The skirmish between fundamentalist and liberal conceptions of Christianity continued during the 1950s. In El Paso, Texas, in January. 1953, the clash erupted into a full-scale battle. The focus of the uproar in Texas was the Reverend William Wright, rector of Saint Clements Protestant Episcopal Church. In a speech to the El Paso Bar Association, Reverend Wright addressed the issue of fundamentalist Christians.

He denounced the popular "camp meeting," an outdoor revival crusade popular in the area, as "emotional whingdings that provide a vacation from thinking." He pronounced reason equal to faith as a guide to religious belief. As an example of the need for reason in evaluating the miracle stories contained in the Bible, Wright said, "who does believe those stories that has any mind at. all?"

The reaction from the fundamentalist community was quick and sharp. In a sermon at his First...