J. Russell Hawkins

“Asking white southerners to ignore their religious beliefs in pursuit of racial equality was seemingly asking the impossible. These white southerners did not undertake their resistance to black equality in spite of their religious convictions, but their faith drove their support of Jim Crow segregation. Central to the drama for racial justice that unfolded during America’s civil rights years lay an indisputable religious conflict between black Christian activists and their white Christian antagonists both of whom confidently, proudly, and often joyously claimed God's favor for their political stance.”
― j. Russell Hawkins, The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy