Outrage as Alabama pastor holds 'all white Christian' conference

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: | Updated:

Residents of a small Alabama town are outraged after flyers began circulating for a three-day 'all white' Christian pastors conference that promised a closing ceremony with a 'sacred Christian cross-lighting ceremony.'

A visit to the event in Beaverton, Alabama, revealed the Ku Klux Klan was welcome but blacks, Jews and Muslims weren't.

Despite the decidedly white supremacist overtones of the event, the organizers claim they aren't racist -- they simply don't have room for anyone who isn't white.

White church conference

Controversy: The Sacred Christian Cross Lighting Ceremony, as well as the invitation to 'white Christians' has drawn anger from the community

Rev William J Collier

Not racist? Rev William J Collier, who organized the event, claims his church doesn't hate anyone -- there's just not room for minorities

'I think they're ignorant,' Tammy Griffin, who lives nearby, told WIAT-TV.

'I mean, I have never been raised like this. For it to be all whites nuh-uh, that's awful. I have biracial kids and it's offensive to me.'

Earlier this week, residents in Winfield, a few miles from the gathering, awoke to discover flyers advertising 'Annual Pastors Conference All White Christians Invited' had been plastered on businesses in town.

The event, in its third year, is sponsored by Christian Identity Ministries and the Church of God's Chosen.

KKK

Hate group: The Ku Klux Klan was heavily represented at the event

Rev William C. Collier told WBRC-TV that his church isn't hostile to minorities, but said it teaches 'the white race is God's chosen people.'

'We don't have the facilities to accommodate other races. We have nothing, not one bit of animosity, no racism whatsoever,' he told WIAT.

He has never been invited to Muslim, Jewish, black or Catholic events, he added.

However, the local KKK chapter was represented at the meeting and Mr Collier admitted many of the people in attendance are Klan members.

The conference ends on Friday night with a 'sacred Christian cross-lighting ceremony.'

Nearby residents, including the local NAACP president, said that sound remarkably like a cross-burning.

The KKK burned crosses in the south in the 20th century at their meetings, but also as a means of intimidating black families or whites who oppose the group.

Mr Collier claims the no crosses will be burned, only 'lighted.' He did not, however, clarify the distinction.


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