Wolf #7: page 1 | page 2 | page 3

Books from 14 Words Press are popular in White Order of Thule networks.

More about Leo V. Felton and Erica Chase in Boston:

Anti-Defamation League - White Order of Thule - Two with Ties to White Supremacy Suspected in Plot to Bomb Boston Sites

Bombs in Boston - Southern Poverty Law Center A biracial man who describes his mixed-race heritage as a ‘curse’ is charged in an alleged terrorist plot by Kevin Coogan

Read a list of materials for sale at a website influenced by Nordicist Aryan supremacy: Micetrap Forum.

Read a nasty commentary on the Boston case by a bigot

Ideas and Intellectuals

Intellectual Roots of White Supremacy

• Count Arthur de Gobineau’s 1853 The Inequality of Human Races;
• Frances Galton’s 1870 Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences;
• Madison Grant’s 1923 The Passing of the Great Race.

"Democratic theories of government in their modern form are based on dogmas of equality formulated some hundred and fifty years ago and rest upon the assumption that environment and not heredity is the controlling factor in human development" (Grant, 1923: xx).

"Aboriginal populations from time immemorial have been again and again swamped under floods of newcomers and have disappeared for a time from historic view. In the course of centuries, however, these primitive elements have slowly reasserted their physical type and have gradually bred out their conquerors" (Grant, 1923: xxii).

"...the more primitive strata of the population always contain physical traits derived from still more ancient predecessors" (Grant, 1923: xxii).

'The history of the eugenics movement begins with the publication of Charles Darwin's study of human evolution, The Origin of Species in 1859. The idea of evolution, of the development of species over time was transformative but it was the more general idea of the inheritability of human traits that captured the imagination of the earliest writers of what came to be called eugenics. In 1865, as the Civil War in the United States was drawing to an end, independently wealthy Francis Galton published two articles in Macmillan's Magazine that would form the basis of the English eugenics movement; they were jointly called "Hereditary Talent and Character." The essays were expanded into a book published four years later in 1869 and called Hereditary Genius. The central thesis of both the articles and the book was that human traits, and particularly great ability, can be inherited from previous generations. Charles Darwin wrote of his cousin's book, "I do not think I ever in all my life read anything more interesting and original." '

Read about AHNENERBE - Simon Wiesenthal Center A society founded by Heinrich Himmler in 1935, for the purpose of proving the superiority of Germans through "scientific" experiments.

Spengler/Yockey/Carto

This idea was carried further into racialism in Imperium, by Francis Parker Yockey, a "World War II era Nazi sympathizer," whose book Sara Diamond describes as "a classic piece of anti-Jewish propaganda, linking Jews to banking, national indebtedness, and conspiracies behind racial conflict in American society."

Yockey, and his devotee Willis Carto, synthesized Spengler’s theories and arrived at a culturally-based racial nationalist interpretation. Carto founded the Liberty Lobby and the Spotlight newspaper, but both are now defunct.

Spotlight & Liberty Lobby (now defunct) - PRA

Willis Carto - ADL

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

The most important source of antisemitic conspiracist thinking worldwide is the forged propaganda tract, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

In the United States, the most important source for spreading the Protocols was the newspaper The Dearborn Independent, published by Henry Ford, the automaker. Hitler considered Ford a great hero. Ford later claimed he regreted this aspect of his work.

Where Nordic Myths and the Aryan "Race" Intersect with Antisemitism

A non-racist overview of Norse mythology can be found at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia of pagan information. Sometimes Celtic myths are blended into Norse myths.

Here are two books that tell the Nordic heroic warrior myths in an accessible manner:

Coolidge, Olivia E. (1951). Legends of the North. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Riis, Jacob A. (1910). Hero-Tales of the Far-North. New York: MacMillan.

Some authors have racialized these myths. One example is Richard Kelly Hoskins, an influential White supremacist ideologue. In 1958 Hoskins wrote Our Nordic Race where he claimed, "The history of our [Nordic] race is an epic story which should thrill the hearts of our youth..." (5).

According to Hoskins:

"Today the entire world is seething with unrest. The line of conflict is found wherever the protective ring of outposts of our western civilization comes in contact with the now belligerent and aggressive nations of the colored world" (Foreword).

"[A] group of 'agitation Jews,' in close co-operation with a group of Nordic Race Traitors, are almost wholly responsible for the destructive 'one race, one creed, one color' Marxist campaign that has brought strife and disunity to our country and to the rest of Western Civilization" (27).

"...we must add to the large number of states who already have laws prohibiting racial interbreeding and insure that these laws are made ironclad. It would be an irony indeed to protect ourselves against a second Pearl Harbor only to be destroyed by Marxist mongrelism from within" (38).

"Crucial it is that we have solidarity on the subject of Nordic preservation in spite of our enemies within who are doing their utmost to destroy us. If we do not unite our thinking and our actions we shall rest with the ashes of the ages in less than a century. But if we rise to the crisis--if we ally ourselves with our neighbors next door, with our kinsmen more distant, to crush beneath the heel the traitors within, and stalwartly meet the tidal wave of colored fanaticism that is rapidly approaching our shores--we shall win through to a great new era that will follow us to the stars" (39).

Nietzsche, the Ubermensch, National Socialism, Hitler, and the Master Race Theory

Nietzsche did not inherently spawn the Nazi movement. It was German Nazi biased interpretations of Nietzsche that matter in the chart on this page. Nietzsche's philosophy is a hotly debated matter with substantial arguments made by credible scholars that Nietzsche would have disowned Hitler's interpretation.

