Foreign Mission Board Rooms
May 11, 1944
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session at 4:00 P. M. on Thurs¬
day, May 11, 1944, with President Jenkins presiding.
The meeting was opened with prayer by Dr. Prickett.
Present: L. H. Jenkins. Mrs. T. J. Moore, J. G. Loving, S. B. Cousins. C. S.
Prickett. R. E. Gaines, Hill Montague, J. L. Evans. R. Aubrey Wi Hi ams , Hugh Rudd,
С.
E. T&ddry, Everett Gill, Jr., Miss Marjorie Moore, Miss Mary Hunter, M. T. Ran¬
kin, E. C. Routh, H. H. McMillan, E. P. Buxton, and Everett L. Deane.
Dr. lfaddry spoke with regret of the death of Mss Alta Foster and suggested that
a committee be appointed to draw up suitable resolutions.
Dr. Maddry also recommended the appointment of Mrs. William J. Williams as a mis¬
sionary of this Board to Africa. Mrs. Williams could not be present at the meeting
of the Board in April when her husband was examined and appointed. Dr. John L.
Slaughter and a committee in Birmingham have examined Mrs. Williams and recommend
her for appointment.
Dr. Maddry reported that Dr. Sadler had been delayed in Nigeria.
On motion of Dr. Cousins it was voted to appoint a committee to draft suitable
resolutions with regard to Miss Alta Foster.
On motion of Dr. J. L. Evans it was voted that Mrs. William J. Williams be ap¬
pointed as a missionary.
On motion of Dr. Evans it was voted to approve the recommendation of Dr. Nfeddry
that M. J. White be recommended as a member to succeed Mss Alta Foster.
At the meeting of the Board in April a committee was appointed to draw up a reso¬
lution to bo presented at the Southern Baptist Convention stating the Foreign Mis¬
sion Board's position in light of growing Roman Catholic pressure to rid Latin
America of our missionaries. Dr. Gill read this resolution and on motion of Dr.
Williams it was voted to adopt it with such changes as the committee might make.
RESOLUTION
Concerning Roman Catholic campaign to rid Latin America of Protestant Mssionaries
(To be presented to Southern Baptist Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, May 16-18, 1944)
At the very moment when all Americans should be united for victory, we view with
deepest "egret and growing alarm the persistent campaign of the Roman Catholic
Church in the United States, Central and South America, to rid all Latin America
of Protestant missionaries. It is contended that their presence is inimical to the
best interests of the Good Neighbor Policy of our government. A Brazilian Arch¬
bishop has written the United States Ambassador in Rio de Janeiro to ’’take the neces¬
sary steps" to prevent the entrance of Protestant missionaries. An official state¬
ment by all Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of the United States declares that Prot¬
estant missionary "efforts prove to be a disturbing factor in our international re¬
lations." and are therefore "offensive to the dignity of our Southern brothers."
(pp. 5, 20 "Religious Liberty in Latin America," pamphlet by Committee on Co-operation
in Latin America, New York.) The April, 1944, issue of The Catholic Pi gest continues
the uninterrupted campaign by characterizing this Protestant missionary enterprise
os "unnecessary, unwelcome, and unwise." It suggests that our work "be curtailed."
Such curtailment naturally involves governmental action.
This is a serious charge which the Southern Baptist Convention, representing five
and one-half million American citizens, has borne patiently but now insists cannot
go unanswered. We do not question the right of the Poman Catholic Church to attack
our missionary enterprise on religious grounds. That is the privilege of free men
in a free America. Nor is it our purpose to defend the work of some two hundred
Southern Baptist missionaries who have labored side by side ’with patriotic Latin
Americans in seven neighbor republics for over two generations. Our record of trans¬
formed lives, schools, colleges, seminaries, churches, goodwill centers, medical
clinics, and independent Latin American Baptist Conventions speaks for itself.
The only vital issue here involved is the fundamental ideal of complete religious
freedom. For this freedom, our fathers suffered and died. It is a freedom first
exemplified in human history in the establishment of Rhode Island by the persecuted
Baptist, Roger Williams, Here Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Unitarian, Mohemmedan, or
atheist was accorded absolute religious freedom without ecclesiastical or govern¬
mental interference. Here men might believe or not believe as they chose. For this
