Editing Creativity (religion)

{{Short description|White supremacist new religious movement}}
{{for|the Christian new religious movement|Church of the Creator}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox religious group
| group         = Creativity
| image         = Flag of Church of the Creator.svg
| image_size    = 125px
| image_caption = Flag of Creativity. The red field symbolizes the struggle for the survival, expansion, and advancement of the [[White people|white race]], and the white triangle on the right represents a "whiter and brighter world".<ref name="ReligTol">{{cite web |last=Robinson |first=B. A. |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=The Creativity Movement: Introduction |work=ReligiousTolerance.org |publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance |access-date=March 19, 2012}}</ref>
| population    =
| founder       = [[Ben Klassen]]
| regions       = {{hlist|[[Midwestern United States]]|[[Texas]]|[[Montana]]|[[Eastern Europe]]|[[Australia]]|[[United Kingdom]]}}
| tablehdr      =
| region1       =
| pop1          =
| ref1          =
| region2       =
| pop2          =
| ref2          =
| region3       =
| pop3          =
| ref3          =
| religions     =
| scriptures    = {{hlist|''Nature's Eternal Religion''|''The White Man's Bible''|''Salubrious Living''|"Expanding Creativity"|"Building a Whiter and Brighter World"|"RAHOWA! This Planet Is All Ours"|"Klassen Letters, Volumes One and Two"|"A Revolution Of Values Through Religion"|"Against The Evil Tide"|"On The Brink Of A Bloody Racial War"|"Trials, Tribulations And Triumphs"|"Little White Book"}}
| related-c     =
| notes         =
}}
'''Creativity''', historically known as the ('''World''') '''Church of the Creator''', is an [[Atheism|atheistic]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Matt Hale |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/matt-hale |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=15 February 2022 |language=en |quote=Klassen had founded the Church of the Creator in 1973 based on the belief that "white people are the creators of all worthwhile culture and civilization." Race itself was the sole religious doctrine of this "church," an essentially atheistic discipline that views the Judeo-Christian god as a phantom "super-spook."}}</ref> [[new religious movement]] espousing [[White nationalism|white separatism]], [[antitheism]], [[antisemitism]], [[anti-Christian sentiment|anti-Christianity]], [[scientific racism]], [[homophobia]], and [[Religious naturalism|religious]]/[[Naturalism (philosophy)|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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/creativity-movement |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=10 February 2017 |title=The Creativity Movement |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729062216/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/creativity-movement |archive-date=July 29, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Creativity Movement (Formerly World Church of the Creator) |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/profile/creativity-movement-formerly-world-church-creator |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=www.adl.org}}</ref> It was founded in [[Lighthouse Point, Florida]], United States, by [[Ben Klassen]] as the ''Church of the Creator'' 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 is promoted by two organizations: the '''Creativity Alliance''' ('''CA''' also known as the '''Church of Creativity'''), and the '''Creativity Movement'''. The two groups have common origins,<ref name="Michael">{{cite book |last1=Michael |first1=George |year=2003 |title=Confronting Right Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA |url=https://archive.org/details/confrontingright00mich |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/confrontingright00mich/page/n85 72] |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134377619}}</ref> both being created in 2003 after Klassen's successor [[Matthew F. Hale]] (who had renamed the organisation '''New Church of the Creator''') was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison.<ref name=halearrest/><ref name=guilty/>

Creativity claims a [[Religious naturalism|naturalistic]] and [[Scientific racism|racialistic]] worldview, based on the "survival, expansion and advancement of the [[White people|White race]]",<ref name="adl"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Henry |first1=Sarah |title=Marketing Hate: The Church of the Creator Has Sold Violent Racism as Religion for 20 Years. Now, It's the Skinheads Who Are Buying, and Some Serious Head-Bashing Has Begun. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-12-tm-915-story.html |access-date=14 October 2018 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=12 December 1993}}</ref> according to what the group classifies as the "eternal laws of nature, the experience of history, on logic and common sense".<ref>Race Over Grace: The Racialist Religion of the Christian Identity Movement</ref> Members of the group believe in a "[[Ethnic conflict|racial holy war]]"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/creativity-movement-0/|title=Creativity Movement}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1999/church-creator-timeline |title=Church of the Creator Timeline |date=September 15, 1999 }}</ref> between "white and non-white races", such as [[Jews]], [[black people]], and [[Multiracial people|mixed-race people]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120909031600/http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 9, 2012 |title=The Creativity Movement}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/297/662/505536/|title=Te-ta-ma Truth Foundation &mdash; Family of Uri, Inc., Plaintiff-appellant, v. World Church of the Creator, Defendant-appellee, 297 F.3d 662 (7th Cir. 2002)|website=Justia Law}}</ref><ref>Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies, p. 147</ref><ref>''Domestic Terrorism and Incident Management: Issues and Tactics'', p. 121</ref><ref>''The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions'', p. 218</ref><ref>''The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration'', p. 41</ref>

==History==
[[File:Bernard Klassen.jpg|thumb|[[Ben Klassen]], the founder of Creativity]]
Creativity was originally founded as 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 [[Adolf Hitler|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".<ref name=adl/> 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-Slavism|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. He developed a rapport with [[National Alliance (United States)|National Alliance]] leader [[William Luther Pierce]];<ref>{{Citation|last=Michael|first=George|title=Theology of Hate: a History of the World Church of the Creator|page=62}}</ref> he met Pierce twice in 1975, and they maintained an "on and off" relationship for the next 18 years. According to Klassen, he "never did understand the logic of what [Pierce] called his [[Cosmotheism]] religion ... it has not been of any significance as far as our common goal of promoting White racial solidarity was concerned."{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} In ''Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs'', Klassen called Pierce "a great man and an outstanding intellectual thinker, and ... one of us."<ref>{{Citation|last=Klassen|first=Ben|title=Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs|page=219}}</ref>

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".<ref>Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs</ref>{{Rp|needed=yes|date=July 2013}}

