King's Business - 1957-11

What can you as a Christian do about the race problem?

Segregation : Spiritual Frontier

by Robert James St. Clair

Bible seems to have authority in spiritual matters but apparently the relationship between various kinds of people is r e g a r d e d as naturalistic, not spiritual. It is a shame for Bible-believers to stay in the realm of naturalistic theory in discussing the question. I have two documents on my desk right now. One is The Citi­ zens’ Council, a paper published by the White Citizens’ Councils in Jackson, Miss. The other is The Kingdom Beyond Caste by Dr. L i s t o n P o p e (Friendship Press, 1957). One by one you can find natural­ istic theories of segregation in the Council paper: you find the talk about the desire of Negroes to inter­ marry, about maintaining the pu­ rity of the races, keeping our way of life safe, and all the rest. Whatever you may think of the theology of Dr. Pope, dean o f the Yale University Divinity School, he takes these popular theories and tears them to shreds. For example, you hear that the Jim Crow system always existed as a foundation stone of the South. States Dr. Pope, “ The Jim Crow system in the South —• and in particular respects in some sections of the nation — was instituted by law and custom at the turn of the twentieth century.” He shows how the Populist movement, the Supreme Court decision of 1896 { “ separate but equal” ), the gradual disfranchisement of the Negro and other notable factors led to., the

Roman Catholic Church! Now if you speak to a Christian you know he accepts the infallible authority of the whole Rible, the Word of God. He knows the Bible is the Holy Spirit-revealed guide for faith and practice. He makes it known to unsaved neighbors that when the Bible speaks it carries the authority of God. But ask him about the race question and he says, “ As far as I’m concerned, it seems to me . . . .” Some Christians have much to say about the biblical point of view. God the Original Segrega­ tionist by Rev. Carey Daniel, pastor of the First Baptist Church of West Dallas, has already sold more than 20,000 copies. And as a whole, the churches are leaders in the segrega­ tion of the races. Though in most cases they exist in segregated areas of the city and just never think of the problem, yet in numerous other instances t h e y h a v e naturalistic ideas as to why it is bad to admit Negroes, whites, Mexicans, Japa­ nese, Chinese and Indians into each other’s churches. For them the

W h a t are your views on the inte­ gration of races in the churches? Give yourself a minute and state them in about 10 sentences. Finished? Think about what you said. The particular ideas do not concern us for the moment — just the language. What determined your authority? Was your language naturalistic? That is, did you recite popular t h e o r i e s , saying, “ Yes, integration would be fine because America guarantees equal status under the law and the churches must uphold America’s freedoms” ? Or did you say, “Mixing races leads to intermarriage and that weakens the white race” ? These are natu­ ralistic viewpoints. If you quoted Scripture and talked of God’s de­ sires as you understood them, then your views were spiritual, not naturalistic. We see certain trends in Ameri­ can life now, and 50 years from now, there are going to be many more changes in the relationship of the Negro and white races. Who should accomplish these changes? What authority should they use? In August an a s s o c i a t i o n of Roman Catholic laymen in Louisi­ ana disagreed with their bishop’s ruling that integration must take place in Catholic churches. They wrote directly to the Pope and said, “ W e will do whatever you say with no further comment.” The Pope backed up his bishop. Think how much that advertised to every­ o n e a b o u t t h e authority of the

About the Author Robert St. Clair is minister of North Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. He attended Biblical Seminary and the University of Cincinnati where he majored in psychology.

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The King's Business/November 1957

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