SEGREGATION still exists in U.S. Christianity, but markedly less than in the past. Of nearly 16 million blacks who belong to Christian churches in the U.S., less than 2,000,000 are members of predominantly white denominationsbut black leadership in those denominations is no longer a surprise.
The American Baptist Convention, in which black members account for about one-sixth of the 1,500,000 total, last year elected Los Angeles Pastor Thomas Kilgore as its first black president. In the United Methodist Church, the 500,000 black members account for less than 5% of the total; until 1968 most were segregated in a separate Negro jurisdiction. Now...