[[File:BenKlassenHeadstone.jpg|thumb|Gravestone of Klassen in the Ben Klassen Memorial Park at the Creativity headquarters in [[Otto, North Carolina]]]]
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 pill]]s.<ref name="Ferber">{{cite book|author1=JoAnn Rogers|author2=Jacquelyn S. Litt|editor1-last=Ferber|editor1-first=Abby|title=Home-grown Hate: Gender and Organized Racism|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415944144|page=93|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMmNeM8qdaAC&q=%22Ben+Klassen%22+suicide&pg=PA93|chapter=Normalizing Racism: A Case Study of Motherhood in White Supremacy}}</ref><ref name="Altman 2001 36">{{cite book |last=Altman |first=Linda Jacobs |year=2001 |title=Hate and Racist Groups: A Hot Issue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1hruAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ben+Klassen%22+overdose |publisher=[[Enslow Publishers]] |page=36 |isbn=978-0766013711}}</ref><ref name="Ellison">{{cite web |url=http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/3152-hate-by-any-name-is-still-hate |title=Hate by any name is still hate |last=Ellison |first=Quinton |date=February 2, 2011 |work=[[Smoky Mountain News]] |access-date=February 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170331132949/http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/3152-hate-by-any-name-is-still-hate |archive-date=March 31, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> His motives were not explained by him at the time but writers studying neo-Nazi groups have suggested that Klassen's reason for his suicide involved the possible depression caused by the death of his wife, the legal and financial issues his church endured during the years 1992 and 1993 leading up to his death and the fact he was diagnosed with [[cancer]].<ref name="Love">{{cite book|last1=Love|first1=Nancy S.|title=Trendy Fascism: White Power Music and the Future of Democracy|date=2016|publisher=State University of New York|isbn=978-1438462035|page=101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMJDDAAAQBAJ&q=Ben+Klassen++church+suicide&pg=PA101|access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Morris">{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Travis|title=Dark Ideas: How Neo-Nazi and Violent Jihadi Ideologues Shaped Modern Terrorism|date=2016|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0739191040|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-LXDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Ben+Klassen%22+overdose&pg=PA15}}</ref><ref name="Ferber"/><ref name="Altman 2001 36"/><ref name="Ellison"/> 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.<ref name="Ferber"/><ref name="Altman 2001 36"/><ref name="Ellison"/> 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".<ref name= "Michael2">{{citation |last = Michael | first = George | title = Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator | place = [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]] | publisher = [[University of Florida]] | year = 2009}}.</ref>

In 1996, [[Matthew F. Hale]], along with other ministers of the original Church of the Creator, formed a successor group known as the "World Church of the Creator".<ref name="adl">{{cite web |title=Creativity Movement (Formerly World Church of the Creator) |url=https://www.adl.org/education/resources/profiles/creativity-movement |website=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=18 March 2017 |language=en}}</ref> Hale's right to use the name "Church of the Creator" in the United States was lost to the [[Church of the Creator]], an unaffiliated religious organization based in [[Ashland, Oregon]], in a [[trademark infringement]] case.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 3, 2000|title=Church Sues Hale's Group Over Trademark|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/05/03/church-sues-hales-group-over-trademark/|access-date=March 19, 2012|quote=[4] The names "Creativity" and "Creator" are derived from the foreword of the first edition of ''Nature's Eternal Religion'' by Ben Klassen. It states, "We call our religion Creativity, and members thereof, Creators, because, we believe these words, in essence, best describe the characteristic soul of the White Race."A church based in Oregon filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Chicago against the World Church of the Creator, led by white supremacist Matthew Hale of Downstate East Peoria.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Klassen|first=Ben|title=Nature's Eternal Religion|title-link=Nature's Eternal Religion|publisher=Ken Klassen|location=Lighthouse Point, FL|page=8|chapter=Foreword}}</ref>

In January 2003, Hale was arrested and charged with attempting to direct security chief Anthony Evola to murder judge [[Joan Lefkow#Matthew Hale|Joan Lefkow]];<ref name=halearrest/> he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.<ref name=guilty/> Following the demise of the World Church of the Creator after Hale's arrest in 2003, there formed two distinct groups, known as "The Creativity Movement" and the "Creativity Alliance" or "Church of Creativity".<ref name=adl/> An Australian man, Colin Campbell, co-founded Creativity Alliance.<ref name=campbell/>

==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"/>

==Practices==
{{primary sources|section|date=March 2018}}

===Holidays===
The religion has several holidays. Creators are encouraged to observe them, spending time with their families and friends of the religion:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://creativityalliance.com/creator-calendar/ |title=Creator Calendar |website=Creativityalliance.com |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref>
* South Victory Day (January 26): Commemorates the arrival of the [[First Fleet]] to the [[Australia (continent)|Australian continent]] in 1788.
* Klassen Day (February 20): Anniversary of its founder's birth in 1918.
* Founding Day (February 21): Anniversary of the publication of ''Nature’s Eternal Religion'' in 1973.
* Foundation Day, Rahowa Day (March 20): Anniversary of the foundation of the World Center in 1982 and a reminder of racial war.
* Kozel Day, Martyr's Day (September 15): Commemorates Brian Kozel, a movement member who was killed in a fight with Mexicans on this date in 1990.
* Festum Album (December 26 – January 1): Week-long celebration of white racial pride, commemorating the [[Wounded Knee Massacre|massacre at Wounded Knee]]. December 29, the anniversary of the massacre is also celebrated as "West Victory Day".

===Ceremonies===
{{anchor|Religious ceremonies}}
Creativity has four [[Life cycle ritual|life cycle ceremonies]]: The ''Creator Wedding Ceremony'', the ''Creator Child Pledging Ceremony'', the ''Ceremony of Confirmation of Loyalty to the White Race'', and ''The Saying of Goodbyes to our Departed Brethren''.<ref>{{citation | author = Ben Klassen |title=The Little White Book | publisher = Church of the Creator | date = 1991 | chapter = 25. The Creator Wedding Ceremony," "26. The Creator Child Pledging Ceremony," "27. Ceremony of Confirmation," "28. The Saying of Goodbyes to our Departed Brethren }}</ref> Ceremonies are performed by church ministers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wcotc.com/manual/ |title=Creator Membership Manual |website=www.wcotc.com |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021013030939/http://www.wcotc.com/manual/ |archive-date=13 October 2002 |url-status=dead}}</ref> At a [[marriage|wedding]], the bride and groom exchange vows before "Nature" and the congregation. The pledging ceremony is ideally conducted within two weeks after a child's birth, with both parents pledging to raise their child as a "loyal member of the White Race and faithful to the church." The confirmation ceremony is to ideally performed on the child's 13th birthday.<ref>{{cite web |author=Robinson, 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 |website=religioustolerance.org |access-date=July 19, 2013}}</ref> The eulogy ceremony is up to the kin of the deceased with [[cremation]] an accepted method of disposition of the body.

