Segregation and the Baptist Bible Fellowship : Integration, Anti-Communism and Religious Fundementalism, 1950 -1970 9781936250509

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SEGREGATION AND THE BAPTIST BIBLE FELLOWSHIP

SEGREGATION AND THE BAPTIST BIBLE FELLOWSHIP INTEGRATION, ANTI-COMMUNISM, AND RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM, 1950S – 1970S

JEFFREY D. LAVOIE

ACADEMICA PRESS BETHESDA - DUBLIN - PALO ALTO

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Lavoie, Jeffrey D., 1981Segregation and the Baptist Bible Fellowship : integration, anti-communism, and religious fundamentalism, 1950s-1970s / Jeffrey D. Lavoie. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-1-936320-50-9 (alk. paper) 1. Baptists--United States. 2. Baptist Bible Fellowship International--History. 3. Segregation--United States. 4. Racism--Religious aspects--Christianity. 5. United States--Church history--20th century. I. Title. BX6237.L38 2012 286'.5--dc23 2012032416

Copyright 2013 by Jeffrey Lavoie

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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CONTENTS Foreword ………………………………………………………………..……......ix Preface ….…………………………………………………………………..…..xiii Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………xxi CHAPTER 1: The Founders of the Baptist Bible Fellowship…..……..………….1 CHAPTER 2: The First Generation and Segregation…………….….………..…13 CHAPTER 3: Radicals and Reformers………………………………….……….53 CHAPTER 4: The Impact of History—Past and Present ....................................69 ADDENDUM I: Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. (1933 - 2007).....................................79 ADDENDUM II: Peter Sturges Ruckman (1921 -)...............................................91 ADDENDUM III: Reconstructing a Racial Theology…………….….………...107 CONCLUSION: One Pastor’s Opinion………………………………………...115 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………….….…..…121 INDEX………………………………………………………………………….129

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS (Courtesy of the Baptist Bible Tribune. Used with permission) Temple Baptist Church Weekly Advertisement (ca. 1960s) G. B. Vick and J. Frank Norris (ca. 1942) Baptist Bible Tribune Cover (1963) G. E. Hodges and Noel Smith (1951) Tribune Advertisement for Mid-Winter Fellowship Meeting (1956) Rev. George Hodges (1963) The Hodges Family (1963) Bob Jones, Jr. preaching at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO (1960) Homer G. Ritchie Bio (1989) Picture of Truman Dollar (1974) J. H. ‘Dick’ Melton (1956) The Melton Children (1973) Faith Nash and Her Sunday school Class (1975) Brothers of Cyrene Ministry (2009)

FOREWORD In 1909 a youthful J. Frank Norris became the pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Worth. He had already made a mark on the Texas Baptist community with his editorial work at the Baptist Standard, but no one realized the impact that he would have as the primary voice of Fundamentalism in the state as he rose to national prominence beside such notables as the West Coast’s Robert Shuler, the Midwest’s William Bell Riley, and New York’s John Roach Straton. Each in their own way would come to embody the image of the ‘fightin’ fundamentalist’ and through a series of controversies embed the most conservative form of Christianity in the heart of the American religious psyche for future decades. In the days of radio’s beginning, Norris would become a pioneer religious broadcast personality that would lead directly to the dominance of the airwaves by conservative fundamentalist and evangelical voices that continues to the present. Norris’ own conservative views would lead him out of the Southern Baptist Convention (1922-23), which he saw as developing liberal tendencies, and finally undergird the founding of the Premillennial Missionary Baptist Fellowship (later the World Baptist Fellowship) a decade later, the parent body for the founders of the Baptist Bible Fellowship, International (BBFI). The formation of the BBFI would be the last controversy of Norris’ long controversial career. Norris placed himself on one end of the spectrum of America’s religious community from which he invited controversy. When controversy waned, his theological opponents found plenty of issues to build new controversy which would continue to the present as the organizations that flow from Norris’ career flourish. One issue haunting Norris’ legacy would be his reputed alignment with

