Send us Fan MailIn the conclusion of a two-part conversation, historian Rachel Whitaker of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History moves from the Civil War era into the twentieth century and the present day. Whitaker reveals the Ku Klux Klan's deep integration with church culture in 1920s Northwest Arkansas, reading from newspaper advertisements where the Klan pledged loyalty to local churches, describing ministers who invited congregations to Klan events, and documenting the organization's use of scripture and Christian vocabulary to justify exclusion, violence, and forced conformity. She traces the direct line between the social enforcement of early frontier churches and the Klan's more extreme methods, noting that the charges were the same, only the consequences had changed.The conversation also holds the stories of resistance and welcome. Whitaker tells the story of a Fayetteville congregation that voted overwhelmingly in the 1950s to welcome a Black college student, whose sister was one of the Little Rock Nine — over the objection of 39 members who signed a petition to block her membership. She names the women of Black churches who sheltered civil rights workers, and contemporary congregations doing justice work today. The episode closes with Whitaker's personal reflection on the relationship between faith and institutional power, and her advice to anyone navigating this landscape: read your sacred texts on your own, and if you're Christian, read the red letters.https://www.theunderview.com/the-history-of-faith-with-rachel-whitaker-part-2About the underview:The underview is an exploration of the development of our Communal Theology of Place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.Website: ⁠⁠theunderview.com⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠@underviewtheHost: @mikeruschSend in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theunderview/message