===Ministers===
{{anchor|Ordained ministers}}
Klassen strove for every member to engage in recruitment and as such, granted "Ministerial Certificates" to "any legitimate White Man or Woman over the age of 16" who convinced church leadership that they were "dedicated to the noble cause of the White Race".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pacreator.com/US/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D69%26Itemid%3D79 |title=Every Creator a Reverend |access-date=October 26, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426080729/http://www.pacreator.com/US/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=79 |archive-date=April 26, 2012 }}</ref> Prospective ministers must demonstrate worthiness and pass written and oral examinations. The written exams consist of 150 questions (requiring a one-paragraph response to each) and an essay. Applicants are encouraged to request recommendations from three established ministers, and the final requirement is the signing of an [[oath]].<ref name="religioustolerance.org"/>

==Books==
{{anchor|Religious texts|''White Man's Bible''}}
The two main texts behind Creativity are ''Nature's Eternal Religion'' and ''The White Man's Bible'', written by Klassen in 1973. The books teach that the white race is the "pinnacle of Nature's creation", "nature's finest"<ref name=fbi>{{Citation | url = https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror_99.pdf | title = Terrorism in the United States | year = 1999 | place = US | publisher = Justice Department, FBI | page = 4 }}</ref> and outlined a foundation for a "white racial religion". Section one of the first book critiques [[Christianity]], black people as a "plague" and [[Jewish people]] as "parasitical masters of deceit". Many biblical stories, including those of [[Adam and Eve]], [[Jonah]] and the whale and the [[resurrection of Jesus]], are critiqued extensively in successive books penned by Klassen. The [[historicity of Jesus]] is denied, with Klassen affirming his belief in the [[Christ myth theory]], a fringe ideology which claims that [[Jesus]], the founder and central figure of Christianity was not a historical figure but was instead a fictional character.<ref name=compass>{{cite news |title= World Church of Creator founded in 1973 | url= http://helenair.com/news/national/article_5773df3b-088c-5698-85d6-b1cf64811cf5.html |newspaper= Helena Independent Record |date= March 27, 2004 |access-date=December 26, 2010}}</ref> According to Creativity, Christianity is a violent religion which has killed 1,000 fellow Christians for every Christian killed by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]].<ref name="religioustolerance1"/>

Adherents reject Christian teachings such as the [[Sermon on the Mount]] and [[Christian pacifism]] as leading to "racial suicide" and Christianity as having been formulated by Jews to destroy the [[Roman Empire]] with [[Islam]] being a "militant religion" having been formed as a Jewish plot to "mobilize the mud races" to invade and conquer Europe. They reject the exhortation in the Bible's [[Matthew 5:44]] to "love one's enemies", believing that enemies should be hated, if not destroyed. In section two of the first text, Klassen went about laying the foundation for a "racial religion" to "replace Christ-Insanity" (as he referred to Christianity). In it, members are to reject the [[Golden Rule]], saying that it does not make "good sense" and at a "closer look" it is a "completely unworkable principle" replacing it with its own "Golden Rule": What is good for the white race is the highest virtue and what is bad for the white race is the ultimate sin; racial loyalty is the greatest of all honors and racial treason is the worst of all crimes.<ref name="religioustolerance1"/>

Klassen published an additional 11 books including ''Expanding Creativity'', ''Building a Whiter and Brighter World'' and ''Rahowa! This Planet Is All Ours''.<ref name=fbi/>

=={{anchor|Key people}}Figures==

===Gaede family===
{{main|Prussian Blue (duo)}}
April Harrington (Gaede), mother of Lynx and Lamb Lingelser (Gaede) of the band [[Prussian Blue (duo)|Prussian Blue]], was a longtime supporter of Creativity and a member of the World Church of the Creator, naming her third daughter Dresden Hale after its leader [[Matthew F. Hale]]<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FVACwAAQBAJ&q=april+gaede+dresden+matt+hale&pg=PT48 | title=Far-Right Fantasy: A Sociology of American Religion and Politics| isbn=9781317334064| last1=Aho| first1=James| date=2015-12-22| publisher=Routledge}}</ref> before joining the National Alliance and then the splinter [[National Vanguard (American organization)|National Vanguard]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mhrn.org/publications/specialresearchreports/AprilGaede.pdf |title="Saving White Babies:" White Supremacists Raise Funds for Kalispell Crisis Pregnancy Center |date=January 25, 2010 |work=mhrn.org |publisher=Montana Human Rights Netwrork |access-date=July 19, 2013 |archive-date=March 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312052858/http://www.mhrn.org/publications/specialresearchreports/AprilGaede.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prussian Blue's song "Stand Up", written for [[David Lane (white supremacist)|David Lane]] (author of the [[Fourteen Words]]), was part of the unreleased ''Free Matt Hale'' CD intended to support the incarcerated Hale. Lamb and Lynx Gaede have denounced the movement, saying that they never chose it and were controlled by their mother.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-twins-lamb-lynx-gaede-deny-neo-nazi/story?id=14124412 |title=Teen Twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede Deny Neo-Nazi Past, Say 'It Was A Job' |website=abcnews.go.com |date=2011-07-21|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref>

===Craig Cobb===
{{main|Craig Cobb}}
Craig Cobb, who operated the [[Video hosting service|video-sharing website]] Podblanc, has attempted to take over small towns in the [[Midwestern United States]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Ryan|last=Lenz |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/10/07/elsewhere-plains-craig-cobb-trying-once-again-build-home-racists |title=Elsewhere on the Plains: Craig Cobb is Trying Once Again to Build a Home for Racists &#124; Southern Poverty Law Center |website=Splcenter.org |date=2015-10-07 |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref> He tried to establish an enclave in North Dakota and rename it "Trump Creativity" or "Creativity Trump" for [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/10/07/donald-trump-white-supremacist-town/ |title=Craig Cobb, White Supremacist, Wants To Rename City After Donald Trump « CBS New York |website=Newyork.cbslocal.com |date=2015-10-07 |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref> A church building purchased by Cobb to establish an enclave was "burned to the ground" in [[Nome, North Dakota]].<ref name="CBS NEWS">{{cite web |title=Fire destroys N.D. church recently purchased by white supremacist |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fire-destroys-north-dakota-church-recently-purchased-by-craig-cobb-white-supremacist |website=cbsnews.com |date=March 22, 2017 |publisher=CBS NEWS |access-date=25 August 2021 |ref=www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/fire-destroys-north-dakota-church-recently-purchased-by-craig-cobb-white-supremacist/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531052515/https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/fire-destroys-north-dakota-church-recently-purchased-by-craig-cobb-white-supremacist/ |archive-date=31 May 2021}}</ref>

