Religion: Baptist from Britain

The world’s No. 1 Baptist Churchman traveled with pleasant English briskness through the South last week, reminding the 11,000,000 U.S. members of the church that its interests and their obligations are worldwide.

White-bearded, pink-pated Dr. James Henry Rushbrooke, 72, president of the Baptist World Alliance, had packed up his things at headquarters in London weeks before, come to the U.S. to attend the Alliance’s executive committee meeting this week in Chicago. Along the way Dr. Rushbrooke preached many a sermon. He also sat in many a conference with clergy and laymen, outlining the wartime plight of the church from the Yangtze to the Zuyder Zee. But he saw hope, where many Baptists still could not see it, in Russia’s easing attitude toward religion. Said he, seriously: “Perhaps the next meeting of the Alliance may actually be held in Moscow.”