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Pillar of Fire International

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Pillar of Fire International

The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Methodist Articles of Religion and as of 1988, had 76 congregations around the world, including the United States, as well as "Great Britain, India, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, the Philippines, Spain, and former Yugoslavia".

The denomination runs radio stations, a printing press, and educational institutions including a seminary.

In the early 20th century, Pillar of Fire was known for its support for women's rights; in the same century, it was known for supporting the Ku Klux Klan and its racist platform. In 1997 and 2009, Pillar of Fire repudiated the denomination's former association with racism and requested forgiveness from God for formerly holding this position. In the present day, worshippers at the mother church in Zarephath are "young, old, white, black, Asian, Hispanic".

In 1901, the Church was founded as a Methodist denomination by Alma Bridwell White in Denver, Colorado. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915. While the Pillar of Fire is Methodist in doctrine, Alma White and her followers believed that the mainline Methodist Church had become corrupt. Alma White and the members of the Pillar of Fire dedicated themselves to the holiness movement in the Wesleyan tradition. Adherents were referred to as "Holy Rollers" and "holy jumpers" because of their religious excitement. White was noted for her association with the Ku Klux Klan, her feminism, anti-Catholicism, antisemitism, anti-pentecostalism, racism, and nativism. With its founder being the first woman bishop in the United States, the Pillar of Fire is a supporter of women's rights, printing the periodical Women's Chains to propagate support for the movement until 1970.

In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the Pillar of Fire Church was vocal in its support of the Ku Klux Klan, to an extent which was unique for a religious denomination. Alma White prolifically spoke and wrote of both her and the Pillar of Fire Church's support of the Klan and many of the Klan's principles including anti-Catholicism, white supremacy, antisemitism, nativism, and temperance. In 1943, shortly before her death, she and the Pillar of Fire Church significantly but not completely distanced themselves from the then discredited and nearly bankrupt Klan organization, but they still continued to promote many of the Klan's intolerant principles. In a 1920s sermon which she republished in 1943, she said

We have no connection with the Klan organization. We endorse them in the principles for which they stand. However there is no room in our hearts for racial prejudice.

However, White and the Pillar of Fire still advocated white supremacy in the same 1943 book-set which asserted their distaste for racial prejudice. In her chapter which was titled "White Supremacy" she wrote

The slaveholder, in many instances, was as much to be pitied as the slaves. He, too, was a victim of the system. ... Where the slaves were well treated they were happy and contented ... But some radicals could never see this side of the question. They dwelt continually on the cruelties of a few hard taskmasters and ignored the good people who had the welfare of their dependents at heart. No matter what the better class of slave owners might do, they had to bear the stigma of cruelty with the worst of tyrants. ... Where property rights are involved, supported by the government, the only safe and sane way to make wrongs right is by cool-headed procedure.

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