===George Burdi===
{{main|George Burdi}}
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.<ref>''[[The Toronto Star]]'', August 14, 1993</ref> He was convicted of assault, and claimed he renounced racism after serving time in prison.<ref>Intelligence Report, Fall 2001, Issue Number: 103</ref> Burdi has been credited with a role in Creativity's survival after the death of Ben Klassen.<ref name=compass/> In 2017, Burdi returned to the White nationalist scene, though not to the Creativity religion itself.<ref name="YouTube">{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2EKphh-Cno | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818063841/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2EKphh-Cno | archive-date=August 18, 2017 | title=- YouTube | website=[[YouTube]] }}</ref>

===Matthew F. Hale===
{{main|Matthew F. Hale}}
Several years after Klassen's 1993 death, white supremacist Matthew Hale founded the New Church of the Creator (later 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 racist beliefs.<ref>[[Evan Osnos]] and James Janega. "ACLU Sides With Supremacist on Right to Obtain Law License." Chicago Tribune 12 Aug. 1999: 4. Print.</ref> 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."<ref>"Review of Law License Denial." Washington Post 13 Nov. 1999: A5. Print.</ref> According to Hale, the committee's denial of his law license may have provoked Benjamin Nathaniel Smith's [[1999 Independence Day weekend shootings|drive-by shooting spree]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/06/smith.profile.01/|title=Suspected shooter said his hate-filled leaflets spoke 'the truth'|website=CNN.com|date=July 6, 1999|access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref>

On January 9, 2003, Hale was arrested and charged with attempting to direct security chief Anthony Evola to murder judge [[Joan Lefkow#Matthew Hale|Joan Lefkow]].<ref name=halearrest>{{cite web|url=http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/hale/ushale0103ind.pdf |title=United States of America v. Matthew Hale |website=News.findlaw.com |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref> Hale was found guilty of four of five counts (one count of solicitation of murder and three counts of obstruction of justice) on April 26, 2004; in April 2005, he was sentenced to 40 years in a Federal penitentiary.<ref name=guilty>{{cite news | url=http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=1510781 | title=White supremacist found guilty | publisher=ABC7Chicago.com | date=2004-04-26 | access-date=August 17, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629052837/http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=1510781 | archive-date=June 29, 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==={{anchor|Johannes Jurgens Grobbelaar and Jurgen Matthews White}}Johannes Grobbelaar and Jurgen White===
Johannes Grobbelaar and Jurgen White, [[Afrikaners|Afrikaner]] Creators and members of the National Socialist Partisans (the paramilitary branch of the [[Blanke Bevrydingsbeweging]]), were killed in a November 1991 gun battle with South African police near [[Upington]] while attempting to smuggle weapons and explosives into a survivalist compound in [[Namibia]]. They were stopped by police, who were suspicious that their vehicle had been stolen. According to the report, while being escorted to a nearby police station they detonated a smoke bomb and attempted to escape. Police discovered their abandoned vehicle five miles away; Grobbelaar and White ambushed them. Two officers were shot, one fatally.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1996/9607/s960717e.htm |title=SAPA – 17 July 96 – FEARS OF COMMUNISTS PROMPTED BRUTAL MURDERS |publisher=Justice.gov.za |access-date=November 24, 2012 |archive-date=May 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523214609/http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1996/9607/s960717e.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Ron McVan===
Ron McVan, co-founder of the [[Wotansvolk]] racialist pagan group, was once affiliated with the Church of the Creator for two years as its second-in-command;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/lane.html |title=David Lane |website=Archive.adl.org |access-date=2016-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526213017/http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/lane.html |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> McVan contributed articles and artwork to its periodical, ''Racial Loyalty'', and was a martial-arts instructor for the church. Although Klassen and McVan shared anti-Christian beliefs, McVan sought a more spiritual approach and felt that Creativity needed spirituality. He moved to the Pacific Northwest and founded Wotan's Kindred in [[Portland, Oregon]] in 1992, saying that the group was rooted in the "genetic character and collective identity" of the white race.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goodrick-Clarke|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke|title=Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xaiaM77s6N4C&pg=PA274|year=2003|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-3155-0|page=274}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=Jeffrey|author-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic)|title=Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNWbbhUYv8oC&pg=PA201|year=2000|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-0340-3|page=201}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gardell|first=Mattias|author-link=Mattias Gardell|title=Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FIwwWSSL5JIC&pg=PA222|year=2003|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3071-4|page=222}}</ref>

[[David Lane (white supremacist)|David Lane]], McVan's associate and co-founder of Wotansvolk, drew inspiration from Creativity, particularly ideas of a "racial religion", but did not agree with Creativity's "atheistic" stance and considered himself [[Deism|deist]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dobratz|first1=Betty A.|last2=Shanks-Meile|first2=Stephanie L.|title=The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!"|date=1997|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=9780801865374|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r59bGyH4lOAC&pg=PA144|access-date=11 December 2017|language=en}}</ref>

===William Christopher Gibbs===
William Christopher Gibbs, a Church of Creativity adherent in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and a member of the Creativity Alliance, was arrested for possession of the biological toxin [[Ricin#Chemical or biological warfare agent|ricin]]. Gibbs went to a hospital after he accidentally got the ricin on his hands while experimenting with it.<ref name="Gibbs">{{cite web|last=Cleary |first=Tom |url=http://heavy.com/news/2017/02/william-christopher-gibbs-georgia-white-supremacist-ricin-poison-photos-facebook-church-creativity/ |title=William Christopher Gibbs: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know |website=Heavy.com |date=2017-02-09 |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref>

On September 21, 2018, a Federal judge ordered Gibbs' release from Federal custody because of a technicality: ricin had been inexplicably dropped from the list of illegal biological toxins which are known as "select agents" due to changes in the 2004 law and edits to regulations in 2005. The judge did not rule out the possibility that Gibbs could be potentially convicted under another Federal law. Gibbs continued to be incarcerated in the [[Fannin County, Georgia]] jail under a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct which stemmed from his 2017 arrest and a probation violation connected to a 2010 conviction for burglary.<ref>Joyner, Chris (October 2, 2018) [https://www.myajc.com/news/crime--law/ricin-charges-dropped-against-georgia-white-supremacist/0GWcj07MLSMvcthfnApsWM/ "Ricin charges dropped against Georgia white supremacist"] ''[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]''</ref>

