WWI changed Truett’s views on war, peace and government

HOUSTON—George W. Truett’s experience preaching to troops in Europe during World War I not only shaped his views about militarism, but also contributed to his growing conviction that only Christ’s church—not any government—offered hope for lasting peace, church historian Kelly Pigott said.

Pigott, university chaplain and assistant professor of theology at Hardin-Simmons University, presented a paper on “George W. Truett: Hawk or Dove?” at the annual meeting of the Texas Baptist Historical Society in Houston.

Truett, Baptist statesman and longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, voiced strong support for the war effort when the United States entered what President Woodrow Wilson touted as a struggle to make the world “safe for democracy,” Pigott noted.

George W. Truett

“He praised the young men in his congregation who served in the military. He pitched Liberty Bonds. He led the church to provide special ministries to the servicemen and women in town. He even introduced a resolution at the Baptist General Convention of Texas meeting in 1917 that called for the convention to fully support the war,” he said.

“And finally, when President Wilson selected Truett along with about 20 other prominent pastors to preach to the troops through the offices of the YMCA, Truett accepted the call.”

Initially, Truett characterized the war with Germany as a “battle between paganism and the highest civilization,” Pigott noted.

“But Truett’s public confidence and cheering for the war belied an inner angst he felt as he hoped for a quick end to the violence and a new world ruled by rational and moral men who would bring to fruition Wilson’s prophecy that this would be a war to end all wars, inaugurating an age safe for democracy,” he said.

Truett’s support for the war rested less in belief about just war theory and more in his faith “in the institution of governments to create a just world where warfare no longer existed,” Pigott observed.

Truett’s presidential appointment to preach six months to the Allied Forces in Europe gave him the opportunity to witness the destruction of war and visit wounded soldiers. He narrowly escaped death himself when he missed boarding a ship, and a U-boat torpedo subsequently sunk that vessel, killing all its passengers.

And the tour of duty changed him, Pigott noted. A close-up look at the horrors of war strengthened Truett’s commitment to doing everything possible to create non-military solutions to international disputes. And the failure of the United States to embrace Wilson’s vision of a League of Nations left him disillusioned with government—as reflected in his famed 1920 religious liberty speech in Washington, D.C.

“Beyond just an opportunity to trump a long cherished Baptist principle, perhaps Truett’s proclamation on the steps of the Capitol was the beginning of a journey of increased suspicion about government,” Pigott suggested.

“In this address, he still clearly saw autocracy and democracy at odds. But now he couched it in religious terms, contrasting Catholic and Baptist polity. And he described the church—not the United States—as a ‘pure democracy.’ He issued a stern warning about what might happen to that purity if the church ever got too cozy with the government.”

Truett apparently retained his postmillennial eschatology, Pigott noted, but without its optimistic assessment of human institutions. He grew increasingly committed to the position that the church and Christian educational institutions—not secular government—would be the only instruments capable of creating a golden age of lasting peace prior to Christ’s return. Christ’s church was “the best hope for humanity,” he concluded.

“At the twilight of his life, Truett was weary of the promises of politics but confident in an institution that he believed even the gates of hell could not prevail against,” Pigott said.

At the Texas Baptist Historical Society meeting, members elected officers for 2009-2010: president, Butch Strickland of Independence; vice president, Don Wilkey of Onalaska; and secretary treasurer, Alan Lefever of Dallas. Mark Bumpus of San Angelo and Kyle Henderson of Athens were named to the organization’s executive committee.

The society presented a church history writing award to Jeff Huckeby of Gatesville for 125 Years Down by the Creek: 1882-2007 Pecan Grove Baptist Church, and to Keith Mack and Herb Weaver for 100 Years of Royal Ambassadors. Two writers of unpublished manuscripts also were honored—Ron Ellison for “Transplanted Tennessean Adoniram Judson Hill’s Only Texas Pastorate, 1879-1884” and Mary Moore for “From a Missionary’s Heart: The Writings of Anne Luther Bagby.”