Savannah's Radical Minister of Pacifism*

  ​Savannah’s Radical Minister of Pacifism*
 
         Radicalism can sometimes come from the strangest places. First Baptist Church of Savannah may have found itself a little too radical for the Southern Baptist Convention as it moved to align itself with the Cooperative Baptist and Southern Baptist Alliance in modern times but to the world outside of Baptist life they would seem to be ensconced in a Conservative to Moderate place and nowhere near radical. But for one moment in time they were part of an incident that would shock most.
          The incident was an act by their pastor at the time, Joseph Judson Taylor. Taylor was named after famed Southern Baptist Burma missionary Adoniram Judson. Taylor attended Richmond College from 1875-1880 and was chosen valedictorian for the commencement. He attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary but never graduated and later received a Doctor of Divinity from my alma mater, Samford University. Later he received a Doctor of Laws degree from Union University in Tennessee.
          He became immersed in the Southern Baptist Convention’s workings, serving on several committees. So when he came to First Baptist Church of Savannah he was quite the catch. The pulpit committee of First Baptist said “He stands among the foremost of our preachers in a Southern pulpit. In doctrine he is sound, clear, and conservative. As a man he is scholarly, yet genial; aggressive, but prudent; commanding the respect of the world as he wins the hearts of all.” He had pastored several churches before this one; the last one was First Baptist of Knoxville. He would in his ministry baptize over one thousand folks.  He had a liberal interpretation of the Bible and would speak out and write against the new, at that time, theory of evolution.
             But two years into his ministry at First Baptist of Savannah Taylor became greatly disturbed when at the 1917 SBC in New Orleans. On the first day of the meeting, J. W. Porter of Kentucky offered a resolution pledging the support of Southern Baptists to the war effort:
Resolved, That we, the representatives of 2,744,000 Southern Baptists in Convention assembled, pledge to our President and government, our prayers, our loyal and sacrificial support in the war which we are engaged. To this end, we pledge our property, our lives and our sacred honor.
A request was made to table the resolution as it was not the proper time to discuss, since the custom of the Convention was “to reject all resolutions and motions that did not bear directly on the work of the body.” But Porter was applauded when the said that “he could not conceive of men from the land of Lee and Jackson being opposed to such a resolution.” The motion to table the resolution was voted down and the resolution was passed.
          Taylor, who had written and at various times proclaimed his pacifism, refused to grant the resolution unanimous consent and was the only member to do so. To push matters even further he offered the following peace resolution:

WHEREAS, There has come upon the earth a spirit which has plunged the nations that have been considered foremost in the lines of advancing civilization into a war more ruthless and more destructive of human life and human happiness than the world has ever before known; therefore be it Resolved, (1) That we deeply deplore the awful and sorrowful calamity which has caused these leading nations to drench the earth in the precious blood of their own loyal citizens.
(2) That we affirm our faith in the righteousness of the Sermon on the Mount, and our confidence in the infallible wisdom of him who taught us to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and to do good to them that despitefully use and persecute us.
(3) That we desire a stronger faith in the God who maketh wars to cease even unto the ends of the earth, and we shall rejoice if our own people, and all of every name who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, shall find it in their hearts to pray for kings and all that are in authority that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.

        The resolution failed with only 112 votes in the affirmative out of over 1,500. Taylor opposed even the toned down rhetoric of another motion in the support of the war. He said he “deplored the gloating and hand clapping over human beings being shot to death.” He said “the Convention had too much of Caesar and too little of God.”
        Taylor’s remarks were branded as “seditious,” “unloyal,” and “treasonable.” The incident was said to be “the stormiest scene that was ever enacted on the floor of the Convention.” Taylor wrote later that he was “hooted and hissed and threatened with personal violence by honourable members of the body.”
        Now what you do in New Orleans at the SBC may stay there but he came back to First Baptist Church of Savannah and told them exactly what he did and why he did it, both in a sermon and in private.
          His message was titled “The Divided Kingdom” in which he expressed his views on war and peace. He proclaimed that the church “is not called to usurp the place of Congress in declaring war, nor is it appointed to gather arms or even to sell bonds to put money into the national treasury.” The church was not “to give formal sanction to the shedding of blood.” He publicly argued that his address at the Convention with the presentation of his peace resolution “did not contain one single treasonable or disloyal utterance.” He expressed in an August 1917 letter his objection to the church in which he belonged “taking formal part in this orgy of butchery and blood.”
         This did not sit well with the deacons and other members of the church who met and passed the following resolution:

