October 23, 2024
Pre-World War II Saturdays found Georgia county seat towns filled with shoppers and people going to the “picture show.” Although fewer were arriving in a horse or mule drawn wagon, most came in pickup trucks or old sedans. “Blue Laws” ensured Sunday mornings found businesses shuttered and church doors swung wide open. Even though Prohibition had been repealed for over a decade, almost all of Georgia’s counties were “dry.”
Virtually unchanged for generations, Georgia’s population was overwhelmingly Protestant and Democrat. Sleepy towns and villages basked under the hot summer Georgia sun. Atlanta, Savannah, and a few other cities were growing as migration from the farms to the cities continued. Yet this migration had primarily come from within Georgia, not without.
The sleepy south was the same as it had always been, but it would soon change, never to be the same again. Yet, for a few brief days in July 1939 the world had its eyes on an event hosted by Georgia Baptists. An event that foreshadowed the struggles about to erupt and stands today as a reminder of the importance of Freedom of Religion.
It was billed as the largest gathering of Baptists in the history of the state, located in “the heart of the Baptist world.” Baptists from around the world met in Atlanta for the 6th Baptist World Alliance. Their theme was “Freedom of Religion.”
Ironically, the symbols representing the greatest threats to freedom of religion at the time were flying over Atlanta’s streets. The German swastika, the Japanese rising sun and the Soviet hammer and sickle flew over Peachtree Street, along with flags from 60 other participating countries. A parade, with the delegates and five bands, marched beneath those flags on Saturday July 22. The parade began at the state capital and was viewed by over 125,000 people on the city streets.
The highlight of the week took place on a hot Sunday afternoon, July 23rd at the old Ponce de Leon Ball Park, also known as Crackers Field. Over 42,000 were present. Both NBC and CBS radio networks live broadcast the service to millions nationally. Alliance President George W. Truitt preached a prophetic sermon titled, “The Baptist Mission and Message for the World Today.” The hour-long message by Truitt, whose voice was described as filled with pathos, still rings true:
“Religious liberty is the nursing mother of all liberty. Without it all other forms of liberty must soon wither and die. The Baptists grasped this conception of liberty in its full-orbed glory, from the very beginning. . . And Baptists make this contention, not only for themselves, but as well, for all others . . . their contention is not for mere toleration, but for absolute liberty. There is a wide difference between toleration and liberty. Toleration implies that somebody falsely claims the right to tolerate. Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right. Toleration is a matter of expediency, while liberty is a matter of principle. Toleration is a gift from man, while liberty is a gift from God.” (The Christian Index, Aug 3, 1939)
WSB radio in Atlanta carried almost every session of the week live. Through the week, representatives from countries where religious freedom had already been curtailed shared how believers stood defiant in their faith. The world was listening, waiting and watching, collectively holding their breath as tensions continued to mount in Europe and Asia.
Baptist representatives from Japan and China, countries already at war with each other, were in attendance. Hungarian Baptists shared that their churches had been closed by the state. Russia did not send an official delegation but was represented by “some of her exiled sons.” Russians and Romanians shared their stories of persecution by their governments. Germany was represented by two groups, the “official delegation” and an unofficial delegation made up of Baptists who had fled the growing Nazi menace. Within a few months, Poland, also represented, would be invaded by both Russia and Germany.
Georgia politicians led by one of the most powerful in Washington D.C., Sen. Richard Russell, were bringing home the political bacon. Defense spending became the life blood of the new south. Soon Liberty ships were being launched in Brunswick and bombers were being constructed in Marietta. Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, Robbins Air Field, St. Mary’s Navy base and a host of smaller training bases were scattered across Georgia. Even Mercer University would feel the impact as it became home to an Army Aviation school in 1943.
The theme of the Baptist World Alliance, Religious Freedom, was already being put to the test around the world. Religious freedom has always been precious to Baptists. Persecution is a part of the blood which flows through Baptists veins.
Truitt reminded those in attendance that, “Baptists make this contention, not only for themselves, but as well, for all others.” It is still true that religious freedom continues to be put to the test, and Baptists should value and defend it for all. Truett’s words which drifted across the ball field and across the nation’s airwaves that hot Sunday afternoon serve as a reminder, “liberty is a gift from God.”
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Charles Jones is a Southern Baptist historian, retired pastor, and newspaper columnist.
