The Assembly of Christian Soldiers is a Christian Identity church that was established in 1971 by former

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

smen. At its peak, the church had approximately 3000 members organized into 16 congregations in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. The Assembly of Christian Soldiers was incorporated in Alabama in August 1971 by Jessie L. Thrift, who was a former

Grand Wizard The Grand Wizard (later the Grand and Imperial Wizard simplified as the Imperial Wizard and eventually, the National Director) referred to the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad. The ti ...

of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a schismatic KKK group. Among the members of the church were a number of other well-known KKK members. The church was best known for its 1970s program of using its tax-exempt donations to subsidize private, all-white segregated schools in the southeastern United States.

References

J. Gordon Melton John Gordon Melton (born September 19, 1942) is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Ins ...

(1993, 5th ed.). ''Encyclopedia of American Religions'' (Detroit: Gale, ) p. 937. *Richard Alan Pride (2002). ''The Political Use of Racial Narratives: School Desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, 1954–97 (Urbaba: University of Illinois Press, ) p. 117. *Chester L. Quarles (2004). ''Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion'' (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, ) p. 67 *''Mobile Press'', 1971-08-02 Christian denominations founded in the United States Christian Identity Organizations based in Alabama Christian organizations established in 1971 Ku Klux Klan organizations Christian denominations established in the 20th century Christian new religious movements {{US-org-stub