Why was a cross burned when the kkk was going to hurt someone???

Question

Does anybody know why a cross???

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_burning

Answer 2

The much maligned Ku Klux Klan is an organization of White Christians. They're like a denomination, except that they only accept White members and they have had a history of vigilantism, punishing certain kinds of criminals when the local authorities either can't or won't.

The burning cross is part of a ceremony they observe. It's a way of making the Cross of Jesus Christ seem to glow, a way of making the image of the cross more impressive and grand. Since they're the only ones (as far as I know) who do this, the cross burning ritual was branded as being inherantly racist - even though it isn't.

A prohibition on the KKK against cross-burning would be similar to telling the Catholics that they can't celebrate the Eucharist any more, or like telling the Baptists that they may no longer baptise anybody. There's just no telling what somebody will take offense at, and it's long past time that liberty again took priority over offended sensibilities.

Answer 3

Cross burning or cross lighting is a practice widely associated with the Ku Klux Klan, which burns Christian crosses on hillsides or near the homes of those they wish to intimidate, usually non-whites.
In Scotland the "fiery cross", known as the Crann Tara was used as a declaration of war, which required all clan members to rally to the defence of the area. It is important to note that in Scotland it has absolutely no racist connotations. The practice is described in the novels and poetry of Sir Walter Scott. A small burning cross would be carried from town to town. The most recent known use there was in 1745, during the Jacobite Rising[1], the best part of a century before the foundation of the KKK. Although many of the members of the KKK were descended from immigrants from Scotland, there is no evidence to suggest that their ancestors brought this tradition with them to America.


The Reconstruction-era Klan did not burn crosses, but Thomas Dixon's 1902-1907 trilogy of novels portrayed a romanticized version of the Reconstruction Klan that did burn crosses (see The Clansman). Dixon may have based the idea on Scott, or on other literary or historical sources. The Klan-glorifying 1915 movie The Birth of a Nation was based on two of Dixon's novels. Birth of a Nation quotes Dixon's novel The Clansman as saying:

"In olden times when the Chieftain of our people summoned the clan on an errand of life and death, the Fiery Cross, extinguished in sacrificial blood, was sent by swift courier from village to village...The ancient symbol of an unconquered race of men."
The 1915 lynchers of Leo Frank burned a cross two months after the lynching. They probably got the idea from Birth of a Nation, which was released in the same year. William J. Simmons, who founded the new Klan later in the same year, burned a cross at the mountaintop founding ceremony. Many of the participants in Simmons's ceremony were the same men who had helped to lynch Frank.

Many Christians consider it sacrilege to burn or otherwise destroy a cross.

The Klan, however, claims to not be destroying the cross, but "lighting" it, a symbol of their faith.

In 2003, in the case Virginia v. Black, the United States Supreme Court ruled that while a cross burning at a KKK rally is protected by the First Amendment, a burning cross used as intimidation doesn't enjoy the same freedom due to the fact that the symbol is used as a threat.

Answer 4

Cross burning or cross lighting is a practice widely associated with the Ku Klux Klan, which burns Christian crosses on hillsides or near the homes of those they wish to intimidate, usually non-whites.

History
In Scotland the "fiery cross", known as the Crann Tara was used as a declaration of war, which required all clan members to rally to the defence of the area. It is important to note that in Scotland it has absolutely no racist connotations. The practice is described in the novels and poetry of Sir Walter Scott. A small burning cross would be carried from town to town. The most recent known use there was in 1745, during the Jacobite Rising[1], the best part of a century before the foundation of the KKK. Although many of the members of the KKK were descended from immigrants from Scotland, there is no evidence to suggest that their ancestors brought this tradition with them to America.

The Reconstruction-era Klan did not burn crosses, but Thomas Dixon's 1902-1907 trilogy of novels portrayed a romanticized version of the Reconstruction Klan that did burn crosses (see The Clansman). Dixon may have based the idea on Scott, or on other literary or historical sources. The Klan-glorifying 1915 movie The Birth of a Nation was based on two of Dixon's novels. Birth of a Nation quotes Dixon's novel The Clansman as saying:

"In olden times when the Chieftain of our people summoned the clan on an errand of life and death, the Fiery Cross, extinguished in sacrificial blood, was sent by swift courier from village to village...The ancient symbol of an unconquered race of men."

The burning cross is a symbol used by the Klan to create terror. Cross burning is said to have been introduced by William J. Simmons, the founder of the second Klan in 1915.The 1915 lynchers of Leo Frank burned a cross two months after the lynching. They probably got the idea from Birth of a Nation, which was released in the same year. William J. Simmons, who founded the new Klan later in the same year, burned a cross at the mountaintop founding ceremony. Many of the participants in Simmons's ceremony were the same men who had helped to lynch Frank.

Many Christians consider it sacrilege to burn or otherwise destroy a cross.

The Klan, however, claims to not be destroying the cross, but "lighting" it, a symbol of their faith.

In 2003, in the case Virginia v. Black, the United States Supreme Court ruled that while a cross burning at a KKK rally is protected by the First Amendment, a burning cross used as intimidation doesn't enjoy the same freedom due to the fact that the symbol is used as a threat.

Answer 5

The KKK believe in God and this was a used as a sign most of the time.The cross was burnt be for someone was hurt in most cases in someones yard as a warning that they would be back.I live in the middle of no where and the KKK is still active here.In most places they are never seen but here they stand at the red lights handing out flyer's and asking for donations.Kind of scary.

Answer 6

The KKK actually likes to associate themselves with Christianity. In their minds, burning a cross in this way is not an act of desecration, but one of purification. This ties in well with their mind-set, as they see hate crimes against other ethnicities to be a form of purification as well.

Answer 7

Their sick and twisted and full of hate. They use the cross
as a way of saying" God is on our side, we represent what
God wants and we are right". They are losers who have
nothing better to do. That's just my opinion.

Answer 8

Considering they are some of the most stupid and ignorant people on the face of the planet there probably isn't a good reason behind it other than to scare people.

Answer 9

I dont really know why but that was just one of there rituals. I dont like the KKK they are scum and cowards wearing their sheets over their heads.