The Race Problem and Religious Education Among Baptists in the USA

Ohsberg, Harry Oliver

Ph.D. (1964), University of Pittsburgh

The problem was to analyze the treatment of Negro-white relations in the official pronouncements and the adult curriculum materials of the American Baptist Convention; Southern Baptist Convention; National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Incorporated; and National Baptist Convention of America for the years 1945 to 1963. The first two bodies named are made up predominantly of white members, while the last two are Negro. The study attempted to determine the position taken in the Conventions’ resolutions and curriculum objectives, and the reflection of that position in the curriculum materials.

The study was based upon content analysis, centering on four questions: Is the discussion of race relations in general or specific terms? Is theology basic or secondary in the discussion? Is the application local or universal? Is the treatment of race relations balanced throughout the material or concentrated in certain quarters? The Coefficient of Imbalance was employed to determine the visibility of the topic in the material.

The following statements summarize the findings:

  1. All four Baptist Conventions express overt commitment to racial justice and equality.
  2. The American Baptist and Southern Baptist Conventions base their official resolutions concerning race relations primarily upon theological grounds. The two National (Negro) Baptist Conventions place greater stress upon civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution and legal enactments.
  3. The American Baptist and the two National Baptist Conventions advocate “inclusive” membership in their churches. The Southern Baptists take no official position on this, leaving it to the discretion of local churches.
  4. The resolutions of the American Baptist and the two National Baptist Conventions contain specific suggestions regarding housing, employment, and education. The Southern Baptist resolutions contain no such references.
  5. The stated curriculum objective of the Southern Baptist Convention is the most detailed in presenting theological and educational foundations for the church program.
  6. None of the statements of curriculum objectives contains specific reference to “Negro-white” relations.
  7. All four Conventions discuss the topic in their respective curriculum materials. The topic appears in the Southern Baptist materials almost twice as often as in the American Baptist materials.
  8. The American Baptist materials contain only one reference to specific Negroes, those in Harlem. The Southern Baptist materials refer to only two individual Negroes. On other occasions, the reference is to the Negro in general.
  9. Theology is central to the discussion of the cause of racial prejudice in the materials of the Southern Baptist and National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Incorporated. In the materials of the other two Conventions, the principal emphasis is upon the civil liberties denied the Negro.
  10. Theology is central to the proposed solutions in the materials of the Southern Baptist and National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Incorporated. Theology is peripheral to the proposed solutions in those of the other two Conventions.
  11. Both Negro Conventions refer to the subject by the term, “race,” and never by the term, “Negro-white.” The Southern Baptist Convention uses the term, “Negro-white” in the majority of instances. The American Baptist Convention uses the term, “race” twice as often as the term, “Negro-white.”
  12. None of the Conventions presents the problem as a sectional one. The proposed solutions are deemed applicable to the whole nation.
  13. The discussion of the subject in the church school materials of all four Baptist Conventions is distributed throughout the year, and is not concentrated in any one quarter. The topic is distributed through both the teachers’ and pupils’ materials.