===Bobby Fischer===
Although chess grandmaster [[Bobby Fischer]] was not formally a member of  any Creativity organization, he did praise one of its founding texts, Klassen's ''Nature's Eternal Religion''. Fischer claimed that the book proves that "Christianity itself is just a Jewish hoax and one more Jewish tool for their conquest of the world. It is completely out of harmony with the Eternal Laws of Nature." However, Fischer also criticized other aspects of Klassen's writing, calling him an "extreme racist".<ref name=fischer>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fischerbenko.html|title=A Letter from Bobby Fischer to Pal Benko (presented by Edward Winter)|website=www.chesshistory.com}}</ref> Fischer also owned a copy of ''The White Man's Bible''.<ref name=fischer2>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter59.html#6189._Bobby_Fischer_Uncensored|title=Chess Notes by Edward Winter|website=www.chesshistory.com}}</ref>

=={{anchor|Legal troubles and re-organization}}Legal problems and reorganization==
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 favored for the position, he was imprisoned at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/793/793.F2d.232.84-2435.84-2454.84-2436.85-2534.85-2532.html|title=793 F.2d 232|website=law.resource.org|access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/793/232/119214/|title=United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Cattle King Packing Co., Inc., Rudolph G. "butch" Stanko, and Gary Waderich, Defendants-appellants, 793 F.2d 232 (10th Cir. 1986)|newspaper=Justia Law|access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref> {{failed verification|date=February 2017}}Klassen selected Charles Edward Altvater, but replaced him before he could assume leadership (possibly due to recurrent criminal charges);<ref>http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=03K89001317&loc=55&detailLoc=K {{dead link|date=February 2017}}</ref><ref>http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=03K89001422&loc=55&detailLoc=K {{dead link|date=February 2017}}</ref><ref>http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=03K91001188&loc=55&detailLoc=K {{dead link|date=February 2017}}</ref> {{failed verification|date=February 2017}}<ref>http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/inquiryDetail.jis?caseId=03K92004064&loc=55&detailLoc=K {{dead link|date=February 2017}}</ref> {{citation needed|date=February 2017}} then chose [[Milwaukee]] neo-Nazi Mark Wilson, who ran the church from July 1992 to January 1993. Klassen abruptly replaced Wilson with Richard McCarty, working to establish McCarty in the Creativity community, before selling 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.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

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 [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]] building in [[Tacoma, Washington]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930730/1713586/fbi-says-bombing-of-naacp-just-a-start----suspects-planned-racial-rampage-court-papers-allege|title=Business {{!}} FBI Says Bombing Of Naacp Just A Start -- Suspects Planned Racial Rampage, Court Papers Allege|website=community.seattletimes.nwsource.com|access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/wcotc.html|title=Craetivity Movement|website=archive.adl.org|access-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328011057/http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/wcotc.html|archive-date=28 March 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The court also ruled that Klassen's property sale to Pierce shortly before his suicide was collusion to deny payment to Mansfield's family, ordering Pierce to return his $85,000 profit from the resale of the property. With the church unable to pay the outstanding balance, the SPLC sued for its dissolution to settle the remaining damages and McCarty readily agreed.<ref>Florida Department of State, Document # 237320644</ref>

===Creativity Movement===
Matthew F. Hale founded the New Church of the Creator in 1996, later renamed the World Church of the Creator. Hale's World Church of the Creator was a new and separate group rather than a direct successor to Ben Klassen's Church of the Creator. Until his arrest in 2003, Hale was the only Pontifex Maximus of the now-defunct World Church of the Creator. The current group known as The Creativity Movement is a [[white power skinhead]]-oriented direct successor to Hale's World Church of the Creator.

Headquartered in [[Zion, Illinois]], with a heavy concentration of Creators in [[Montana]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/creativity-movement |title=The Creativity Movement &#124; Southern Poverty Law Center |website=Splcenter.org |access-date=2016-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729062216/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/creativity-movement |archive-date=July 29, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and 24 regional branches, it also claims to have local branches and members "all over the world".<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc.htm | archive-url= https://archive.today/20120909031600/http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc.htm | url-status= usurped | archive-date= September 9, 2012 | title = The Creativity Movement |publisher=Religious tolerance | access-date=November 24, 2012}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=64 | title=What's in a Name? | publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] | date=Winter 2002 | access-date=August 17, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713233120/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=64 | archive-date=July 13, 2007 | url-status=dead }}</ref> U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow ruled for the World Church of the Creator.<ref name=SPLC2003>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/world-church-creator-turmoil-after-leader-matt-hale-imprisoned|title=World Church of the Creator in Turmoil After Leader Matt Hale Arrested|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|date=April 15, 2003|last1=Beirich|first1=Heidi|last2=Potok|first2=Mark|access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=60 | title=Creator Crack-Up | publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] | date=Winter 2002 | access-date=August 17, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195105/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=60 | archive-date=September 27, 2007 | url-status=dead }}</ref> In December 2002, the World Church of the Creator was fined $1,000 for each day it continued using the old name.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.adl.org/learn/news/WCOTC_1000.asp | title = White Supremacist Group Fined $1,000 a Day | publisher = The Anti-Defamation League | date = May 1, 2003 | access-date = May 13, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629094642/http://www.adl.org/learn/news/WCOTC_1000.asp | archive-date = June 29, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Hale church fined on trademark; U.S. judge sets penalty until it stops using name |author=Shia Kapos, Tribune staff reporter |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=April 25, 2003 |page=C3}}</ref> Further appeals were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.churchofthecreator.org/TM/7th%20Circuit%20Opinion%20of%20July%2025,%202002.pdf | title=Appeals Court ruling | access-date=November 21, 2016 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094407/http://www.churchofthecreator.org/TM/7th%20Circuit%20Opinion%20of%20July%2025,%202002.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://openjurist.org/297/f3d/662/te-ta-ma-truth-foundation-family-of-uri-inc-v-world-church-of-the-creator|title=297 F3d 662 Te-Ta-Ma Truth Foundation Family of Uri Inc v. World Church of the Creator|first=United States Court of Appeals, Seventh|last=Circuit.|date=January 1, 2002|volume=F3d|issue=297|access-date=February 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>A [[Supreme Court of the United States]] denial of further review ([[certiorari]]) was issued in January 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.churchofthecreator.org/TM/USSupremeCourtCertiorariDenied01-13-03.pdf |title=Supreme Court denial of certiorari) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051027032845/http://www.churchofthecreator.org/TM/USSupremeCourtCertiorariDenied01-13-03.pdf |archive-date=October 27, 2005 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Hale was charged with contempt of court and soliciting the murder of judge Joan Lefkow,<ref name=SPLC2003/> and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment on April 6, 2005.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>Natasha Korecki and Frank Main, "Hale gets max: 40 years in prison," Chicago Sun Times, 7 April 2005,</ref> [[Bill White (neo-Nazi)|Bill White]] was convicted of threatening a juror in the Matthew Hale case and sentenced to 42 months in prison.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/02/21/white-supremacist-gets-42-months-for-targeting-federal-juror/|title=White supremacist gets 42 months for targeting federal juror|date=February 21, 2013|access-date=February 17, 2017|last1=Doyle|first1=Bridget|last2=Sweeney|first2=Annie}}</ref>

