No. Until every chapter of the Klan repudiates violence as a means of social domination, they are all tarred with the brush they made for themselves. To my knowledge, none have done so. I stand by my statement: the KKK is a domestic organization of terrorists.

All I was doing was commenting on the standing of the "Westboro Baptist Church" as a church, which it is not.

Still, what does that have to do with the klan members who don't do violent acts being able to speak freely or not? Just because SOME members of a group do such things doesn't mean every clan member should be arrested or barred from speaking freely.

2. Ok then...just don't want this to turn into yet another religious debate...and yeah you're right. They're about as much a "church" as the "church" of Scientology.

Even terrorists have the right to free speech -- until they abuse that right by inciting violence.

Again, they're not terrorists just because some of them do violent acts/crimes......and if some do such acts it doesn't take the whole group's free speech rights away.

That'd be like some who claim that since SOME muslims act violently that we should hate/distrust/restrict ALL muslims.

I was going to rant at you about the legitimacy of scientology but couldn't fathom the effort to keep a straight face at my desk. Can't let my boss know. I'd lose my poker face, my po-poker face.
They only qualify as Baptist if they can pull off a killer Sunday lunch that walks the line of gluttony.

Don't forget the mandatory 2+ hour church services.

Not quite dead shipped from nursing home service at 8, regular service at 10 leading to the lunch picnic. That's just Christian.

"Peace, Love, and Barbecue".

Naw, Christian services usually last just long enough to bore you to tears but leave room to get to the football game/brunch at Denny's.

This isn't an organization which is organized around social gathers where somebody happens to burn a cross. This is an organization that's based around bigotry and threats of violence.

And yes, they do get to keep their free speech, but they're still a terrorist organization.

That's solely your opinion then. I mean if we were to call them terrorists then why don't we call all gangs terrorists? Where would it end? :P

No, it's not solely my opinion, that's based upon their historical track record. Bombings, lynchings and various acts of terrorism perpetrated over the last near century. This isn't just violence, this is violence aimed at a group of people based upon an agenda.

Gangbangers are gangbangers, they're a completely different breed. For the most part if you stay out of their territory they don't give a fuck about you. There is some random violence involved, but that's more akin to the old school mafia tactics involved when they had their own turf wars.

All in all it's a completely different situation. You can't end the Klan violence with job programs the way that you can normal gang violence.

Then you should put all of christianity under the umbrella of terrorism ..or all of islam or all of judeism. Why not put God in the terrorist category. Terror has been waged on people all throughout history in the name of God. There is a lengthy track record. You could also say the American state is a terrorist state because we committed genocide against the native population in the name of "Manifest Destiny".

But they wouldn't move over.

There may be some arguments in favor of that, but they're weak in comparison to the arguments that may be used to condemn the KKK. The manifesto of the KKK has always been "white supremacy", and it has always sanctioned terrorist acts as a means of achieving white domination.