Editing Creativity (religion) (section)

==Beliefs and membership==
[[White nationalism|White separatism]] is fundamental to Creativity, and as such, adherents of it are taught to hate non-whites {{citation needed|date=December 2025}} and avoid social interactions with them. Adherents of the religion are also expected to refute [[homosexuality]], [[miscegenation]] and complaining.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.creativitymovement.org/creator_library/english/lwb-3.html |title=Little White Book |last=Wolf |first=Victor |website=creativitymovement.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120801081133/http://www.creativitymovement.org/creator_library/english/lwb-3.html |archive-date=August 1, 2012 |access-date=March 27, 2012 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Membership in the Creativity Movement is restricted to persons whose [[genetic heritage]] is "wholly or predominantly" from Europe, or members of the white race, regardless of where they reside.<ref name="World Church of the Creator">{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002233114/http://religioustolerance.org/wcotc3.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 2, 2002 |title=World Church of the Creator |website=Religioustolerance.org |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref>

The leader of the entire Creativity religion is called the "[[Pontifex Maximus]]", [[Latin]] for "Greatest Priest" and a title derived from its usage from [[Ancient Rome]].<ref name="Michael" /> The first Pontifex Maximus in the Creativity religion was Klassen himself.<ref name="Michael" />

Creativity has "Sixteen Commandments" and "Five Fundamental Beliefs", which adherents are supposed to recite five times a day, including the belief that "their race is their religion", their belief that the white race is "nature's finest creation", their belief that racial loyalty is the "greatest honor" and their belief that racial treason is the "worst crime", their belief that anything which is beneficial to white people is good and their belief that anything which is detrimental to white people is bad, and their belief that white people should avoid business dealings with Jews and refuse to "employ [[nigger]]s or other [[Person of color|coloreds]]". Klassen's ''Little White Book'' declares that Creativity is the "one and only, true and revolutionary White racial religion", repudiating other racist religions such as [[Christian Identity]] and [[Wotansvolk|Wotanism]].<ref name="religioustolerance1">{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002233006/http://religioustolerance.org/wcotc1.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 2, 2002 |title=World Church of the Creator |publisher=Religioustolerance.org |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref>

Klassen was a racist who hated all [[black people]] and was very open about his contempt for them. In public discourse as well as in his writings, Klassen consistently referred to black people with the racial slur "[[nigger]]" and required that all followers of his religion use that word to refer to black people rather than non-derogatory terms such as "black" or "[[African American]]".{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}} Klassen also condemned other racists who used less offensive terms such as "[[negro]]", stating in print that "Furthermore, in looking up the word in [[Webster's dictionary]] I found the term 'nigger' very descriptive: 'a vulgar, offensive term of hostility and contempt for the black man'. I can't think of anything that defines better and more accurately what our position... should be... If we are going to be for racial integrity and racial purity... we must take a hostile position toward the nigger. We must give him nothing but contempt."<ref>{{cite book |last=Klassen |first=Ben |title=Natures Eternal Religion |year=1973 |publisher=Church of the Creator |page=31}}</ref>

The religion advocates the belief that [[Culture of the United States|American culture]] is becoming "more decadent", citing an increase in the number of "[[Criminal stereotype of African Americans|black crimes]], the growing [[LGBT rights in the United States|acceptance of homosexuality]], [[Interracial marriage in the United States|interracial marriage]], increasing [[Drugs in the United States|drug use]], and the lack of racial identity among white people" as evidence of its increasing decadence.<ref name="religioustolerance1"/> According to the [[Anti-Defamation League]], members believe that [[Jews|Jewish people]] are [[Antisemitic canard|working towards]] the enslavement of all races, and in particular, they believe that the Jews are working towards the "mongrelization of the white race". During the early 2000s, the group was encouraged to move to [[Central Illinois]] in order to establish a "Creativity bastion" (i.e., a place where Creators are the majority demographic).<ref name="World Church of the Creator"/>

