Churches: Waking Up to Race

Perhaps because of the site, the Sunday school killings in Birmingham brought forth in churches throughout the U.S. last week a great outpouring of wrath, sympathy—and hard-cash collections to help rebuild the bombed Baptist church. The reaction demonstrated what is best about religion's responsibilities toward mending the nation's racial division: white ministers and priests are everywhere waking up to the need to help Negroes through secular action —fund drives, picket lines, finding jobs, breaking down housing segregation. But at the same time, the hatred that brought on the bombing showed what clergymen confess to be the worst in their...