Creativity is an atheistic new religious movement espousing white separatism, antitheism, antisemitism, anti-Christianity, and religious/philosophical naturalism. Creativity is an openly racist religion urging for "White pride" and has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. It was established in Lighthouse Point, Florida, United States, by Ben Klassen as the religion of his Church of the Creator (COTC) in 1973. It now has a presence in several states of the U.S. as well as Australia, Eastern Europe, and the United Kingdom.
Creativity was initially the religion of Klassen's COTC. After his death in 1993, he was succeeded as leader by Matthew F. Hale (who renamed it the New Church of the Creator, then the World Church of the Creator). When Hale was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2003, two groups were created that continue to uphold the religion: the Creativity Alliance (CA also known as the Church of Creativity), and the Creativity Movement. The two groups have common origins.
Creativity claims a naturalistic and racialistic worldview, based on the "survival, expansion and advancement of the White race", according to what the group classifies as the "eternal laws of nature, the experience of history, on logic and common sense".Race Over Grace: The Racialist Religion of the Christian Identity Movement Members of the group believe in a "racial holy war" between "white and non-white races", such as Jews, black people, and mixed-race people.Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies, p. 147Domestic Terrorism and Incident Management: Issues and Tactics, p. 121The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions, p. 218The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration, p. 41 History
Under Klassen (1973–1992)
Creativity was originally founded as the religion of the "Church of the Creator" by Ben Klassen in 1973, when he self-published Nature's Eternal Religion. Adherents of Creativity refer to themselves as Creators, a term derived from Hitler's autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf, wherein his classification of "races" falls into three categories, with the "white race", deemed the "Master race", termed the "creators". Klassen attempted to recruit neo-Nazis into the church because, apart from disagreements over Nazism's embrace of Positive Christianity, its insistence on nationalism (rather than racialism), anti-Slavic and other sentiments against non-Germanic European ethnic groups, Klassen highly revered Adolf Hitler as a "great pioneer" and Nazism as admirable in many contexts.
In 1982, Klassen established a Creativity headquarters in Otto, North Carolina. Although his family expected resistance from local residents, Klassen wrote: "We were not quite prepared for the viciousness of the onslaught by the local paper." Opposition grew, and a May 13, 1982 Franklin Press headline read: "Pro-Hitler, anti-Christ Leader Headquarters Here".Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs William White Williams was the second in command of the COTC, "hasta primus", from 1988. Williams left the COTC about a year after he joined, in 1989. Both Williams and his life left the COTC separately; he and his wife later divorced. In Klassen's final book, he devoted a critical chapter to his experiences with Williams and his wife.
Legal problems, Klassen's death, and reorganization (1992–1996) In 1992, faced with financial and legal problems (including a civil lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center) and the death of his wife, the aging Klassen looked for a successor. Although Rudolph G. ("Butch") Stanko was previously favored for the position, he declined. Klassen selected Charles Edward Altvater, but replaced him before he could assume leadership; he then chose Milwaukee neo-Nazi Mark Wilson, who ran the church from July 1992 to January 1993. Klassen abruptly replaced Wilson with Richard McCarty, having to quell a schism from Wilson's faction. He sold most of the church's property to the National Alliance's William Luther Pierce for $100,000. Pierce quickly sold the property to an unaffiliated third party for $185,000.
In August 1993, Klassen died of suicide at the age of 75 on the grounds of the Creativity headquarters in Otto by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. This followed the death of his wife and a diagnosis of cancer. He left a suicide note; in it, he referred to a passage in his book The White Man's Bible, where he wrote that it was honorable to end your life if it was no longer worth living. Unlike other religions such as Judaism or Christianity, Klassen's Creativity religion does not believe that suicide is a sin and in circumstances such as that faced by its founder Klassen in the early 1990s, is considered a suitable way to die. Klassen was buried on his Creativity headquarters at Otto with his grave in an area that he had already previously designated as "Ben Klassen Memorial Park".
Shortly before and during McCarty's leadership, Creativity was plagued with legal problems; members were arrested for conspiracy, unlawful firearms possession and their association with the July 1993 firebombing of an NAACP building in Tacoma, Washington. McCarty struggled to keep the group unified. The lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), seeking damages related to the May 1991 murder of Harold Mansfield, Jr. by Creator George Loeb, finally led to a March 1994 court ruling which fined the Church of the Creator $1,000,000.
