Religion: Report from Underground

Four out of five Protestant ministers in 17 Southern states are in favor of complying with the Supreme Court order to mix Negro and white children in public schools, according to the results of a poll published this week by the nondenominational monthly, Pulpit Digest.

Replies to the confidential poll were received from Southern ministers of 27 denominations—Baptists (31%), Methodists (27%) and Presbyterians (9%) predominating. Unsurprisingly, there was a wide regional range of opinion. Ministers in border states such as Delaware and West Virginia were almost unanimously in favor of integration. In Kentucky 89% were in favor, in Texas 87%, in the District of Columbia 86% and North Carolina 84%. In Arkansas and Mississippi only 54% were in favor of integration, and the least integrationist sentiment of all was in South Carolina, with only 50% in favor.