Billy Heads South

Billy Graham has pointedly steered clear of civil rights demonstrations. But last week, he started the first phase of a major crusade to see whether his gospel message--that men must love God before they can love one another--can ease some of the racial tension in the South. "As a Southerner," says Baptist Billy, "I may have a little more influence than a man with a New England accent."

Billy's first stop was Dothan (pop. 36,753), a southern Alabama black belt farming center where his brother-in-law is pastor of a Presbyterian church. From there he would move on to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, mostly Negro Tuskegee Institute, and Auburn University. Cancelling a vacation and a European tour, Billy will conduct a ten-day crusade in Montgomery in June. During October, he will crusade in Waco and Houston. Striving to accept speaking engagements in parts of the South where he has seldom before preached, he has juggled his schedule to fit in a speech to the Mississippi Baptist Convention. "I want to stay in touch with those fellows," he says.

Integrated Crusades. Billy has often been accused of ignoring segregation, but it is a charge that does not bear scrutiny. Since 1950, he has refused to speak before segregated audiences, and has quietly integrated his own staff; one of his 14 associate evangelists, the Rev. Howard Jones of Ohio, is a Negro, and Billy has invited another Negro cleric to join the Graham organization. Speaking in the South, Billy has denounced racial discrimination as a product of man's sinfulness; he has refused to preach in South Africa because his audiences would be segregated.

Civil rights advocates among the clergy who prefer picket lines to preaching are skeptical about the worth of Billy's Southern crusade. "I think my ministry is a little bit different from marching," answers Billy, who believes that the church must cleanse itself before attacking secular ills. "I've said often that the most segregated hour of the week is 11 o'clock Sunday morning. We can't point an accusing finger at the secular world when the churches are not integrated."

Under the Cross. In private conversations with Southern civic leaders after his sermons, Billy expects to "say plenty" about the need for racial understanding in the South. Onstage, however, he intends to heal, not harangue, offer the message of the Gospel on race in beyond-the-battle terms. "I believe that under the shadow of the cross of Christ is the place of true brotherhood."

Graham's critics argue that the sense of spiritual brotherhood he creates often lasts no longer than the memory of his sermon. In answer, Billy argues that a true conversion to Christ inevitably affects man's racial attitude. Moreover, he believes that his kind of preaching may have a special value for the South, where both white and Negro share a common tradition of reverence for Gospel-centered Christianity. And despite "huge psychological barriers," Billy believes that the South may well overcome its racial difficulties faster than the North. "We're building for future generations," he says. "Younger people look at things differently now."

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