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A Militant Crusade In Africa: The Great Commission And Segregation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Richard Jordan
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Abstract

During the Cold War and in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the Calvinist and political fundamentalists of North America opposed the integration of American society and the extension of civil rights to African-Americans. Both were viewed as contrary to God's plan for humankind and omens for the end times. At the same time, these militant clerics spread reformed theology and eschatology to non-white societies across the globe. An important missionary field was Africa, where American and British racial mores influenced the cultural and political struggle. western, capitalistic and democratic principles, white minority-rule, and British imperialism faced African nationalism and communist aid to independence movements. Accordingly, the contrast between militant theology and liberal, modernist Protestantism was interjected into the conflict. Two American crusaders, Carl McIntire and Billy James Hargis, made Africa an important battleground to defend segregation and western influence. Both pursued individual ministries and had differing theological agendas towards race. The International Council of Christian Churches, an organization that McIntire led, spread God's word to black Africans, while Hargis' Christian Crusade Against Communism worked with Rhodesia's white minority government. Their efforts provide insight into the militant theological and political crusade in North America and how they projected their Calvinist ideals into the international arena and into Africa.

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Articles
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Church History , Volume 83 , Issue 4 , December 2014 , pp. 957 - 987
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 2014 

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References

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22 The National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, founded in 1950 in Cleveland Ohio, constituted a merger of the Federal Council of Churches and seven interdenominational agencies. The new organization represented twenty-five protestant bodies and four Orthodox communions.

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26 “Ecumenical Press Service Reports All Africa Conference of Churches,” May 9, 1963; “Letter to All African Christians,” February 4, 1965; and “Christians, Communists Struggle for Africa,” Christian Beacon, March 11, 1965.

27 “Sham Orthodoxy Versus Real Orthodoxy,” Independent Bulletin Board (February 1935); “Dr. Machen Agrees To Attend His Trial,” New York Times, February 9, 1935; “Presbyterians Bar Board Merger Now,” New York Times, May 25, 1935; and “Presbytery Votes M'Intire's (sic) Ouster,” New York Times, September 11, 1935; Margaret Harden, A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and Its Agencies (no publisher, 1967); and McIntire, Twentieth Century Reformation.

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29 “An Open Letter to Martin Luther King from Dr. Carl McIntire,” Christian Beacon (June 11, 1964).

30 McIntire, Carl, An Open Letter to MLK (Collingswood, N.J.: International Council of Christian Churches, 1964)Google Scholar; and Repeal the Civil Wrongs Bill for Biblical Reasons (Collingswood, N.J.: 20th Century Reformation Hour, 1964)Google Scholar.

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32 Abraham Warnaar Jr. to John Poorter, September 1, 1952, MC-PTS; and “Christians, Communists Struggle for Africa,” Christian Beacon, (March 11, 1965).

33 For example: Reverend M. Osei-Amponsah to Carl McIntire, September 27, 1967, MC-PTS.

34 Private Secretary, Prime Minister's Office to Carl McIntire, September 24, 1957, MC-PTS; and Carl McIntire to R.B. Kruger, February 28, 1965, MC-PTS.

35 “The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions,” Christian Beacon (December 6, 1962); and “Conquest of Africa Begins,” Christian Beacon (February 7, 1963); and “Regional News: Africa,” Reformation Review (October 1962-October 1963).

36 Momulu S. Cooper to Carl McIntire, July 16, 1954, MC-PTS; and International Council of Christian Churches, Third Plenary Congress (Program) of the ICCC, Philadelphia, PA August 3–12, Held at Faith Theological Seminary (Collingswood, N.J.: International Council of Christian Churches, 1954). Within the McIntire Collection, the correspondence between McIntire and black Africans increases during the 1950s.

37 “20th Century Reformation Hour Broadcast to be Carried by Short Wave Around the World,” Christian Beacon (December 13, 1962); and “Regional News: Africa,” Reformation Review (October 1962-October 1963).

38 “Letter in Flight: Retrospect on African Advances, Missionary Letter No. 6,” Christian Beacon (February 18, 1965).