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the Ku Klux Klan. As racial issues flared in the 1960s, Norris would be branded as a racist and the label used to tar the ministers and ministries he parented. There is some truth to the charge. Texas, indeed the whole of America was racist. The Ku Klux Klan was a national organization that flourished outside of the South, especially the Midwest. Revived by a Methodist minister in the 1920s, along with its anti-Black actions, it promoted a variety of popular Protestant Christian causes, most notably Prohibition. The Klan found support in a wide spectrum of Protestant churches and any evaluation of Norris has to be seen in the context of his times, when the record of Norris’ contemporary critics on the issues of race are as equally suspect as are those of the pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Worth. The development of an African American constituency in the last generation culminating in the election of Rev. Fred Luter Jr. as the first African American president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination provides a fitting context in which to reconsider the stances taken on race by the more conservative elements in America’s religiously dominant Protestant community. The issue has been more of a polemic tool in which more liberal critics have argued that continuing racial animosities held by conservative Protestants in general and Baptists in particular provide the glue holding a host of conservative views—from the subordination of women to literal Bible expositions—together. Thus a case study of the very conservative Baptist Bible Fellowship, International arrives at an appropriate time both to contribute to our understanding of the complex responses to changes in laws and attitudes governing race relations and to a breaking of some popularly held stereotypes of the ways pursued by conservative Protestants to overcome a racist past. The BBFI is a most appropriate target for a case study of conservative Protestant attitudes toward race. As a product of the last half of the twentieth century, it has benefitted by the media explosion and thus a vast literature (including electronic records) exist in spite of its weak central authority and less than spectacular archive collections. Also, because of its origins in the career of

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one of the nation’s most controversial preachers, its history has been the subject of a variety of books. At the same time, in spite of its size, with over a million members in its 4,000+ congregations, the BBFI is virtually unknown by the larger Christian community. Rarely do its local congregations identify as BBFI affiliates when they approach their immediate neighbors. Most of the books written about the BBFI and its leading members have been privately published, and it is rarely mentioned, even in passing, in standard histories of American religion, many of which dismissed Fundamentalism at the end of the 1930s, before the BBFI was even formed. Closer to the present, the fellowship’s most famous member, Jerry Falwell, left it early in his career and founded a rival Liberty Baptist Association. In writing about the Baptist Bible Fellowship, author Jeffrey D Lavoie is making a real contribution to a major lacunae in American religious studies and the history of the Christian church. The treating of how 20th century white Americans struggled with overcoming the racist attitudes they grew to adulthood accepting and how those attitudes affected and were affected by their religious commitments will be a matter of continuous research and discussion by the next generations of historians. How conservative Christians thought about salvation, individual responsibility in the face of corporate sin, and the nature of the Christian message will be an integral element in that struggle. Given the emphasis placed on the authority of the individual and the local church in Baptist denominations rather than in the corporate body of believers and denominational authorities in, for example, the Methodist or Presbyterian churches, Lavoie’s exploration of the BBFI becomes all the more illuminating of important intellectual and behavioral patterns in the era that segregation was called into question and one’s long-term reputation would come to be determined by one’s attitudes toward it. I am thus more than happy to present Segregation and the Baptist Bible Fellowship to both my scholarly colleagues and the general public as a contribution to our on-going understanding of the changes through which we lived in the last half of the 20th century and as fodder upon which the larger

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community of Christians can chew as we continue our struggle to leave our racist heritage behind and move to a more mature and loving stance toward all our Christian sisters and brothers. J. Gordon Melton Baylor University July 2012

PREFACE: AN INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

A Sign of the Times This book has two principal objectives: first, to publish a scholarly, introductory history of the right-wing, conservative Christian organization known as the Baptist Bible Fellowship (BBF) and, second, to analyze and explore the views of some its early founders concerning race. The BBF was founded in 1950 and it remains an independent Baptist ‘fellowship’ (they are not considered a denomination as each member/pastor is autonomous); it contains a membership of around 1.2 million members many of whom are second and third generation members.1 Despite its colorful history and significant influence on the modern fundamentalist movement, there remains a dark spot in the early history of the BBF—most of its founding members were segregationists. A unique dichotomy arises in connection with the BBF. While most of its founders were unashamedly segregationists, they all nonetheless believed that the love of Christ transcended race and that reconciliation was available for every person, regardless of racial background. These two differing beliefs may seem contradictory to the modern reader, but studying these individuals within their historical context will allow for some understanding of this otherwise conflicting ideology. It is also important to remember that without these founding members there would be no Baptist Bible Fellowship and, thus, none of the numerous churches and philanthropic ministries that were outgrowths of the founders' work. If some of these individuals had lived in more modern times, perhaps they would have come to different conclusions, but, alas, it is not the job of the historian to provide redemption. Rather, it is the historian’s job to uncover the

