SOUTHERN WHITE PROTESTANTISM

In a carefully documented study, the author traces the development of the peculiar characteristics of the major Protestant denominations in the southern--i.e., old Confederacy--region of this country. He shows how much the religious attitudes in the area reflect the social and economic forces prevalent there, and how largely the churches have been molded by that culture. Doctrinal fundamentalism, racial segregation, the rejection of concern with social issues--except for such causes as prohibition--in favor of an individual soul-saving evangelism and moral conduct, go hand in hand with a cotton-and-tobacco plantation economy, a widespread level of poverty, and educational deficiency. Though some signs of a breaking out of this rigidity are now detected, the current embroilment of many southern churches in the racial struggle reveals how terribly binding the religious attitudes and mores from the past still are. A sobering, solid documentation of this situation.