In early 2017, a group which referred to itself as the "Guardians of the Faith Committee" of the Creativity Movement elected James Costello of England as its "Pontifex Maximus".<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://creativitymovement.net/blog/state-of-the-church-44ac-2017/ | title=State of the Church 44AC (2017) – the Creativity Movement | access-date=March 29, 2017 | archive-date=May 17, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517201159/http://creativitymovement.net/blog/state-of-the-church-44ac-2017/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Costello was convicted of [[Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred#United Kingdom|inciting racial hatred]] in November 2023, and he was sentenced to serve a 5 year prison term.

==={{anchor|Creativity Alliance (Church of Creativity)}}Creativity Alliance===

Australian man Cailen Cambeul, formerly known as Colin Campbell, was the co-founder of the Creativity Alliance in 2003.<ref name=campbell/>

In 2017 Joseph Esposito was appointed the Pontifex Maximus (Elect) of the Creativity Alliance (Church of Creativity [[Oregon]]). For a short period of time, the Creativity Alliance was known as the White Crusaders of the Rahowa (WCOTR), which was founded by former World Church of the Creator Members after Hale's arrest in 2003.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = SPLC | newspaper = Intelligence Report | url = http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/from-the-ashes-neo-nazi-group-now-cal | title = From the ashes neo–Nazi group now cal… |date=Winter 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | publisher = SPL center | quote = In January 2007, a spin-off which calls itself the Creativity Alliance was formed. It is composed of individuals who are former members of Klassen and Hale’s groups and it also has new members, but it has no affiliation with the Creativity Movement | url = http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/the-creativity-movement-0 | title = Get informed | contribution = The creativity movement | access-date = November 13, 2011 | 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><ref>{{Citation | publisher = Creativity Alliance | type = Policy | url = http://creativityalliance.com/about.htm |title=About the Creativity Alliance}}</ref> Esposito in Oregon (but formerly of Florida), and another former Klassen supporter, George Loeb in Florida, are each serving extended prison sentences.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

According to a [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] report, in 2015, the Creativity Alliance had groups in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[South Carolina]], [[Utah]] and [[Vermont]].<ref name="SPLC2016">{{cite web|title=Active hate groups in the United States in 2015|date=February 17, 2016 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/active-hate-groups-united-states-2015|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=29 March 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://creativityalliance.com/downloads.htm | quote = The Creativity Alliance makes no attempt to assume or supersede trademark | title = Legal disclaimer | publisher = Creativity Alliance}}</ref>

Randolph Dilloway, former Hasta Primus (Secretary, or second in command) of the Creativity Alliance<ref>{{cite web |url=http://creativityalliance.com/newsletter/RacialLoyalty101-2010-02.pdf |title=The Alliance: Issue Iii |website=Creativityalliance.com |access-date=2016-05-25 |archive-date=March 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328035355/http://creativityalliance.com/newsletter/RacialLoyalty101-2010-02.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and founder of the defunct Smoky Mountains Church of Creativity,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://smokymountaincreator.org/ |title=Smoky Mountain Church of Creativity |date=2009-11-23 |access-date=2016-05-25 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123014746/http://smokymountaincreator.org/ |archive-date=November 23, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rahowadirectory.com/ |title=The Creativity Directory: Creativity is a Religion for White People, by White People |date=2009-09-25 |access-date=2016-05-25 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925170740/http://www.rahowadirectory.com/ |archive-date=September 25, 2009 }}</ref> was an accountant<ref>{{cite web|first=Heidi|last=Beirich |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/05/21/new-report-details-allegations-massive-financial-improprieties-neo-nazi-national-alliance |title=New Report Details Allegations of Massive Financial Improprieties in the neo-Nazi National Alliance &#124; Southern Poverty Law Center |website=Splcenter.org |date=2015-05-20 |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref> for the revived [[National Alliance (United States)|National Alliance]] (an unaffiliated neo-Nazi group which was formerly led by [[William Luther Pierce]], the author of ''[[The Turner Diaries]]'') 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 he also furnished them with documents in which he alleged that members of the National Alliance committed [[fraud]] and [[embezzlement]].{{when|date=April 2021}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/05/21/chaos-compound |title=Chaos at the Compound &#124; Southern Poverty Law Center |website=Splcenter.org |date=2015-05-20 |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/05/27/national-alliance-implodes-racist-leaders-reject-na-chairman-will-williams-excuses-while |title="National Alliance Implodes:" Racist Leaders Reject NA Chairman Will Williams' Excuses while Questioning His Judgment and Temperament &#124; Southern Poverty Law Center |website=Splcenter.org |date=2015-05-26 |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref>

