Dear Bishop Brown: From Walter Robertson I have learned with gratitude of your offer, made on behalf of the church leaders in Little Rock, to be helpful in the present troublesome situation arising there out of court decisions affecting desegregation of the races in the public schools. I deeply believe that there is much that Little Rock’s ministers, as the spiritual and moral leaders of the community, can do to help place the matter in proper perspective before all citizens.1
The founders of our nation clearly felt that free government is a political expression of religious faith, with basic human rights deriving directly from the individual’s Creator. Religious leaders have an especial opportunity I think, to help keep such a government strong and vital and continuously devoted to the concepts that inspired the signers of our Declaration of Independence.
What is now at stake is whether we as citizens of this great nation will remain faithful to the institutions that have been provided for us to make effective the will of the majority as authorized and limited by our Constitution. The immediate question is not at all whether any particular individual agrees with a particular decision of the Supreme Court. The real question is whether we shall respect the institutions of free government or, by defying them, set up either a process of deterioration and disruption or compel the authorities to resort to force to obtain that respect which we all should willingly give.
Never has it been more important than now that we, as a united nation, give to our system and to our laws the unswerving loyalty and devotion which has always been the strength of free government.
Today the very concepts of freedom are under relentless attack by an atheistic ideology that denies any right or any dignity to the individual not accorded him by the state. The liberties we so much love, that we can practice among ourselves because of the basic belief that we constitute one brotherhood under the fatherhood of God, demand that we stand together steadfastly against the relentless assaults of international communism. If we ourselves defy the instruments by which our liberties have been and are being preserved, our vulnerability to the outside threat will be vastly, even terrifyingly, increased.
On the positive side to obey the law is one mark of our devotion to our country. It is one means open to every individual through which he may make that country stronger.
Consequently I hope that you and the ministers of Little Rock will be able not only to lead all the citizens of the city to disregard the incitements of agitators, but will join in support of the law and the preservation of our country and the institutions of government under which it lives. And I could hope that your prayers would seek the power for all of us to cast out rancor and prejudice in favor of understanding and compassion. In such a climate the distressing problem that has so stirred up the emotions of many citizens in our land can, in good time, be solved. All of us realize that not through legislation alone can prejudice and hatred be eliminated from the hearts of men. Leadership, including religious leadership, must play its part.2
Again my gratitude to you and your associates in the clergy for your offer to be helpful. I am convinced that if all of us work together in the spirit implicit in your suggestion, we should eventually be able to work out all our problems, including those of race, and as a consequence, our beloved country will be greater, stronger and more secure in all the years to come. Sincerely
