Religion: The Eyes of the World

The eyes of Texas were upon the Most Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. In fact, they were all but burning a hole through his black coat. For the bishop had decided that the eyes of the world were more important, and last week canceled plans to hold the church's 1955 triennial convention in Houston. The city's racial segregation (though he made no specific reference to it in his announcement) was responsible for the decision, which Sherrill called "the most painful and difficult ... I have ever been called upon to make."

Segregation was a problem that Texas'...