Hitler relied on the racialized anthropology of the day to develop the racial theory of Aryanism, which did not come from Nietzsche.

From Alan Taylor, "Nietzsche the Nazi?"

"For some time it has been popular to disparage the works of the infamous German thinker, Friedrich Nietzsche, on the grounds that his thought is dangerous, that it lends itself to totalitarianism and, more specifically, to fascism. The history of Nietzsche's adoption by the forces of National Socialism in Germany has been well documented. Adolf Hitler personally approved of Nietzsche's writings, and upon coming to power he promoted one of Nietzsche's first Nazi disciples, Alfred Baumler, to professor of philosophy in Berlin. During the Nazi period Nietzsche was both widely read and celebrated in Germany. He was considered to be one of the master-thinkers of the Aryan race. After Germany lost the war, Nietzsche's thought fell into disrepute. Martin Heidegger even blamed his involvement in Nazi politics on the influence of Nietzsche. Since that time, however, Nietzsche's work has enjoyed a modest revival. Nevertheless, Nietzsche is still viewed with suspicion in many circles! because of a circumstance of history that was beyond his control. Many critics continue to argue that Nietzsche's thinking is at best dangerous or, at worst, downright evil because it leads directly to fascism."

This argument, I contend, is simply untenable given a careful reading of Nietzsche's work. From an examination of his texts, skipping the "approved" Nazi interpretations, one can easily argue that Nietzsche would have certainly opposed his appropriation by National Socialism, particularly its hideous manifestation in Nazi Germany. Keep reading: "Nietzsche the Nazi?"

Violence and Fascist Ideology

The father of fascism, Italy's Benito Mussolini, worked with Giovanni Gentile to write an entry on the philosophy of fascism for the 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana.

"Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision -- the alternative of life or death.... "

Read more from this article...

Other Groups & Movements

14 Words Press

The 14 words refer to a slogan coined by Lane:

"We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

Cites: Lane, David. (1999). Deceived, Damned & Defiant: The Revolutionary Writings of David Lane. St. Maries, ID: 14 Words Press, pp. xix, 6, 27, 83-99, 102-105, 126.

"The [14 Words Press] press has promoted a racist version of the ancient Norse religion Asatru that Lane refers to as Wotansvolk. Asatru, often referred to as Odinism, incorporates the worship of Odin, Thor and other gods and goddesses and is not innately racist. Lane was initially drawn to Christian Identity but became involved with Asatru because he believed, like other white supremacists, that his ancient Northern European ancestors practiced the pagan religion. He describes Wotansvolk, his racialized and Nazified version, as a faith that incarnates WOTAN, or Will Of The Aryan Nation."

Read more about David Lane - ADL  

Deceived, Damned & Defiant

Might is Right

Creed of Iron

Racist Skinheads

Hammerskin Nation

Hammerskin Nation - ADL

Aryan Nations

Aryan Nations is a neonazi group founded by Christian Identity pastor Richard Butler.
More on Richard Butler from the ADL

Christian Identity

[More on Christian Identity & the Posse Comitatus]

Minges, Patrick. (1994). Apocalypse Now! The Realized Eschatology of the "Christian Identity" Movement. Paper, Mid-Atlantic Conference, American Academy of Religion.

 Michael Barkun has writen the most extensive book on Christian Identity

Transitional books taking British Israelism into Christian Identity:

Allen, J. H. (1917 [1902]). Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright. 15th ed. Haverhill, MA: Destiny Publishers.

Mackendrick, W. G. (The Roadbuilder). (1922). The Destiny of Britain and America. Revised ed. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.

The National Alliance

The National Alliance is a neonazi group whose leader, William Pierce, wrote the novel Turner Diaries under the pseudonym Andrew McDonald. Pierce recently died, but the National Alliance, for the moment, continues on.

Read an article from the National Alliance magazine on Celtic Lore Celtic Folkways and the Clash with Romans and Germans  

Other racial nationalist groups

Further Research

 On this website

• Studying Hate Crimes
• What are the different sectors of the political right?
        A chart from PRA
• Antisemitism and Conspiracism
         Supplement to the New Internationalist Magazine
         September 2004
• Hard Times on the Hard Right
         From The Public Eye Magazine - Spring 2002

General background on Organized Racism

Best overview:

Ridgeway, James. (1991). Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads, and the Rise of a New White Culture. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press.

Specific Topics:

Blee, Kathleen M. (2002). Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Blee, Kathleen M. (1991). Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Dobratz, Betty A., and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile. (1997). "White Power, White Pride!" The White Separatist Movement in the United States. New York, Twayne Publishers.

Ezekiel, Raphael S. (1995). The Racist Mind: Portraits of American Neo-Nazis and Klansmen. New York: Viking.

Hamm, Mark S. (1994). American Skinheads: The Criminology and Control of Hate Crime. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Aho, James A. (1990). The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Aho, James A. (1994). This Thing of Darkness: A Sociology of the Enemy. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Barkun, Michael. (1994). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Pagans and Prison Imprisoned racists are working with others outside the walls to spread a noxious version of ancient Norse religion - Southern Poverty Law Center

'Germanic', 'Celtic' 'pagan' religion, and the far Right SIMPOS: Netherlands foundation for information on social problems and occult tendencies

More on Nordic myths