Baptists in Berlin

In Kaiser-Damm Hall in Berlin this week gathered 7,000 German Baptists, 3,280 Baptists from 60 other nations. Six years ago the Baptist World Alliance had picked that time and place for its Fifth Congress. When Germany went Nazi many a Baptist wanted to switch the meeting to Zurich. But Baptist leaders stuck to their plans because they believed they were confronted with "a challenge to Christian courage and faith."

Whether or not Nazi Germany had time or inclination to hearken to Baptist words last week, the Fifth Congress set out to do its level best to meet the challenge. Treasuring a written promise of freedom of speech from Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, the Baptists talked about nationalism, war & peace, separation of Church & State. A U. S. Negro heading a delegation of 30 black Baptists was all primed to present a resolution on racial equality.

The German speeches with which they were welcomed were little to the liking of the World Baptists. Hearing about Hitler, the radical "German Christian" movement and the place of the Church in the Revolution, the Baptists gave only a decent minimum of applause.

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