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The Bible Told Them So Explains Why Southern White Evangelical Christians In South Carolina Resisted The Civil Rights Movement In The 1950s And 1960s. Simply Put, They Believed The Bible Told Them So. Interpreting The Bible In Such A Way, These White Christians Entered The Battle Against The Civil Rights Movement Certain That God Was On Their Side. Ultimately, The Civil Rights Movement Triumphed In The 1960s And, With Its Success, Fundamentally Transformed American Society. But Such A Victory Did Little To Change Southern White Evangelicals' Theological Commitment To Segregation. Rather Than Abandoning Their Segregationist Theology In The Second Half Of The 1960s, White Evangelicals Turned Their Focus On Institutions They Still Controlled-churches, Homes, Denominations, And Private Colleges And Secondary Schools-and Fought On. Despite Suffering Defeat In The Public Sphere, White Evangelicals Continued To Battle For Their Own Institutions, Preaching And Practicing A Segregationist Christianity They Continued To Believe Reflected God's Will. Increasingly Caught In The Tension Between Their Sincere Beliefs That God Desired Segregation And Their Reticence To Vocalize Such Ideas For Fear Of Seeming Bigoted Or Intolerant By The Late 1960s, Southern White Evangelicals Eventually Embraced Rhetoric Of Colorblindness And Protection Of The Family As Measures To Maintain Both Segregation And Respectable Social Standing. Such A Strategy Set Southern White Evangelicals On An Alternative Path For Race Relations In The Decades Ahead--
This work investigates how Southern white evangelical Christians utilized theological interpretations of the Bible to justify and sustain resistance to the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s and 1960s. J. Russell Hawkins, a scholar of American religious history, examines the intersection of faith and racial politics in South Carolina. By analyzing primary sources from churches, private schools, and denominational records, the author argues that these groups did not abandon their segregationist views after legislative defeats but instead adapted their rhetoric to maintain institutional control. The book demonstrates how the transition from overt segregationist language to the rhetoric of colorblindness allowed these communities to preserve their social and religious structures.
What You Will Find
Scholars and historians recognize this text as a significant contribution to the study of American religious history and the persistence of racial ideologies. Readers frequently note the meticulous archival research that clarifies the complex relationship between evangelical theology and social policy during the Civil Rights era.
Page Count:
210
Publication Date:
2021-01-01
ISBN-10:
0197571085
ISBN-13:
9780197571088
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