Baptist identity in the twentieth century

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2000 by Thomas H. Graves

How will we know who we are, if we do not understand where we have been? Especially for a people searching for a clear identity in the midst of turmoil, it is crucial to provide a chronicle of cherished traditions. In an effort to illuminate the heritage of a people called Baptists, particularly Southern Baptists, I will attempt to comment on the public perception of Baptists during this last century by noting some fascinating transitions apparent in our denominational life. I also want to focus on one key issue that has been largely neglected in the midst of our current denominational confusion.

Demographic Changes

In viewing the public perception of Baptists in the twentieth century, perhaps the place to start our study is not with issues of doctrine or denominational polity, but rather a consideration of the dramatic demographic changes affecting the South in the last 100 years. The South at one time was viewed as the cultural backwater of the nation, both as an economic liability and a social embarrassment. In a letter dated July 5, 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the Conference on Economic Conditions in the South by stating, "It is my conviction that the South presents right now the nation's no. 1 economic problem--the nation's problem not merely the South's." (1) At that time, the people of the South were the poorest in the country. With a population in excess of 36,000,000, the South accounted for one-half of the nation's farmers, yet had only one-fifth of the nation's farm machinery. This vast region, stretching from Virginia to Oklahoma, accounted for only 16 percent of the nation's factories and mechanized work force. The richest southern state ranked lower in per capita income than the poorest state outside the South. The average income in the south in 1937 was barely more than one-half the national average. Over 50 percent of the South's farmers did not own their own land and the average income of a tenant farmer in the South in 1938 was $73 per year. Sharecroppers earned on the average less than 38 cents for a day's labor. In 1938, southern banks held less than 11 percent of the nation's bank deposits and less than 6 percent of the nation's savings deposits. Absentee owners far from the American South largely controlled the southern centers of economic activity such as textiles, mining, and railroads. Even its few examples of economic success were largely stories of the South exporting its wealth to northern cities. By almost every common sociological yardstick--per capita income, level of education, degree of urbanization, infant mortality rate--the South lagged far behind other regions of the nation. (2)

The poverty of the South in the first half of the twentieth century had a profound impact on the perception of Southern Baptists. The South was viewed as an underclass and Southern Baptists were seen as the underclass of the South at prayer. Cecil Sherman tells of being a student at Princeton Seminary in 1954 when the eminent church historian, Lefferts Loetscher, referred in class one day to Southern Baptists describing them as "a sect primarily led by uneducated clergy, working with middle to lower class people, largely impoverished." (3) Already by the 1950s, that perception was becoming outmoded, but it was a true perception of Baptists for much of the twentieth century.

Now, the economic prospects for the new South have completely reversed its former status. It is no longer the bedraggled stepchild of the nation. The Sunbelt is the leading economic powerhouse of the world's most vibrant economy. The states of the old South consistently rank as the most desirable business environment in the nation. The nation now banks with Charlotte, turns to Atlanta for its news, relies on Austin and Raleigh-Durham for technological leadership, looks to Houston to meet its energy needs, and vacations in Orlando. The former impoverished backwater of the nation is on the leading edge of a burgeoning economy that is the envy of the nation and the world. The economic transformation of the region has changed southern culture from a lower-class American anomaly to one of wealth and sophistication.

This dramatic economic transformation with its urbanization, affluence, and mobility has brought an end to the parochial South once comfortably insulated from the effects of social progress. Samuel Hill noted that the important effect of these changes was that it transformed the agents of change from forces exterior to the culture to pressures within the culture itself. Hill wrote, "In history's long view, the most important development of the 1950s and 1960s may be that they relocated the sources fomenting change from outside the region to its own people." (4) The South has undergone a thorough economic transformation. Baptists in the South have been undeniably affected as the denomination moved from being an impoverished underclass to being more affluent than our forebears could ever have dreamed.

Alongside this growing affluence of the South is the concomitant move of Southern Baptists from being mere spectators of power to being the key power brokers at the very center of the nation. One might track this phenomenon by looking at the transition of persons wielding corporate power or by picturing the immense social influence now held by leaders of Southern Baptist life. The point is seen most graphically, however, by focusing on the White House. Except for Warren G. Harding, Baptists were not so visible among nationally elected leaders in this century until the presidency of Harry Truman. Then, with the election of Jimmy Carter, Baptists of the Southland moved into the mainstream of American life and occupied the central position of political power. Now with President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and much of the congressional leadership as well, Baptists are no longer on the outside looking in. Spectators no more, Baptists sit at the head of the table of power in this nation.