In 2017, the Creativity Alliance was found to be responsible for the distribution of flyers throughout [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/09/05/Neo-Nazi-white-supremacist-Pittsburgh-Jewish-Squirrel-Hill-Church-Creativity-southern-Poverty-law-center-hate-group/stories/201709050165 | title=Neo-Nazi stickers, business cards in Squirrel Hill attract FBI's attention| newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/racist-business-cards-appear-in-squirrel-hill-mailboxes-1/603752201 |title=Racist business cards appear in Squirrel Hill mailboxes |access-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016071540/http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/racist-business-cards-appear-in-squirrel-hill-mailboxes-1/603752201 |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/09/06/racist-business-cards-squirrel-hill |title = Neo-Nazi Propaganda Found in Jewish Section of Pittsburgh|date = September 6, 2017}}</ref>
US members who have been arrested include a man from the Church of Creativity Georgia who was arrested for attempting to make [[ricin]] poison<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/234422246-story |title=Fox5 Atlanta News |access-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-date=February 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228170135/http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/234422246-story |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sheriff-georgia-mans-car-tests-positive-ricin-45353977 |title=Sheriff: Georgia Man's Car Tests Positive for Ricin |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211181720/http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sheriff-georgia-mans-car-tests-positive-ricin-45353977 |archive-date=February 11, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (the charge was later dropped),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thebrunswicknews.com/judge-rules-georgia-mans-ricin-possession-didnt-break-law/article_1e6eea5d-d71e-58a2-9caf-a17f1423d269.html|title=Judge rules Georgia man's ricin possession didn't break law|first=ASSOCIATED|last=PRESS|date=October 3, 2018|website=The Brunswick News}}</ref> and Hardy Lloyd, a member from [[Pennsylvania]], was arrested for violating his probation by distributing racist flyers, hoarding weapons, and participating in white supremacist web forums.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/09/15/white-supremacist-charged-squirrel-hill-flier-distribution |title = White Supremacist Charged with Distributing Racist Fliers|date = September 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/09/15/antiSemitic-fliers-Squirrel-Hill-white-supremacist-Hardy-Lloyd-arrested-Tim-Murphy/stories/201709150149 | title=White supremacist arrested in connection with anti-Semitic fliers in Squirrel Hill}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/local-self-proclaimed-white-supremacist-ex-felon-arrested/610097494 |title=Local self-proclaimed white supremacist, ex-felon arrested |access-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016071438/http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/local-self-proclaimed-white-supremacist-ex-felon-arrested/610097494 |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Australia====
Cailen Cambeul co-founded the Creativity Alliance in 2003, several years after he joined the World Church of the Creator, and he served as the Creativity Alliance's first "Pontifex Maximus" (meaning "highest priest") from 2009 until 2016. He has led the Creativity Alliance in one capacity or another since 2003, and has stated that he intends to hand over leadership of the group when Pontifex Maximus (Elect) Joseph Esposito is free to take control. He was the fifth overall Pontifex Maximus of Creativity as a religion (B. Klassen, M. Wilson, R. McCarty, M. Hale, C. Cambeul) he was also the first leader of Creativity who was resident outside the United States. His current position and title is Church Administrator. His chapter of the group is named the Church of Creativity [[South Australia]]. Born in [[Adelaide]], South Australia, Campbell describes himself as a "former [[outlaw motorcycle gang|outlaw biker]] and a former soldier in the [[Australian Army]]." He claims that he had a daughter who was "kidnapped" by the state, and he sees the church as an outlet for his "natural aggression".<ref name=campbell>{{cite web | last=Cambeul | first=Cailen | title=2. Rev. Cailen Cambeul | website=The Creativity Alliance – Incorporating Your Church of Creativity | date=17 April 2012 | url=https://creativityalliance.com/articles/awakenings/awakenings-cailen-cambeul/ | access-date=3 April 2021 | archive-date=April 11, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411215105/https://creativityalliance.com/articles/awakenings/awakenings-cailen-cambeul/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=casa>{{cite web | last=Cambeul | first=Cailen | title=Modern White Racial Loyalists have Moved on from Fascism | website=The Creativity Alliance – Incorporating Your Church of Creativity | date=1 December 2017| url=https://creativityalliance.com/modern-white-racial-loyalists-have-moved-on-from-fascism/ | access-date=3 April 2021|quote=Updated: 18 September 2018.}}</ref>

Creativity Alliance members are known to regularly distribute flyers; particularly in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Hamwi | first = Omar | title = White Supremacists Target Penrith | work = Where I Live | type = editorial | publisher = Penrith Press | place = [[Australia|AU]] | date = 29 March 2010 |access-date=October 26, 2011 |url = http://penrith-press.whereilive.com.au/news/story/white-supremacists-target-penrith}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = NZ posters call for race riots |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/nz-posters-call-for-race-riots/2005/12/15/1134500941776.html |newspaper=The age |date=December 15, 2005 |location=Melbourne, AU}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Wellington posters call for race riots |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10360064 |newspaper=Herald |place=[[New Zealand|NZ]] | date=December 15, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{citation | publisher = Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council | title = Victory in Cronulla | place = AU | url = http://aijac.org.au/news/article/victory-in-cronulla| date = January 2006 }}</ref>

The [[Attorney-General of South Australia]] and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs have made a number of attempts to close the website of the South Australian representative and Pontifex Maximus of the Creativity Alliance and outlaw the organization.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1559149.htm | title=SA Attorney-General wants racist website shut down | publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Australia]] | date= 2006-01-31 | access-date=May 23, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-01-31/race-hate-website-referred-to-police/788854 |title=Race hate website referred to police |date=January 31, 2006 |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=July 19, 2013}}</ref> Cambeul filed a complaint with the [[Australian Press Council]] that describing the Creativity Alliance as a white-supremacist organization (rather than a religion) and characterizing its members as "a few loners looking for something to do with all their hate" was unfair. His complaint was dismissed on the basis that the journalist's assessment was not a news article but an opinion piece.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/press-council-dismisses-complaint-against-the-punch/ | newspaper = The punch | place = AU | title = Press council dismisses complaint against The punch}}</ref>

====United Kingdom====
In 2015, the CA distributed flyers in [[Inverbervie]] ([[Scotland]]) and [[Liverpool]].<ref>{{citation | publisher = Liverpool Echo | title = Police say controversial leaflet claiming 'white race is nature's finest' is not illegal | place = UK | url = http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/police-say-controversial-leaflet-claiming-8925728| date = March 26, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="McCann">{{cite news|last1=McCann|first1=Lee|title=Inverbervie targeted by racist group|url=http://www.kincardineshireobserver.co.uk/news/local-headlines/inverbervie-targeted-by-racist-group-1-3723031|access-date=29 March 2016|publisher=Kincardineshire Observer|date=19 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807170537/https://www.kincardineshireobserver.co.uk/news/inverbervie-targeted-by-racist-group-1-3723031|archive-date=7 August 2019}}</ref> A reverend speaking on behalf of the Church of Creativity Britain said in a [[letter to the editor]] that the leaflets were legal and called for racial separation, not supremacy.

