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methods of controlling other minorities—the Jews, Orientals, and
Mexicans—were contrived. The churches themselves generally fol
lowed the patterns of segregation in the community at large, and hence
came to be racially exclusive. Sometimes this exclusiveness of the
churches was the result of the Negroes being forced out of the white
churches; more frequently it was the result of the Negroes’ withdrawal
in order to escape the inferior status which they had in the pre
dominately white churches. This pattern has persisted on down to
the present with relatively slight modification. “It is still true,” writes
Pope, “that 94 per cent of the Negro Protestants are in Negro de
nominations, having few religious relationships with other Protes
tants.”3 The church is still “the most segregated major institution in
American society.”4
While the churches are now vigorously wrestling with the question
of race relations, it must be confessed that they have not taken the
lead in focusing national interest upon racial issues in the last two
decades—especially since the end of World War II—in this country.
Rather, the greatest national attention has been centered upon a series
of Supreme Court decisions culminating in the declaration that seg
regation in the public schools is unconstitutional. Other decisions
of this same body pertaining to the political and civil rights of Negroes
and members of other minorities have also focused attention upon
additional important facets of race relations. The efforts of certain la
bor unions to organize all qualified workers without regard to race
has served both to raise the economic position of the Negro and also
to call widespread attention to the effects of discrimination in employ
ment upon the economy as a whole. The integration that has taken
place in the Armed Services and the breakdown of segregation in
the area of sports have likewise contributed greatly to the progress
made by the Negro in recent years, and these changes have served
to challenge the churches to a more rigorous examination of their
own practices. The major denominations, including those which are
predominately Southern such as the Southern Baptist Convention
and the Presbyterian Church, U.S., have endorsed the decision of the
Supreme Court declaring segregated public schools to be unconstitu
tional, and in their national assemblies they have called upon their
constituent agencies and churches to reexamine their life and practices
to see whether these are Christian. The national assemblies of the
3 Pope,
op. cit.,
p. 109.
4 Ibid.,
p. 105.
344
Biblical Faith and Social Ethics