When the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the southern Presbyterian Church in the U.S. met at Atlanta's World Congress Center in 1983 to approve reunion, television news flocked to the event. CBS's national broadcast noted that the end of the schism between north and south was greeted with "apprehension" from some quarters, and that "real reunion will take years." Hope, joy, apprehension and paranoia are all on display in the report below, by Neil Craig of Atlanta's NBC affiliate Channel 11 WXIA. James Costen and John Anderson, moderators of the UPCUSA and the PCUS, strike up "Amazing Grace."
Counter-demonstrators hold signs associating the World Council of Churches with the KGB. One man cries, "Be ye separate! You Southern people are going to be swallowed up by these liberals and these socialists!"
Here's the full video:
On June 10, Presbyterians will celebrate 30 years of union.
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