Under Hale (1996–2003) In 1996, Matthew F. Hale, along with other ministers of the original Church of the Creator, formed a successor group, initially known as the "New Church of the Creator ", then the "World Church of the Creator". Hale made national news when he was denied admission to the Illinois State Bar on three occasions due to his beliefs.Evan Osnos and James Janega. "ACLU Sides With Supremacist on Right to Obtain Law License." Chicago Tribune 12 Aug. 1999: 4. Print. On November 12, 1999, the Illinois Supreme Court refused to further consider the denial of Hale's law license, continuing "a decision by its Committee on Character and Fitness that said Hale lacked the moral character to practice law.""Review of Law License Denial." Washington Post 13 Nov. 1999: A5. Print. According to Hale, the committee's denial of his law license may have provoked Benjamin Nathaniel Smith's drive-by shooting spree.
During this period, the Canadian musician George Burdi, also known as George Eric Hawthorne, was lead singer of the Canadian metal band RaHoWa, leader of the Toronto branch of the Church of the Creator, and founder of Resistance Records, an influential white power music record label.The Toronto Star, August 14, 1993 Burdi has been credited with a role in Creativity's survival after the death of Ben Klassen. He was later convicted of assault, and claimed he renounced racism after serving time in prison.Intelligence Report, Fall 2001, Issue Number: 103
Hale's right to use the name "Church of the Creator" in the United States was lost to an unaffiliated religious organization based in Ashland, Oregon, in a trademark infringement case. In 2000 the Oregon-based TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation filed a lawsuit against the World Church of the Creator for using the name "Church of the Creator", since the Oregon group had trademarked and registered the name in 1982. U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow ruled for the World Church of the Creator. In December 2002, the World Church of the Creator was fined $1,000 for each day it continued using the old name. Further appeals were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.A Supreme Court of the United States denial of further review (certiorari) was issued in January 2003.
In January 2003, Hale was arrested and charged with attempting to direct security chief Anthony Evola to murder judge Lefkow; he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.Natasha Korecki and Frank Main, "Hale gets max: 40 years in prison," Chicago Sun Times, 7 April 2005, Bill White was convicted of threatening a juror in the Matthew Hale case and sentenced to 42 months in prison.
After Hale (2003–present) Following the demise of the World Church of the Creator after Hale's arrest in 2003, the movement schismed into two groups with common origins. There formed two distinct groups, known as "The Creativity Movement" and the "Creativity Alliance" or "Church of Creativity".
Creativity Movement Hale's faction was succeeded by an organization called the Crativity Movement. Initially led by Adam Daniel Jacobs, he was later arrested in 2005. He was replaced by James Logsdon. Unsatisfied with his leadership, another schism formed, "The Church of the RaHoWa".
Headquartered in Zion, Illinois, with a heavy concentration of Creators in Montana, and 24 regional branches, it also claims to have local branches and members "all over the world".
Creativity Alliance In 2007, members of the Creativity Movement formed a schism, the Creativity Alliance. According to a Southern Poverty Law Center report, in 2015, the Creativity Alliance had groups in Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Vermont. Creativity Alliance web pages and published books stress that they make no attempt to assume or supersede the registered trademark "Church of the Creator", owned by the TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation.
Randolph Dilloway, former Hasta Primus (Secretary, or second in command) of the Creativity Alliance and founder of the defunct Smoky Mountains Church of Creativity, was an accountant for the revived National Alliance who assessed the financial damage which was done to that organization by its past leadership. Claiming to fear for his life after he discovered (and discussed) the errors, Dilloway contacted police and the SPLC and in 2015 he also furnished them with documents in which he alleged that members of the National Alliance committed fraud and embezzlement.
In March 2015, leaflets which contained the slogan: "The white race is nature’s finest" were posted on doors in southern Liverpool, in the United Kingdom. Cailen Cambeul, Creativity minister and then the Pontifex Maximus of the Creativity Alliance, stated that he was responsible for the distribution of the leaflets. Complaints were lodged to the police by local councilors. Sarah Jennings of the local Green Party denounced Creativity as a "fringe group of blatant racists". According to Cambeul, "Any politician claiming disgust at our flyers and seeking to make political gains via our 100-percent-legal message is partaking in an opportunistic abuse of power at the expense of innocent people exercising their rights to speak out against the injustices of a politically correct world."
Creativity Alliance members are known to regularly distribute flyers; in 2017, the Creativity Alliance was found to be responsible for the distribution of flyers throughout Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the United States, northwest Montana, particularly the Flathead Valley, has seen the distribution of a "flurry of racist fliers" which promote the Creativity movement. The Southern Poverty Law Center listed Creativity Alliance presence in the state in 2015. They frequently distribute flyers in Australia and New Zealand. In 2015, the CA distributed flyers in Inverbervie (Scotland) and Liverpool.