Religion: Racial Inclusiveness

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Congregational Christian Church leaders are determined to give integration more than moral support. They are offering cash. Any Congregational church that hesitates to integrate its members for fear of financial losses can appeal to the Board of Home Missions for a grant, the board announced this week. At the same time, the mission board made two contributions of $2,500 each to the National Council of Churches' department of racial and cultural relations and to the legal-defense fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Board also published a study of "racial inclusiveness," a term defined as the presence of at least one member in a congregation "other than the dominant racial group." Of 1,054 Congregational Christian churches (some 70% of the denomination's churches in U.S. metropolitan areas), nearly 27% turned out to be racially inclusive, compared to 17% in 1944. Said a board statement: "Scant basis for complacency . . . We have much yet to undertake in order to live up to our commitment as Christians and our reiterated statements that racial segregation is a sin."