=={{anchor|Legal challenges}}Other legal cases==
Creativity was recognized as a religion by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in ''Peterson v. Wilmur Communications'' (205 F.Supp.2d 1014) (2002).<ref>Decision and Order: ''Peterson v. Wilmur Communications''. 205 F.Supp.2d 1014 (2002). [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin]].</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://files.ali-aba.org/thumbs/datastorage/skoobesruoc/pdf/CL018-CH15_thumb.pdf |title=Selected Cases on Religious Discrimination |publisher=Office of Legal Counsel, [[United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] |date=May 2005 |page=3 |access-date=March 18, 2011 |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724233137/http://files.ali-aba.org/thumbs/datastorage/skoobesruoc/pdf/CL018-CH15_thumb.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] intervened on behalf of the World Church of the Creator.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acluva.org/1794/aclu-warns-chesterfield-not-to-block-world-church-of-the-creator-meeting-in-public-library/ |title=ACLU Warns Chesterfield Not to Block World Church of the Creator Meeting in Public Library |date=September 17, 2002 |publisher=American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia |access-date=July 19, 2013}}</ref>

California [[United States federal judge|federal judge]] [[Maxine M. Chesney]] ruled against an imprisoned Creator who brought a suit against [[Pelican Bay State Prison]] based on an alleged violation of the [[Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act]] in ''Conner v. Tilton'', 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111892 (ND CA, Dec. 2, 2009),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/white-supremacy-group-doesnt-qualify-as-religion |title=White-supremacy group doesn't qualify as religion  |website=[[First Amendment Center]] |date=2009-12-11 |access-date=2016-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501075215/http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/white-supremacy-group-doesnt-qualify-as-religion |archive-date=May 1, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in which Creativity and several other organizations and belief systems (including MOVE, [[veganism]] and the Church of Marijuana) were declared to not constitute "religions" but [[morality|moral]] or [[secular ethics|secular philosophies]] under the definition of [[religion]] based on addressing of "fundamental and ultimate questions having to do with deep and imponderable matters"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barker |first1=Renae |editor1-last=Barker |editor1-first=Renae |editor2-last=Babie |editor2-first=Paul |editor3-last=Foster |editor3-first=Neil |title=Law and Religion in the Commonwealth: The Evolution of Case Law |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-5099-5016-4 |pages=11–32 |language=en |chapter=Defining Religion for the World? |quote-page=22 |quote=U.S. v. Meyers, 95 F.3d 1475, 1483 (10th Cir. 1996); Africa v. Commonwealth of Pa., 662 F.2d 1025, 1032 (3d Cir. 1981)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lexis search|website=Lexis|url=http://www.lexis.com/xlink?showcidslinks=on&ORIGINATION_CODE=00142&searchtype=get&search=2009%20U.S.%20Dist.%20LEXIS%20111892%20%20}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> as part of a three-point test for determining religion developed by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]]. The court concluded that the plaintiff had failed to raise a genuine issue about whether Creativity is a religion; it found that to the extent Creativity deals with a "fundamental concern", the concern is with [[secular]] matters and not with what the court considered to be religious principles. Creativity is not "comprehensive" in nature because it was presented as confined to one question (or moral teaching), and that the structural characteristics of Creativity "do not serve to transform what are otherwise secular teachings and ideals into a religious ideology."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1467028.html |title=Kaufman V. Mccaughtry &#124; Findlaw |website=Caselaw.findlaw.com |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref> In ''Hale v. Federal Bureau of Prisons'' (2015),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/colorado/codce/1:2014cv00245/145813/66/ |title=Hale v. Federal Bureau of Prisons et al, No. 1:2014cv00245 – Document 66 (D. Colo. 2015) :: Justia |website=Law.justia.com |access-date=2016-05-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rluipa-defense.com/2015/10/rluipa-round-up-13/ |title=RLUIPA Round-Up |date=October 9, 2015 |access-date=March 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530092433/https://www.rluipa-defense.com/2015/10/rluipa-round-up-13/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 30, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> the court found that Creativity may qualify as a religion under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]] (with potential tax exemption by the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]]) and may be practiced in prison.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2015/10/12/convicted-felon-awarded-religion-decision |title=Convicted felon awarded 'religion' decision |website=Onenewsnow.com |date=2015-10-12 |access-date=2016-05-25 |archive-date=May 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530122354/http://www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2015/10/12/convicted-felon-awarded-religion-decision |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Furthermore, on March 12, 1989, U.S. federal judge [[Fern M. Smith]] of the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California]] ordered San Quentin prison authorities to return "The White Man's Bible" to an inmate after it was confiscated and the state failed to prove that the book presented an imminent danger.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-12-mn-860-story.html |title=The State |date=March 12, 1989 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=March 9, 2019}}</ref>

==Leafletting campaigns==
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 of England and Wales|Green Party]] denounced Creativity as a "fringe group of blatant racists".<ref name="Echo" /> 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."<ref name=Echo>{{cite news|title=Leaflet claiming "the white race is nature's finest" slammed after being delivered in south Liverpool|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/leaflet-claiming-the-white-race-8907506|access-date=24 March 2015|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|date=24 March 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202003127/https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/leaflet-claiming-the-white-race-8907506|archive-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/11/21/flurry-racist-fliers-prompts-concern/ |title = Flurry of Racist Fliers Prompts Concern|date = November 21, 2017}}</ref> The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] listed Creativity Alliance presence in the state in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2015/active-neo-nazi-groups | title=Active Neo-Nazi Groups| date=March 3, 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Far-right subcultures]]
* [[List of fascist movements]]
* [[List of neo-Nazi organizations]]
* [[List of white nationalist organizations]]
* [[Nontheistic religion]]
* [[Radical right (Europe)]]
* [[Radical right (United States)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://creativityalliance.com/ Official website of the Creativity Alliance]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115081615/http://creativitymovement.net/ |date=15 November 2017 |title=Official website of the Creativity Movement}}

{{white nationalism}}
{{Neo-Nazism}}

[[Category:Creativity (religion)| ]]
[[Category:1973 establishments in Florida]]
[[Category:Anti-Christian sentiment in the United States]]
[[Category:Antitheism]]
[[Category:Atheism in the United States]]
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[[Category:Neo-Nazi concepts]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazi organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Illinois]]
[[Category:Religion and race]]
[[Category:Religions that require veganism]]
[[Category:Religious atheism]]
[[Category:Religious belief systems founded in the United States]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1973]]
[[Category:Scientific racism]]
[[Category:White separatism]]
[[Category:White nationalism in Illinois]]