Whereas the Pacifist views expressed recently by our pastor . . . at the Southern Baptist Convention at New Orleans and the expression of views of a similar nature, both in private to the members of the congregation, and in the pulpit of our church, have in the opinion of the Board of Deacons, greatly weakened his influence, now therefore be it resolved that . . . he tender his resignation to the church, believing that by so doing he will save both himself and the church further embarrassment and will strengthen the work of the church in this community.

      He replied to this resolution with this letter:

The disquieting affairs of the First Baptist Church were submitted to a full meeting of the official Board of the church July 8th last, with the assurance that I would cheerfully conform to any course the brethren might agree upon. Since then the whole question has been in the Board’s hands. Many individuals have expressed their opinions pro and con, and many rumors have been afloat. Only recently has the Board reached an agreement and it is the first authoritative statement that has been made. This preamble states my position fairly and fraternally. I am a pacifist both for church and state. I regret that what seems to be my best interests in a secular way does not meet my convictions of duty in this case. But I in no wise admit that a pacifist is not a patriot. As our country is in war, I am absolutely loyal to the country’s interest in every fiber of my being; and I am confident that the pacifist will be more popular later than he is today.
       
​          With this he resigned. The country became consumed with war and the war time patriotism that denounces all those opposed to war as un-American. For his part Taylor continued on his way finding another church smaller and less prestigious in Leaksville, North Carolina. In 1920 he wrote a lesser classic on pacifism called “God on War.”
        Taylor’s view after the maelstrom and horrors of the war where 20 million were killed and another 20 million were wounded did not seem quite so radical anymore. He did not attend the next meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, in 1918, but rejoined the annual meetings in 1919, 1920, and 1921. In 1922, he was nominated by J. W. Porter, who had clashed with him at the 1917 meeting, to be vice president of the convention.
        At the 1923 Southern Baptist Convention Taylor offered, and the Convention adopted, a resolution which described war as “one of the most ghastly and grievous burdens that afflict the human family” and resolved that members of the Convention who attended the upcoming meeting of the Baptist World Alliance urge that group to “make a clear and concise deliverance on War, which shall be in full harmony with the spirit and teachings of our Lord Christ, as set forth in the Holy Scriptures.”
        At the 1924 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, Taylor moved that a Peace Committee be appointed. Seven men were appointed, including Taylor. The Committee on Resolutions recommended that two anti-war resolutions be referred to this Peace Committee. At the instigation of the Peace Committee the 1925 Baptist Faith and Message included a three-paragraph section on “Peace and War”.
The three paragraphs read as follows:

XIX. Peace and War
It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.
The true remedy for the war spirit is the pure gospel of our Lord. The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of his teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of his law of love.
We urge Christian people throughout the world to pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace, and to oppose everything likely to provoke war.
For thirty-eight years until the revised 1963 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message which excluded these paragraphs, this was the official stance of the Southern Baptist Convention. Taylor died in 1930 and his memory is held only on the fringes of Baptist life but for a brief moment in Savannah’s history one of Savannah’s leading pastors was on the forefront of the pacifist movement.

​*(Thanks to Rev. John Findley the current minister of First Baptist Church of Savannah for his article on Joseph Judson Taylor: Baptist Pacifist in a Time of War at EthicsDaily.com and Lawrence M. Vance’s article Joseph Judson Taylor: Baptist Pacifist at LewRockwell.com.)