Methodists & Segregation

The largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. last week wrestled with its own particular version of the great debate over racial integration. Gathered in Denver's City Auditorium for the quadrennial General Conference of the Methodist Church, 788 voting delegates fought --sometimes bitterly--over a report by a 70-member commission hat in effect recommended continuation of racial segregation in the administrative system of U.S. Methodism.

The Embarrassing Central. The seeds of the problem were sown in 1939, when Methodists rejoiced in the completion of a long march to reunion after the split of the Civil War. Three separate churches --the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church--united in a single body made up of six "jurisdictions." Five of them are geographical; the sixth cuts across regional lines, is made up of 367,000 Negroes all over the U.S. At the time, this "Central Jurisdiction" seemed a happy solution, giving Southerners their segregation and Negroes a greater proportion of church leadership (the Central Jurisdiction is administered by four Negro bishops). But today, with segregation almost as much of a high-tension issue as slavery was a century ago, the segregated Central Jurisdiction, whatever its practical advantages to Negroes, is something of an embarrassment to a church whose leadership has stood consistently for integration.

According to the commission report, published three months ago (TIME, Jan. 18), immediate abolition of the Central Jurisdiction would be a poor solution. As Commission Chairman Charles C. Parlin, a Manhattan attorney, told the delegates, combining the Central Jurisdiction with the white North Central Jurisdiction would leave the Negroes with only 11% representation in the Jurisdiction, and "How often will the North Central elect a Negro bishop?" The report's recommendation: leave things as they are for the time being. "We must give ourselves to education and experimentation in the creating of a climate--spiritual and psychological--in which an inclusive Methodist Church will be a reality."

Down the Middle. This uneasy middle-of-the-road position was roundly attacked from both sides. Extremist Southerners circulated a pamphlet which cried: "How could a person of honor and good sense support a report which makes not a single suggestion for strengthening the jurisdictional system or upholding our right to believe in and practice fundamental principles for safeguarding the morals of our children and the integrity of our race?"

Countered Negro Pastor William James of Manhattan's Metropolitan Community Methodist Church: "The commission report tries to say to Negroes 'You be good boys and we'll give you what you want in the way of appointments, but if you try to integrate, we'll shut you out.' The young people engaged in the sit-downs are not going to take this." The most vociferous lay delegate, Chester A. Smith, 75, of Peekskill, N.Y., a retired court reporter who is a veteran of twelve General Conferences, joined with Pastor James in picketing the report at this "critical hour in the history of the Methodist Church."

For a day and a half, until late into the night, the delegates at Denver debated, finally decided at week's end to accept the commission report and the Central Jurisdiction for at least another four years.

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