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facts and connect the dots between them. This is the task that I attempted to accomplish through this study, although it remains for the reader to judge whether I have been successful in that endeavor. It is also important to admit in this introductory section that most individuals approach the subject of racism (and racial segregation) with a strong set of preconceptions that could affect their ability to study the individuals mentioned within this book objectively; each person should embark on this journey with the aim of understanding the circumstances and theological interpretations that gave rise to this pro-segregationist ideology. Two specific ‘biblical’ elements were employed by many of the figures in this work in order to defend their views of racial segregation—these two elements will be identified and examined throughout this study. By understanding the ‘how’ and ‘why’s’, the reader will begin to identify particular biblical interpretations and patterns of thinking that fostered this unhealthy view of racial inequality. The aim of this understanding is to permit change in their present associations and organizations. As the old axiom goes, ‘those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’ The author further recognizes that many incredible men and women belong to the BBF and some of these current members maintain(ed) deep personal relationships with the personalities explored throughout this work. For this reason, the author humbly requests that this work be judged as a historical piece not as a personal judgment or reflection on the BBF as an organization. After all, good history is grounded in fact not opinion. The author’s primary concern in writing this book is that it might be used to ‘shame and blame’ the individuals or organization within its pages; this is NOT its purpose. Rather, while presenting the history of this movement, it is the author’s intention to challenge some of the historical views of this institution and bring about the natural process of reconciliation that ensures that the Baptist Bible Fellowship remains relevant and effective to future multi-cultural generations.2

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About the Author A brief analysis of the author and his presuppositions will provide the reader with an understanding as to the reasoning behind this study. The author was ordained by fellow BBF pastors and remains an active preacher within this organization having pursued his undergraduate degree at a BBF operated institution (Boston Baptist College in Boston, MA). He continued on to pursue graduate studies at Episcopal Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School both in Cambridge, MA and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Exeter in Exeter, UK. His experience (and opinion) is that this historical view of segregation has hindered the Fellowship’s ability to construct socially-progressive 21st century churches that are racially integrated; instead the Fellowship continues to plant some churches that are still (albeit indirectly) racially segregated. In order to remain relevant into the future the BBF must foster/plant churches that embrace ‘American’ culture with racially diversified congregations. It is only by clearly identifying this racial oppression within its history and by dealing with these issues in a healthy manner that the process of reconciliation may commence. Sources and Acknowledgments This study utilizes a large number of self-published works that were printed in very limited runs. As such, many of the quotations employed remain difficult to corroborate; however, special care has been taken to cite these works as fully as possible. As one researcher has recently noted (in an unpublished Doctor of Ministry thesis at Liberty University), there is a real lack of scholarly information on the BBF: Not much can be found about the life and times of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International on the shelves of libraries and book outlets. There are some small self-published works about the beginnings of the Fellowship, which usually include short bios on the early leaders and their boldness to bring about a new fellowship. There are some more serious books which contain short sections regarding the BBFI written by outsiders looking in at the BBFI and quoting from a few insiders who took the trouble to write.3

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Context, Context, Context All of the figures identified in this study deserve to be understood within their own unique historical context. The early roots of the BBF are planted in 1950s Texas a context entirely different from one with which the modern reader will be accustomed. Racial segregation became a pressing topic following the 1954 case of Brown vs. Board of Education which overturned many of the segregation laws within the United States; however, racial integration was not immediate. Many of the sermons reprinted in this study were written during the heat of the civil rights movements (1955-1968) when issues of racial equality were still in their formative stage and before the enforcement of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Thus, certain attitudes, which are no longer prevalent in mainstream society, were socially acceptable and imbedded into the culture. One of the main contextual issues was the looming threat of communism. All of the personalities reviewed in this work believed that there was a direct connection between racial integration and the Communist Party. Their concerns over the impending rise of communism were influenced by the actions of United States senator Joseph McCarthy (Wisconsin) who believed that the Communist Party had sent members to the United States in order to infiltrate its government and promote a socialist agenda. To the early members of the BBF, this agenda seemed to include the promotion of anti-capitalist, anti-American, and antiChristian ideologies that would ultimately set the stage for a one worldgovernment which in turn would usher in the Tribulation and the Apocalypse described so intensely in the book of Revelation. After all this was the time period of such noted events as the trial of the Soviet ‘spies’ Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1951), the rise of the Iron Curtain around Eastern Europe (1945-1991), and the knowledge that the Soviet Union possessed the capability of building nuclear bombs. All of these events led to the promotion of something known as the second ‘Red Scare,’ a fear of communism also known as McCarthyism, which resulted in an outpouring of anti-communist paranoia across the Western world.

