By Dr. Jerry Taylor

*Adapted from Dr. Taylor’s dedicatory message at the opening of the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action

With the blazing zeal of the prophet Amos, Dr. Carl Spain’s prophetic words left a major crack in the foundation of the false religion of white supremacy that piously prevailed in Churches of Christ in the 1960s.

Dr. Spain’s February 24, 1960, lectureship address was entitled, “Modern Challenges to Christian Morals.” Spain made the bold claim in his 1960 address that white supremacy was the most credible threat in America to the Christian morals that were being fervently preached from Christian pulpits of every major religious body across this country.

Dr. Spain courageously exposed the contradiction of Christians having their membership in the Churches of Christ while they maintained their membership in what he called the “Royal Order of the Master Race.” Dr. Spain believed that preaching Christian values to the communist world while at the same time advancing the antichrist values of Nazism and white supremacy was a glaring contradiction. Such a hypocritical contradiction stood out in the spotlight on the world’s stage and could not be kept hidden even off stage from the Communists who clearly observed it from behind the iron curtain.

While white American Christianity vehemently condemned Soviet Communism for being atheistic and antidemocratic, Spain rightly pointed out that these same Christians were hypocritically excluding, denying, and obstructing African Americans from having full participation in the highly esteemed system of American democracy. To give loyal allegiance to white supremacy is the equivalency to denouncing total allegiance to Christ supremacy. Both supremacies cannot rule, reign nor cohabitate in the house of prayer for all nations.

Not only did Dr. Spain condemn racism, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, he critiqued the economic systems that support racist structures. Spain knew that this relationship between money and white supremacy often took place under the clever disguise of “Christian Education.”

In his lecture Spain said, “God forbid that Churches of Christ, and schools operated by Christians shall be the last stronghold of refuge for socially sick people who have Nazi illusions about a Master Race.”

Spain went on to ask the 1960 Abilene Christian College lectureship audience, “Are we moral cowards on this issue? There are people with money who will back us in our last-ditch stand for white supremacy in a world of pigmented people. God forbid that we shall be the last stronghold among religious schools where the politico-economic philosophy of naturalism determines our moral conduct. . . The surest way to seal the doom of this nation is for Christians to be the only ones with unChristian attitudes.”

Dr. Spain further warned listeners of the spiritual danger of pursuing power over principle, when he said, “we see evil as good when it accomplishes our goals, and we see good as evil when it obstructs our path to power.”

Sixty-three years later and some church leaders still seem to be seduced into a satanic state of confusing evil for good and good for evil. The church must break free from the hypnotic spell of the seducer so it can properly discern between what is just and what is unjust.

When senseless shootings happen, we as Christians must not remain silent and confuse evil for good, and good for evil. 

When the city of Flint, Michigan has all its residents exposed to poisoned drinking water it is no time for Christians to remain silent and confuse good for evil, and evil for good.

When Neo-Nazis and white nationalists gather at Disney World or anywhere else in this nation, Christians should not remain silent and confuse good for evil, and evil for good.

We may not always know what to do immediately when these horrible events happen, but as the Church of Jesus Christ we can ask God to give us the courage to speak redeeming words into situations that carry the foul scent of racial injustice.

As expected, Spain’s fearless rebuke attracted the stinging whip of public punishment in the cruel form of social rejection, religious ostracism, tribal rage, and racial retribution. A former Spain student puts it this way:

“This act of valor virtually ruined Spain’s preaching career. Churches canceled the meetings he was scheduled to preach. Anonymous letters and phone calls made threats on Spain’s life. His own brothers in Christ made his life a nightmare. The Carl Spain I had in class was a pleasant, godly man. Only later did I learn of his courageous words and the high cost he paid for delivering them.”

The Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action was created to serve as a reminder of the significant difference one courageous life can make in an imbalanced world filled with raw injustice racial discrimination. Some buildings are named in honor of those who have given great sums of money, but the Spain Center is named in honor of one who gave his life as a courageous living monument that stands tall in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets.