How Did Hudgins Contribute To The Civil Rights Movement

When any form of activism arises, people respond to it differently. The Civil Rights Movement is no exception The one group that aggravated Martian Luther King Jr and other Civil Rights activists were white moderates. Many of the white moderates were Christians. While King saw the movement as a Christian driven mission, many whites were moderate, because of their religious beliefs. Douglas Hudgins was a white moderate, and a powerful pastor in Mississippi. Reverend Hudgins believed religion was only about keeping the soul pure for the sake of salvation, and this formed his opinions about black people, church, and preforming good deeds. Many people in the Civil Rights Movement were compelled to action because of religion. They thought there was a connection between the message of the gospel and their fight for equality. Other people felt that they were being called by God to protect their local area from the sins of the world, including people who were visiting for the sake of civil rights. Both of these forms of action were based on each group’s interpretation of Christianity. Reverend Hudgins had a different interpretation of Christianity from both of these groups. Hudgins believed religion was about individual salvation and keeping your affairs

Hudgins believed in the biblical justification for the inferiority of African Americans. This idea was that African Americans were descendants of Ham and therefore were cursed like Ham to a life of serving the white race. This meant that African Americans were not pure in the way Hudgins felt Christian had to be for salvation, and mingling with African Americans could lead towards white Christians becoming impure. This reasoning, mixed with strong feelings from his congregation, is why Hudgins upheld the resolution created by his lay leadership, that denied people of other races from worshiping at First Baptist