===Diet===

Klassen was a [[Orthopathy|natural hygienist]] who recommended a strict [[Fruitarianism|fruitarian]] and [[Raw foodism#Raw veganism|raw vegan]] diet known as "Salubrious Living" which consisted of organically grown fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables.<ref name="Ferber 2004">Ferber, Abby L. (2004). ''Home-Grown Hate: Gender and Organized Racism''. Routledge. p. 108. {{ISBN|0-415-94414-7}}</ref><ref name="Love 2016">Love, Nancy S. (2016). ''Trendy Fascism: White Power Music and the Future of Democracy''. State University of New York Press. pp. 112-114. {{ISBN|978-1438462035}}</ref><ref>Lewis, James; Pizza, Murphy. (2008). ''Handbook of Contemporary Paganism''. Brill. p. 612. {{ISBN|978-9047442356}}</ref> He commented that food should be "uncooked, unprocessed, unpreserved and not tampered with in any other way. This further means it must be organically grown without the use of chemicals."<ref name="Ferber 2004"/> Klassen argued that humans are [[frugivore]]s and distinguished his fruitarian diet to [[vegetarianism]]. In his book ''The White Man's Bible'', he stated that "we are not recommending a vegetarian diet but a frugitarian diet", which included nuts and seeds as a supply of protein.<ref>Klassen, Ben. (2008). [https://archive.org/details/thewhitemansbible1981 "The White Man's Bible"]. pp. 64-67</ref> However, Klassen himself did not follow all the rules of his health regime. Historian [[George Michael (academic)|George Michael]] has noted that "despite his advocacy of healthy nutrition, some of his associates claimed that in practice Klassen did not actually follow the "salubrious living" regimen, because he often ate [[red meat]] and [[ice cream]]."<ref>Michael, George. (2009). ''Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator''. University Press of Florida. p. 74. {{ISBN|978-0813033501}}</ref> (Klassen believed in the full-implementation of Salubrious Living as part of the "advancement-stage" goals of Creativity with the diet being a personal choice for adherents and not as a prerequisite for membership in his group.)

Creativity Alliance continues to advocate Klassen's raw vegan diet and argues against the use of all [[drug]]s, including "artificial medications", in favor of "natural remedies".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230325174734/https://creativityalliance.com/home/salubrious-living/ "Salubrious Living"]. creativityalliance.com. Retrieved 25 March 2023.</ref> Creativity members are purported to follow their own anti-Semitic version of "kosher" dietary laws in which pork, shellfish and catfish are strictly forbidden.<ref>Hamm, Mark S. (1993). ''American Skinheads: The Criminology and Control of Hate Crime''. Praeger. p. 205. {{ISBN|978-0275949877}}</ref>

===Afterlife and supernatural===
Creativity rejects [[supernaturalism]], affirming a [[Metaphysical naturalism|metaphysical naturalist]] worldview. According to its founder Ben Klassen, a member is "not superstitious and disdains belief in the supernatural... [not giving] credence to, or playing silly games with imaginary spooks, spirits, gods and demons." Members do not believe that Nature is a conscious entity, but hold to a [[Naturalistic pantheism|naturalistic pantheist]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publiceye.org/racism/white-supremacy.html |title=The Website of Political Research Associates |website=PublicEye.org |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref><ref>America's Secret Jihad: The Hidden History of Religious Terrorism in the United States</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2020}} view of "everything [is] in [[Nature]]"—"the whole cosmos, the total universe, including its millions of natural laws through space and time".<ref>{{cite book |last=Klassen |first=Ben |chapter=The Laws of Nature Are Eternal |title=Nature's Eternal Religion |location=Lighthouse Point, FL |publisher=Ken Klassen |title-link=Nature's Eternal Religion}}</ref>

Members reject the concept of an [[afterlife]] believing that individual genetic "immortality" is attained through [[reproduction]] and [[wikt:legacy|legacy]], with a [[Eternal oblivion|cessation of consciousness]] of the individual at death. Creativity upholds [[Social organization#Collectivism and individualism|collectivism]] over [[individualism]] and teaches that life and death on Earth should be viewed in a "rational, fearless manner". Members believe that the [[Meaning of life|purpose of life]] is "the [[Self-preservation|survival]], [[Expansionism|expansion]] and advancement" of the white race with "continuance of the individual" attained through [[heredity]] and the legacy left to [[future generations]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.creativitymovement.org/creator_library/english/wmb-59.html |title=Life, Death and Immortality |publisher=Creativity movement |access-date=March 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929204940/http://www.creativitymovement.org/creator_library/english/wmb-59.html |archive-date=September 29, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Whereas Klassen was classified as an [[Atheism|atheist]],<ref>God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America By Christopher Buck, p. 190</ref><ref>Religious Bodies in the U.S.: A Dictionary</ref><ref>Home-grown Hate: Gender and Organized Racism WCOTC Background, p. 93</ref> and Creativity has been labelled atheistic by the press,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Missoulian |first1=GINNY MERRIAM of the |title=Town comes together before World Church meeting |url=https://missoulian.com/uncategorized/town-comes-together-before-world-church-meeting/article_3297e0a4-b2df-5de4-8eb5-22416779b359.html |work=The Missoulian |date=29 August 1999 |language=en}}</ref> he objected to the usage of the term considering it a derogatory smear word without meaning employed by believers in what he termed "non-existent spooks in the sky" while stating that the "organized atheist movements" lacked any "positive creed and program of its own to replace the superstitions it seeks to destroy" while stating that most of the atheist movements in existence at the time did not take any pro-white racial stance and that many of them were under [[Jewish atheism|"heavy Jewish influence"]].<ref>The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration, p. 390</ref> Citing commonality, Klassen stated that both "atheism and Creativity deplore and denounce any and all supernatural beliefs, claims and superstitions. We do not believe in gods, devils, spooks, spirits, heaven or hell. We denounce all such hocus-pocus as being invented by men, largely for the purpose of controlling their minds and worldly affairs and extracting the utmost financial gain from them."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002233006/http://religioustolerance.org/wcotc1.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 2, 2002 |title=World Church of the Creator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=RAHOWA! This Planet is All Ours |url=http://www.wcotc.com/holybooks/rahowa/rahowa-32.html |publisher=Wayback Machine |date=22 October 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021022001526/http://www.wcotc.com/holybooks/rahowa/rahowa-32.html |archive-date=October 22, 2002 }}</ref>

