THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST RESPONSE TO INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND THREATS TO PEACE, 1931--1941

Much that has been written about American attitudes towards international affairs during the decade of the 1930s tends to depict a general public consensus that was eventually reflected in foreign policy decisions made in Washington. Less attention has been paid to the special interests publics and their views toward events during this period. Therefore, this work documents the responses and opinions of one such special interest segment of American society--the Southern Baptists.; Chapter I includes an overview of the development of Baptist thought, including their European origins; their growth in America; the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention; and their views towards the social application of Christianity. As the primary documents for the study were the Southern Baptist state periodicals, Chapter II draws a profile of state papers and their editors. Chapter III explores the response of the Southern Baptists to specific international events from the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 up to their 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Chapter IV explores the response of the Southern Baptists to threats to religious liberty around the world brought on primarily by the growth of the totalitarian states. Chapter V documents the changing views of the Southern Baptists on the utility of war and their concerns regarding such issues as armaments, munitions, pacifism, and the conscientious objector. Chapter VI details the Southern Baptist view toward American foreign policy during the period 1931-1941. Chapter VII, the final chapter, compares the Southern Baptist view of world affairs to those views held by others within the Protestant community. The chapter examines the South's reaction to world affairs and American foreign policy in comparison to that of the rest of the nation. It includes an overview of the relationship that existed between the views held by the Southern Baptists and those of the Southern states as a whole.; During the period 1931-1941 the Southern Baptists moved from a rather ingenuous advocacy of international cooperation for world peace to a more active position designed to encourage the containment and eventual destruction of totalitarianism in Europe and Asia. These changes in attitude were precipitated in large part by the continued growth of the dictator states and the ensuing threats to democracy and Christianity. In this respect they were in many ways a microcosm of the larger society. Yet there were other factors unique to the Southern Baptists that came into play. These included their belief in unrestricted religious liberty and the universality of Christianity, their ethnic and theological identification with Europe, and, finally, their own self-interests, especially in support of their world wide missionary enterprise.; The research leads to the conclusion that the Southern Baptists were greatly concerned with world affairs during the Depression decade and spoke to the issues. Yet perhaps the most valid criticism that can be made of their response to international affairs is that they were reactors not initiators, relying too much on the power of words alone. Outside of their theological ideology, that is that the world must be ordered along the principles set down by Jesus Christ, they offered no meaningful programs for world peace.; Consequently, though their struggle to face the issues and resolve them in light of their Christian faith was in itself a worthy effort in the search for world order, their attempts to insure world peace were in great part ineffectual.