Roman Catholicism and the Ku Klux Klan

Published in 1925, this volume captures a pivotal moment in American sociopolitical history. During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan experienced a massive resurgence, extending its focus beyond white supremacy to include virulent anti-Catholic rhetoric. Charles Edward Jefferson, a prominent Congregationalist minister and author, wrote this work as a direct rebuttal to the religious bigotry that was permeating public discourse at the time.

The text serves as a theological and ethical defense of religious pluralism within the American context. Jefferson, known for his pacifist stance and his long tenure at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City, aimed to dismantle the arguments used by the Klan to position Catholicism as an existential threat to American democracy. The book remains a primary source for understanding how religious leaders within Protestant denominations responded to the nativist tensions that defined the mid-1920s cultural landscape.