===Racial socialism===
The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies Creativity as a [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] [[ideology]].<ref name=SPLC>{{cite web |title=The Creativity Movement |url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/the-creativity-movement-0 |work=splcenter.org |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=March 19, 2012 |archive-date=May 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508010542/http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/the-creativity-movement-0 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Klassen, Creativity is not a rehash of [[Nazism]]; as evidence of this fact, he listed eight differences which exist between the two political ideologies.<ref>{{cite book |title=Little White Book |author=Ben Klassen |date=1991 |publisher=Church of the Creator |chapter=13. Creativity Unique}}</ref> He adopted the phrase "racial socialism" to describe his political ideology. Klassen was critical of [[democracy]] and advocated [[meritocracy]], believing that effective leaders should rule. Under racial socialism, "whites would work together toward common goals but without the massive economic planning in the style of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Gosplan]]".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last=Michael |first=George |title=Theology of Hate: a History of the World Church of the Creator |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8130-3350-1}}{{Page needed|date=January 2011}}</ref> He supported a limited [[market economy]], believing that social and economic activities should be in the best interests of white people. Klassen criticized "leftist proclivities" to recruit from the white working class: "All [white] members of the national or racial community ... had an important role to play."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Klassen urged members of Creativity to "work feverishly and aggressively to organize politically, to distribute literature on behalf of the White Race, to promote and foster White solidarity, and to get control of the government and the political machinery of the state by legal means if possible. If this is not possible by legal means, then we must resort to the same means as our forefathers used two hundred years ago to defend their liberty, their property, their homes and their families."{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

===Activism===
Creativity engages in [[proselytism]] with the stated goal of placing 10 million copies of two books, ''Nature's Eternal Religion'' and ''The White Man's Bible'', into the hands of white people as part of its belief in "gird[ing] up for total war".{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} It teaches the [[white genocide conspiracy theory]] in support of its perception that shifting population demographics is leading to [[miscegenation]].<ref name="Hate Crimes">{{cite book |last1=Perry |first1=Barbara |title=Hate Crimes |date=2009 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-275-99569-0 |pages=The Victims of Hate Crime 37, Hate Crime Offenders 31 }}</ref>

According to the [[Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance]], the Creativity Movement opposes illegal activity and violence, believing it to be counterproductive.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The group's member handbook threatens expulsion from the group for members who commit crimes or encourage others to do so. Despite this, the group has been connected to multiple religiously- and racially motivated violent crimes.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020911214924/http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc2.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 11, 2002 |title=World Church of the Creator |work=ReligiousTolerance.org |publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref> Members of the group view "racial holy war" (Rahowa) as a [[religious war]] of racial self-defense.<ref name="religioustolerance.org">{{cite web |last=Robinson |first=B. A. |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002233114/http://religioustolerance.org/wcotc3.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 2, 2002 |title=The Creativity Movement: Church Practices |work=ReligiousTolerance.org |publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance |access-date=March 19, 2012}}</ref> The ''White Man's Bible'' states the belief that a [[Zionist Occupational Government]] will prevent Creativity from being promoted legally, and tells its readers that "when that stage
arrives (and we can well expect that our Jewish tyrants will push us to the limit), then we must again plan our actions accordingly—and deliberately, carefully and ruthlessly", calling for readers to, "use any means, legal or otherwise, available to us for our own survival," leading to the hunting down and eliminating of the group's "tormentors".<ref name="fbi"/>