39 “The Africa Evangelical Conference,” Christian Beacon (March 31, 1960); “East Africa Christian Alliance,” Christian Beacon (February 4, 1965); and “Confrontation in the African Revolution,” Christian Beacon (March 11, 1965); “Regional News,” Reformation Review (October 1965); and “Regional News: East Africa,” Reformation Review (October 1969); and “Kenya: A Different Direction,” Time, May 7, 1965.

40 Etim P. Nta to Carl McIntire, February 28, 1964, MC-PTS; Abraham Warnaar Jr. to Carl McIntire, July 9, 1964, MC-PTS; Abraham Warnaar Jr. to Carl McIntire, February 22, 1965, MC-PTS; and M. Osei-Amponsah to ICCC, May 3, 1965, MC-PTS.

41 Carl McIntire to Ed Weaver, February 27, 1962, MC-PTS; and “Application for Constituent Membership,” April 4, 1968, MC-PTS.

42 “Rev. M.D. Opara (Nigeria) on ICCC Executive Committee,” Christian Beacon (September 6, 1962); “Four Hundred Churches in Africa Unite With ICCC,” Christian Beacon (April 14, 1966); “Testimonies of ICCC Leaders From Africa,” Christian Beacon (July 25, 1968); and “Your Land Is Full of Violence,” Christian Beacon (April 11, 1968); and “Regional News,” Reformation Review (October 1965).

43 Billy James Hargis, No Room in the Inn . . . or in the U.N. (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, n.d.); and Carl McIntire, Why We Should Fight Communism (no publisher), MC-PTS.

44 Reverend A.J.G. Oosthuizen to Reverend James I. McCord, January 30, 1962, Homrighausen Collection, Special Collections, Princeton Theological Seminary; “Blake to Seek Unity in Africa,” Christian Beacon (November 19, 1959); The Report of the Consultation Among South African Member Churches of the World Council of Churches, 7–14 December 1960 at Cottesloe, Johannesburg (Johannesburg: World Council of Churches, 1961); Gaines, David P., The World Council of Churches: A Study of Its Background and History (Peterborough: Richard R. Smith, 1966)Google Scholar; and Ritner, Susan Rennie, “The Dutch Reformed Churches and Apartheid,” Journal of Contemporary History 2 (October 1967): 17–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 Lowry, Daniel, “The Impact of Anti-Communism on White Rhodesian Political Culture, c. 1920s–1980,” in Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation, ed. Onslow, Sue (London: Routledge, 2009), 84–109Google Scholar.

46 DeRoche, Andrew, Black White and Chrome: The United States and Zimbabwe, 1953–1998 (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2001), 53–74Google Scholar; and Linden, Hal, The Catholic Church and the Struggle for Zimbabwe (London: Longman Group Limited, 1980), 37–57Google Scholar.

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49 Godwin, Peter and Hancock, Ian, ‘Rhodesians Never Die:’ The Impact of War and Political Change on White Rhodesia c. 1970–1980 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 36–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Good, Robert C., U.D.I.: The International Politics of the Rhodesian Rebellion (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973), 80–81Google Scholar; Kapungu, Rhodesia, 90–93; and Sundkler and Steed, History of the Church in Africa, 800-803.

50 “The Struggle for Rhodesia and South Africa,” Weekly Crusader (April 17, 1967).

51 Redekop, The American Far Right, 193–198.

52 Briley, Richard III, The Balloon Story (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, n.d.)Google Scholar; Hargis, Billy James, Challenge of the Sky (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, n.d.)Google Scholar; and Jorstad, The Politics of Doomsday, 49–59.

53 Hargis, Billy James, Communism in America Exposed: In the Churches, In the Schools, In Society (Sapulpa, Okla.: The Billy James Hargis Publishing Company, n. d.)Google Scholar; The National Council of Churches Indicts Itself on 50 Counts of Treason to God and Country (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, 1964)Google Scholar; and The Truth About Segregation: A Resume on the Best on the Subject (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, n.d.)Google Scholar.

