Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Following its editorial response to the sincere brother from Memphis, declaring that "There ARE Two Sides" in the matter of race relations among Churches of Christ, the Christian Chronicle will now publish a final selection of letters from readers. On the first page of this two-page spread, five authors oppose racial segregation in the church. On the opposite page, in the next installment, we shall see some opposing views.

Dear Editor:

On this question of the admission of negroes to "white" churches, what are our "ground rules"? What are our sources of authority? Where shall we go for guidance?

If we are guided by the New Testament alone, by its principles, by the attitudes which it produces, by its description of the church, there is no question as to our conclusions in this matter. No person can push tradition, sectionalism and false pride into the background and seek guidance from the New Testament and reach any other ground except the will of God on this matter.

Isn't it strange that, although I have said nothing except the obvious: we must be guided by the New Testament alone-- our central plea--and have stated no conclusion, no reader fails to know my position now, simply from my appeal to let the New Testament guide us!) This is because the New Testament does guide us--and it leads only in one direction. Pride, tradition and sectionalism lead us elsewhere.

Certain denominations have had provincial or sectional roots, but not the Church of Christ. We are the universal church, at home in any clime but limited to none. We are not molded by traditions, nor by human views, nor by sectional prejudices. The Church of Christ is the same everywhere because it is guided by the Bible. The Bible is not a book of "evolved" literature. It is not subject to the changing views of a changing society. And the Church of Christ is the product of the Word of God, the seed of the Kingdom. That seed produces the same kind of Christians wherever it is preached. That is what we have always said. I still believe it. I believe that these truths apply not only to the plan of salvation, but also to the kind of Christians we are! I cannot believe that in a matter other than purely human opinion (a matter of deep principle, such as this question is) we are to be different in Wisconsin or Michigan from those in Tennessee or Texas.

I find nothing whatever in the New Testament to support the idea that mortal men can determine the make-up of the church. The Lord adds to the church; we do not "vote them in." If men can be denied membership in the local church because of race, on what other grounds may membership be denied? Are wealth, social status, educational level, proper criteria? And if race is a proper criterion, is the negro the only one to be excluded?

Brethren, I am convinced that we may deny no one the right to hear the gospel any time it is preached. I am also convinced that every hearer must be invited to obey the gospel. I am finally, and as strongly, convinced that everyone who obeys must be recognized as equal brother and extended full fellowship.

We Southern Christians have simply been wrong on this racial question. We have been in conflict with the "law of love" (Matt. 7:12), with the Lord's prohibition of respect of persons (Acts 10:15, 34; James 2:1-10) and with the New Testament idea of the unity of the church (Galatians 3:28).

I have no doubt that as society changes in our various localities, the church will change on this question. It is an evident fact that it is now a sectional question. In the regions where the negro has been unsegregated in schools and in employment and public transportation facilities there is not segregation in the church. And the reverse is true. This set of circumstances negates our claim not to be sectional or traditional. What I am asking is that we simply do what is right--do it voluntarily because it is right. We have an historic opportunity to demonstrate the truth and sincerity of our claim not to be a "social" body, built on traditions and biases. If we are guided by the Bible we will do this!-- Vernon W. Smith, Nashville, Tenn.

Dear Editor:

We are pleased to note the Chronicle's initiative in discussing serenely the matter of races and the Christian attitude. We have often wondered what would happen if some of the dear brethren we have known outside the South-- brethren whose skin is a shade darker than our own--should come visit us in our home cities in the South.

I believe that the problem is strictly a practical one. In viewing God's universal salvation without distinction we need to have world vision and thoughts. Our conduct must be consistent (Gal. 2:11-16). This is possible when with Christ-like love we shed our limited provincial ways and thoughts and are converted to Christ-like, i.e. Christian, thinking and acting.

To hold stubbornly and blindly to that which has "always been" is hardly sound reasoning for those who profess to reconstruct true Christianity in faith and practice.--Joe E. Gibbs, Florence, Italy

Dear Editor:

You are doing the right thing by bringing up the racial question in your paper. To my way of thinking, this is the most serious question that the entire brotherhood faces today.

And it has within it the sparks of a real conflagration, but this question can be solved with an open and free discussion and by the spirit of Christ. It must be solved within our borders soon for the world is attempting to solve it through the courts and legislation right now.

When the Negro gets his full rights, he will be coming to our buildings. We must be prepared for him when he does come. Prejudice, custom, bitterness and hatred have no place in our discussion of the problem and we must appeal to the Scriptures and to our consciences.

We are happy to tell you that we have an integrated congregation here in Camp Hill. We have several Negro members and they are just as much a part of the congregation as anyone else.

A number of Negro children are enrolled in our Bible classes, and others visit our services from time to time. It presents no problem for two reasons.

One, the elders have taken a positive position that this church is open to all men, and second, this is a well-taught group of Christians, and when these factors are present, trouble is not likely.

Thanks for your recent editorial and may God give you the courage to keep up your good work.--Haldon Arnold, Camp Hill, Pa.

Dear Editor:

In a recent editorial, an invitation was extended to discuss the issue of racial discrimination.

The church, of course, is not a political institution and has, since its inception, worked within the framework of many existing tyrannies and injustices. The Christian is ordered to be subject to every human institution (I Peter 2:13) but he is not instructed by any command, inference or example to be an instrument of social reform. This is why the letter to Philemon is necessary to teach the proper relationship between a master and a slave.

