By Fr. Frank Ruff

The 148th session of the Georgia Baptist Convention met at the Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta on Nov. 10-12, 1969. The 1,500 messengers (delegates) packed the Peachtree Road church to hear rousing sermons from W.A. Criswell, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and William Holmes Borders, pastor of Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church-state issue of Mercer University’s application for federal funds was the main focus of the business meetings.

The church rang with approval when Dr. Criswell, pastor of the largest Baptist church, First Baptist in Dallas, Texas, called Madalyn Murray O’Hair a “mangy atheist” and a “first class nut.” But in a press conference after the sermon, Dr. Criswell predicted that the Southern Baptist Convention would get more involved in the great issues of our times: race, poverty, drugs, and divorce.

The trustees of Mercer University brought an extensive report justifying their controversial application for federal funds. The 30-member board of trustees voted unanimously to apply for funds, the report stated, because Mercer could not continue as a first class university under its present system of funding. The report pointed out that 15 Baptist colleges have already used federal assistance including five Georgia Baptist colleges. The convention voted to reaffirm the autonomy of the Mercer trustees, but requested them not to apply for more federal funds until the executive committee has studied the possibility of raising three million dollars over and above the present contribution to colleges by the convention.

Dr. Borders, a Negro Baptist pastor, challenged the messengers to adopt open door racial policies by declaring that “no man has the authority to close the door on another man redeemed by Christ.” Dr. Borders affirmed that whenever a man closes a door, “he shuts more out than he shuts in.”