Q. Does the A.M.A. believe in mixed churches of white and black people?
A. The A.M.A. does not regard it as at all probable that such churches will exist to any great extent. Race tastes and race affiliations will make for churches essentially white and essentially black. "But to close the door on any Christian is in so far to make it an unchristian church. To go into the South and establish white churches from which, whether by a formal law or by an unwritten but self-forcing edict, men are excluded because God made them black, is to deny one of the fundamental tenets of Christ. There is no need to attempt to corral all men of all races in one enclosure, but for any church, especially a church of the Puritans, to enter upon a missionary work in the South and initiate it by refusing to fellowship a black man because he is black, is to apostatize from the faith in order to get a chance to preach the faith." The doors of every Christian church ought to stand wide open to men of every race and color, and in all representative bodies these churches should be one.
Q. Is this the position of the Roman Catholic Church in its Southern work?
A. It is: The Roman Catholic Church would not for a moment recognize any color-line in its assemblies or priesthood.
Q. Does the A.M.A. believe in the social equality of the races?
A. The A.M.A. has never seen any social equality anywhere, and believes and teaches nothing about it. It believes in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
Q. Is the A.M.A. agitating the color-line question?
A. It is not. It always has proclaimed its principles for the interests of the oppressed, and always has championed the cause of God's poor, pleading for the right because it is right.
Q. Why is the A.M.A. in the South doing its work in schools and churches among white and black?
A. Because the Lord has said; "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it."