54 “Christians, Communists Struggle for Africa,” Christian Beacon (March 11, 1965); “The Congo and the United Nations,” Foreign Intelligence Digest (December 9, 1960); “The Decline of Freedom Continues,” The Weekly Crusader (September 4, 1964); “The Congo” The Afro-Asian Bloc and Moise Tshombé: A Foreign Digest Special Report,” The Weekly Crusader (February 12, 1965); “Algeria: What We Should All Know About This Issue,” The Weekly Crusader (July 30, 1965); and “The Struggle for Rhodesia and South Africa,” The Weekly Crusader (April 17, 1967); Billy James Hargis, “Fact Finding Mission: December 27th – January 12th 1967” (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, 1967); and Penabaz, Fernando, The Crusading Preacher From the West (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, 1965)Google Scholar.

55 Edwin A. Walker, “The Art of Artifice” (Dallas: American Eagle, 1966).

56 “Is Rhodesia an Enemy of Freedom?” Weekly Crusader (March 25, 1966); “The Struggle For Rhodesia and South Africa,” Weekly Crusader (April 17, 1967); Dudman, Men of the Far Right, 82–91; Forster and Epstein, Danger on the Right; and Walker, “The Art of Artifice.” Major General Edwin A. Walker, a veteran of both the Second World and Korean Wars, commanded the airborne troops that forced Little Rock's Central High School to integrate in 1957. A valued speaker at Bible conferences and at militant fundamentalist churches, Walker became radicalized after witnessing the brainwashing of American prisoners-of-war in Korea and the use of federal power in Little Rock. Because of his activism, Walker found trouble while serving with the 24th Infantry Division in Germany. In October 1960, Walker wrote and initiated the “Pro-Blue Program” to educate soldiers about communist infiltration into American institutions. The Defense Department charged Walker with violating the Hatch Act, which prohibited anyone in the military from influencing the votes of American soldiers. Walker played a prominent role in the controversy over the enrollment of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi in October 1962. In Oxford, Walker urged rioters to attack the marshals defending Meredith and publicly called for a volunteer force to oppose the federal action. Arrested for inciting insurrection against the American government and assaulting federal marshals, the retired general was imprisoned and given psychiatric testing. These events elevated Walker from one of many speakers on the militant fundamentalist circuit to a celebrated “martyr” and a man of action (Jordan, Richard L., The Second Coming of Paisley: Militant Fundamentalism and Ulster Politics, Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2013)Google Scholar.

57 Billy James Hargis, “Speaks Out on the Issues!” (Tulsa: Christian Crusade Publications, 1971).

58 “The Struggle for Rhodesia and South Africa,” Weekly Crusader (April 17, 1967); and Hargis, Billy James, Will Our Soldiers Fight For Communism in South West Africa (Tulsa: Christian Crusade, 1967)Google Scholar.

59 Billy James Hargis to Harvey H. Springer, July 25, 1961, Billy James Hargis Papers, Special Collections, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; “Whites In Africa Victims of Prejudice,” Citizen (March 1962); and Markku Ruotsila, “Carl McIntire and the Fundamentalist Origins of the Christian Right,” Church History 81, no. 2 (June 2012): 378–407.

60 McMahan, Tom, Safari for Souls: With Billy Graham in Africa (Columbia, S.C.: State Commercial Printing Office, 1960), 47-62Google Scholar; and Miller, Steven P., Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61 “Text of Address by Ian Smith (Rhodesian PM) to the All-Africa Christian Crusade, Salisbury Rhodesia 17 January 1969,” Christian Crusade (February 1969); and Lowry, “The Impact of Anti-Communism on White Rhodesian Political Culture.”

62 Bowman, Politics in Rhodesia, 159–160; and Godwin and Hancock, ‘Rhodesians Never Die,’ 36–45.

63 Carl McIntire, “Why We Should Fight Communism.” In March 1961, the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa and the Dutch Reformed Church of the Transvaal withdrew from the World Council of Churches.

64 (Cable) Carl McIntire to Ian Smith, December 30, 1965, MC-PTS; Roy Smallwood (for Ian Smith) to Carl McIntire, May 27, 1968, MC-PTS; and Carl McIntire to Ian Smith, June 27, 1969, MC-PTS.

65 “Letter in Flight: Retrospect on African Advances,” Christian Beacon (February 18, 1965).

66 “King Made Sacrament by Clergy,” Christian Beacon (February 15, 1968).

67 “Programme to Combat Racism” (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1968).

68 Ruotsila, “Carl McIntire and the Fundamentalist Origins of the Christian Right.”