Ben Klassen
Ben Klassen | |
|---|---|
| Title | Pontifex Maximus (of the Church of the Creator) |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Bernhardt Klassen February 20, 1918 |
| Died | August 6, 1993 (aged 75) Otto, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Resting place | Otto, North Carolina, U.S. 35°03′36″N 83°23′16″W / 35.0600921°N 83.3876547°W |
| Spouse | Henrie Etta Klassen (née McWilliams) |
| Education | Saskatoon Normal School, Superior First Class Teacher's Certificate; University of Saskatchewan, B.A., 1943; University of Manitoba, B.Sc.E.E., 1943, Canada ROTC; Rosthern Junior College |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Creativity |
| Senior posting | |
| Period in office | 1973–93 |
| Predecessor | None (founded religion) |
| Successor | Richard McCarty |
Ben Klassen | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the Broward County district | |
| In office November 1966 – March 1967 | |
Bernhardt "Ben" Klassen (February 20, 1918 (O.S. February 7, 1918) – August 6, 1993) was an American white supremacist politician and religious leader. He founded the Church of the Creator with the publication of his book Nature's Eternal Religion in 1973. Klassen was openly racist, antisemitic and anti-Christian and first popularized the term "Racial Holy War" within the White Power movement.
Klassen was a Republican Florida state legislator for several months, as well as a supporter of George Wallace's presidential campaign. In addition to his religious and political work, Klassen was an electrical engineer and he was also the inventor of a wall-mounted electric can-opener. Klassen held unorthodox views about dieting and health. He was a natural hygienist who opposed the germ theory of disease as well as conventional medicine and promoted a fruitarian, raw food diet.