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This ‘scare’ was reflected in the sermons of the fundamentalist pastors in this study who interpreted theses events inside an eschatological framework. Though this ‘red scare’ may appear to some readers as merely a fundamentalist conspiracy-theory, it must be remembered that this paranoia was shared by an entire nation including key political, social, and entertainment figures during this time period. Thus, communism and its spread was a legitimate social fear prevalent during the 1950s. One researcher noted the impact of communism within the formation of the BBF: Given the passage of the Cold War, twenty-first century readers of the Tribune may find it difficult to grasp why editor Smith devoted front-page coverage to exposes of the communist agenda. But he and others clearly viewed communism as a vicious threat to the persistence of a free America and to the propagation of the gospel worldwide, as illustrated by the following reaction to Nikita Khrushchev’s trip to the United States: ‘This official visit of this evil and wicked man is creating for him the international prestige he needs to be regarded as the No. 1 statesman of the world. It is strengthening his tyrannical hold on the slave states composing his Iron Curtain empire. It is creating confusion, frustration, and hopelessness in the few countries of the globe that are putting up a brave and honest fight to keep the Red hordes from invading and conquering their lands.’4 Many early BBF pastors believed that communism was being introduced to American culture through the civil rights movement and racial integration; this was a subject that figured prominently in the writings of many of these segregationist pastors during this time period. Even though this understanding of the social context does not absolve these individuals of their views of segregation it does allow the reader to comprehend the unsettled and paranoid climate from which they emerged. This background information also allows the reader to understand how these individuals connected racial integration and the civil rights movement with communism.

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Is Segregation Racist? In discussing racial division, two main terms will be employed throughout this study—segregation and racism. Segregation is the belief that whites and blacks should be separated (the phrase ‘separate but equal’ encapsulates a segregationist belief; however, the term ‘equal’ has historically held a variety of differing meanings). Segregation holds that both blacks and whites have the right to interact with only people of their race. Some examples of racial segregation are found in historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the ‘white flight’ syndrome prevalent notably in 1950s Detroit (a term used to describe the mass of whites who have fled from the city into the suburbs in order to avoid racial integration). Obviously, forced segregation would be considered a form of blatant racism; however, is it racist to prefer the company of one’s own race? Is it racist to believe that an individual should be allowed the right to only interact with people of their own race? Most of the figures in this book did not think so, and they were vocal in their support of an individual’s right to socialize solely with members of their own race; however, despite these ‘equal rights’ many of them employed racial (mis) interpretations of the Bible in order to justify their beliefs. Another ominous term will be employed throughout this work which contains an obviously negative connotation: ‘racist.’ A ‘racist’ can be defined as any individual who maintains a belief that their race is superior to another; the related term ‘racism’ refers to the general belief that one race is more advanced than another. Understanding these classifications and distinctions, the questions that each individual reader will be forced to grapple with is as follows: ‘Is there such thing as ‘voluntary segregation’ or will it inevitably lead to forms of racial oppression?’ Again it should be remembered that the purpose of this book is not to ‘shame and blame’ the heritage of the BBF or to taint the legacy of these great men who were influential on the modern fundamentalist movement; rather, this book is an attempt to present openly the history of the BBF in order to bring about

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reconciliation. Also, it should be stressed that all of the pastors portrayed in this work are deeply respected by the author who also maintains a place in the ‘Fellowship’ (a shortened ‘nickname’ used by members to refer to the BBF designated through capitalization); however, the truth must be told at any cost. Veritas ad eternium.

1

Benjamin F. Shearer, Culture and Customs of the United State- Volume 1: Customs and Society (Westport, CT: ABC-CLIO, 2008), pp. 82-83. 2 The term ‘shame and blame’ has been conceptualized by Bill Kondrath in relation to various disagreements within a church that can manifest itself in a variety of ways including yelling, name calling, belligerence, and refusing to give input. All of these forms of behavior evidence that ‘some serious abuse of power has taken place during the congregation’s creative recent history. [typically] The norms of appropriate conduct have been so violated that the system can no longer behave with civility and grace…a community can recenter itself relationally by practicing focused and consistent mindfulness in noticing, understanding, and appreciating difference- that is, by disagreeing without resorting to shame, blame, or attack.’ William M. Kondrath, God’s Tapestry: Understanding and Celebrating Differences (Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2008), p.13. 3 Billy Hamm, ‘An Analysis of the Evangelistic Impact of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Liberty University, 2010), p. 12. 4

Gregory A. Smith, ‘Revivalism in the Baptist Bible Fellowship, 1959‐60: A Burkean Analysis’,

Faculty Publications and Presentations: Paper 50 liberty.edu/lib_fac_pubs/50> [accessed on 14 February 2012]

(2008).