To the Lions

The tempest that closed down the Plains Baptist Church on the eve of last fall's presidential election blew up again last week. Result: the Rev. Bruce Edwards, 30, resigned the pastorate he had held since January 1975.

Edwards' opposition to a 1965 resolution barring "Negroes and other civil rights agitators" from membership in the church where Jimmy Carter used to worship nearly cost the pastor his job last October. Last week he was ambushed by a faction that demanded he be fired. After several hours of bitter debate, Edwards agreed to leave his post April 30.

Carter, who joined Edwards in a successful effort to revoke the 1965 rule, no longer belongs to the Plains congregation and refused comment. His cousin Hugh, a deacon of the church, said that he felt sure the President was "very deeply hurt." Miss Lillian telephoned Edwards to tell him she was "broken-hearted."

Last Vestige. Although no local blacks have applied for membership since the exclusionary rule was dropped and none are expected to, there was little doubt that Edwards was a victim of racial backlash. Segregated church membership is one of the last vestiges of organized racial separation in the South and is fiercely defended by many who have brought themselves to accept integration in other areas. Edwards blamed a small group of bigots, including four "openly defiant, outright racist" church deacons, for his censure.

Another factor that may have caused some church members to sour on Edwards was his adoption of a year-old "non-Caucasian" baby. A New York Times reporter quoted Billy Carter as saying of the adoption: "It was 99% of the preacher's problem. If you ask me, some of those Christians ought to be thrown to the lions." Billy later said that he had been "sort of misquoted. Most Plains residents dismissed Billy's charge. "He was just poppin' off," said one woman. "Why, the wife of the head of the board of deacons at the church frequently baby-sat for the child."

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