Pastors had three ways to deal with demands for civil rights: (1) we could become Jeremiah and proclaim the radical demand for justice and live with the consequences; (2) we could ignore the streets and the headlines and preach “nothing but the gospel” and close our eyes to the marches and our ears to the rhetoric; or (3) we could seek middle ground and balance justice with love, preaching the truth in a way that encouraged rather than outraged the congregation. And behind it all was the question, What business had the church mixing with politics?