[i have unscrambled the "pied type" of this paragraph of the printed text in order to reconstruct the reading that was intended.--dh] So much for the civil government! "Elders" of local congregations and governing bodies of "Christians"[sic] colleges are presently of their own free will permitting and promoting racial injustices in direct violation of He who said, "You shall love your neighbors as thyself." I, for one, cannot conscientiously fellowship such institutions that are so openly and deliberately in direct violation of one of the two greatest commandments upon which all of the law and the prophets are based. Since "God is Love", simple logic demands that where love isn't God isn't either.

My heart grows heavy when I read, as the one writer put it, "God has fixed this great gulf." Any thinking soul can surely see that Satan in the form of Hate and Prejudice has fixed this gulf in its present self-perpetuating form. The writer also says "that there is a basic social difference between the races, not influenced by skin pigment." The "basic social difference" is regulated by segregated educational institutions in the South and by discriminatory employment practices in both North and South. It is a matter of record that intellectual traits are not inherited qualities.

Therefore:

I. Intellect and Education equals Knowledge.

II. Knowledge plus Job Opportunity equals Reasonable Income.

The city of Ninevah repented at the preaching of Jonah. What will segregated churches and colleges do in the face of the current world-wide indictment?--B. R. Loy, Midland, Michigan

Dear Editor:

In reply to your editorial letter concerning the Negro issue and the silence of your gospel papers on this issue.

To us who are servants of Christ we do find that not only you but the Churches of Christ throughout the South have been exceptionally slow in your stand on this matter.

It is amazing to find Churches of Christ who are supposed to be preaching, teaching and defending the doctrine of Christ letting this exist among themselves. By going along with custom and tradition of the section, also to the extent of preaching the Gospel.

To me and all true Christians everywhere who believe and practice the teaching of the New Testament this problem as you so call it stems from the Churches of Christ not doing their job in the South.

For letting this exist how will these churches, preachers and teachers explain it to our Lord in the judgment.

Can you give Him one of our so called logical answers? The answer to this is no. He will not accept our answers which stem from our two or three ways of looking at a problem which we have created ourselves.

With God there is only one way--His way not our way. This way is clearly given with precept and example to us by Christ and the apostles.

From the argument of Acts 15 in Jerusalem it was proven and agreed that the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles is broken down for ever and that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile which means all races that are not Jewish.

Are we of more authority than the word of God that we can prevent His word and say who can worship together?

No, we are not. When we allow this to happen, we assume too much authority and logic. Also we forget the significance of the new commandment that Jesus gave in John 13:34-35 and the 13th chapter of I Corinthians.

Your first minister's argument about the Jews and Gentiles is correct. Your second minister's argument is about Paul's letter to Philemon, a servant of God, about a slave who ran away and became a servant also.

He tries to find means to justify his argument that this is the will of God that human beings must stay separated.

This man needs to read this letter more thoroughly, then he would not make such a statement that Paul said nothing about changing the slave master.

This letter was written to a slave owner who had become a Christian telling him that His slave who ran away had also become a Christian and was being sent back to him and he was to treat him as a brother, verse 16, what more was there for him to say.

The answers are clear, you don't have to be a so called expert. The churches of Christ in the South will have to make up their minds whether they are going to serve God or still hallow God and serve customs and traditions of men as they have in the past.--F. T. Pankey, Vancouver, B.C.

In 1963 Vernon Wilson Smith is a 48-year-old postal worker and veteran minister of education and personal evangelism. Since 1958 he has worked with the West End congregation in Nashville, but as this letter is published he has either begun or is about to begin a ministry at the Hillcrest church in Dunmor, Kentucky. Smith has completed his undergraduate work at the University of Kentucky and has earned a master's degree at Scarritt College. In 1962 he privately published a Survey of the New Testament.

Joe Edward Gibbs is in 1963 a missionary teaching in a Bible school sponsored by Churches of Christ. After undergraduate study at Memphis State University and a tour of duty with the Air Force that took him to France, Gibbs read Bible at Abilene Christian and completed a master's degree at Harding Graduate School. He is a 33-year-old native of Hardy, Arkansas, and his mission work is sponsored by the church in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

By 1963 Haldon Lane Arnold has spent two years as an elder and minister in Camp Hill, a suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has served churches in Nashville and Tullahoma, Tennessee, and in Las Vegas, Nevada; he established the congregation in Augusta, Maine. A 47-year-old native of Atlanta, Gibbs was graduated from David Lipscomb College.

Of B. R. Loy and F. T. Pankey i know nothing beyond what they write here. Loy's passionate letter echoes the rhetoric and the arguments of Richard Nathaniel Hogan. Midland, Michigan, is located in the north central part of the state, about 20 miles west of Bay City and Saginaw. i wonder if F. T. Pankey has by this time crossed paths with James E. Hawkins, who stimulates an earlier epistolary controversy about race in the CC with a letter written from Victoria, British Columbia, and published in the issue of 13 January 1961.

With the letters printed on the opposite page we shall see the defense of segregation demanded by the sincere brother from Memphis. That will end this discussion in the CC.

May God have mercy.

dhaymes, his mark +