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Carl Curtis McIntire, Jr. (May 17, 1906 – March 19, 2002), known as Carl McIntire, was a founder and minister in the Bible Presbyterian Church, founder and long-time president of the
International Council of Christian Churches The International Council of Christian Churches (Abbreviation: ICCC) was founded on 12 August 1948 at the English Reformed Church, Amsterdam, as a fundamentalist Christian group of constituent national churches with opposition to the more liberal- ...
and the
American Council of Christian Churches The American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC) is a fundamentalist organization set up in opposition to the Federal Council of Churches (now National Council of Churches). The council's motto is Jude 3, "Earnestly contending for the Faith". His ...
, and a popular religious radio broadcaster, who proudly identified himself as a
fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishi ...
.


Youth and education

Born in
Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...
, Carl McIntire was the oldest of four children born to Charles Curtis McIntire, a Presbyterian minister and M.A. graduate of
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, and Hettie Hotchkin McIntire. McIntire's father pastored in Salt Lake City, but by 1912 he had suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized. He and his wife were divorced, and she raised the children alone in
Durant, Oklahoma Durant () is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States that serves as the headquarters of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The population was 18,589 in the 2020 census. Durant is the principal city of the Durant Micropolitan Statistical ...
, where she served as Dean of Women at Southeastern State Teachers College (now
Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern, SE, or SOSU) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had an undergraduate enrollment of 4,824 in 2019. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an ac ...
). Carl McIntire completed high school in Durant and attended Southeastern State, where he became an award-winning intercollegiate debater and president of the student body during his final year. For his senior year, he transferred to Park College, Parkville, Missouri, where he received his B.A. degree before entering
Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...
, New Jersey, in 1928 to prepare for the Presbyterian ministry. Meanwhile, he worked as a janitor and sold maps to farmers door-to-door in Caddo County, Oklahoma. During the late 1920s, Princeton Seminary was embroiled in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy that had disquieted the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was the first national Presbyterian denomination in the United States, existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North Americ ...
as well as other Protestant denominations. McIntire became a strong supporter of
J. Gresham Machen John Gresham Machen (; 1881–1937) was an American Presbyterian New Testament scholar and educator in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929, and led a revolt against modernist ...
, a conservative professor of New Testament. With Machen, McIntire opposed a reorganization of the seminary in 1929 that appeared to strengthen liberal elements in the church. He followed his mentor and three other professors from Princeton to the newly founded Westminster Theological Seminary, where he completed his Th.B. degree in 1931. In May 1931, he married Fairy Eunice Davis of
Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...
, whom he had met when they were both students at Southeastern, and who became a high school English teacher while he completed seminary. They had three children. After the death of Fairy Davis McIntire in 1992, McIntire married Alice Goff, a church office administrator with whom he had worked for many years.


Founding of the Bible Presbyterian Church

In 1931, McIntire was ordained into the ministry of the Presbyterian Church USA, serving for two years at Chelsea Presbyterian Church,
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
. In 1933, he was called to the Presbyterian Church of
Collingswood, New Jersey Collingswood is a borough in Camden County, New Jersey, located east of Center City Philadelphia. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 13,926,Collingswood for the rest of his life. The Women's Missionary Society of the Collingswood church called his attention to what they perceived as a modernist perspective in the missions study book, which had been promoted by the denomination's Board of Foreign Missions. McIntire joined the conservative side in the ongoing Fundamentalist-Modernist debate, and in 1934, at Machen's invitation, he became a founding member of the
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM) is a small Presbyterian mission organization, which early in its history became an approved agency of the Bible Presbyterian Church. Founded in 1933 by J. Gresham Machen, the IBPFM pla ...
, an agency organized as an alternative to the denominational mission board that supported theologically liberal missionaries. Deeming the new board a challenge to its authority, the General Assembly demanded that the clergymen resign. After they refused, Machen, McIntire, and seven other clergymen were tried by an
ecclesiastical court An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...
in 1935–36. The board members lost, and they renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church, as did the Collingswood Presbyterian Church, only a tiny minority of whose members refused to support their young pastor. In 1936 McIntire joined Machen and others to found the Presbyterian Church of America, later renamed the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyter ...
. The new church attracted supporters from other Reformed traditions, complicating the church's effort to define itself. A debate soon emerged in the young denomination over
eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
, Presbyterian traditions, the use of alcohol and tobacco, and the place of political activity in the church. McIntire and others left in 1937 to form the Bible Presbyterian Church, which emphasized Fundamentalist distinctives in contrast to continental Reformed positions, supporting political involvement, the
Scofield Reference Bible The Scofield Reference Bible is a widely circulated study Bible edited and annotated by the American Bible student Cyrus I. Scofield, which popularized dispensationalism at the beginning of the 20th century. Published by Oxford University Press ...
, a
premillennial Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretat ...
ist view of eschatology, and abstinence from the use of tobacco and alcohol. In April 1938, after the Collingswood church lost a civil suit over control of its church property, the congregation walked out '' en masse'' from their impressive Gothic building and followed McIntire to a huge tent erected several blocks east on the main street at Haddon Avenue and Cuthbert Boulevard. In May 1938, the congregation moved into a wooden "Tabernacle," and in November 1957, into a neo-colonial church building with a tall, Wren steeple. The church seated more than a thousand. A Sunday School was constructed on the location of the previous tent, and the revamped Tabernacle became an activity center.


Expanding ministry


''Christian Beacon''

In February 1936, during the series of ecclesiastical trials, McIntire launched a weekly newspaper, The ''Christian Beacon'' to give greater voice to his message. The Collingswood church had already printed many of his sermons, and its church services had been broadcast over the radio in the Philadelphia region. Over the next four decades, McIntire published twelve books, and hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, sermons, speeches, and documentary portfolios. As Joel Carpenter has written, McIntire was "a gifted publicist," and his ''Christian Beacon'' was a "widely read organ of separatist opinion in which McIntire practiced his talent for sensational and aggressive religious journalism."


''Twentieth-Century Reformation Hour''

In March 1955, McIntire initiated a daily thirty-minute radio program, ''The Twentieth Century Reformation Hour'', which featured McIntire's commentary on religious and political affairs. The radio program generally began with a homily from the Bible, followed by a monologue by McIntire on a wide range of subjects, including apostasy in mainline churches, liberalism in government, opposition to coexistence with communism, and cultural issues of the moment, including gambling, sex education,
socialized medicine Socialized medicine is a term used in the United States to describe and discuss systems of universal health care—medical and hospital care for all by means of government regulation of health care and subsidies derived from taxation. Because of ...
, and
fluoridation of drinking water Water fluoridation is the controlled adjustment of fluoride to a public water supply solely to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water contains fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding ...
. An associate pastor of the Collingswood church, Charles Richter, known to listeners as "Amen Charlie," regularly "amened" his support of McIntire's statements. During the 1960s, the program may have been heard on as many as 600 radio stations—although McIntire's inaccuracy with numbers became legendary. In 1965, McIntire effectively purchased radio station,
WXUR WXUR (92.7 FM, "92.7 The Drive") is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to Herkimer, New York, United States, the station serves Utica, NY. The station is currently owned by Arjuna Broadcasting Corp. and features progr ...
,
Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropol ...
, although it was formally owned by Faith Theological Seminary.


Bible conference centers

McIntire's outreach included an interest in promoting summer Bible conferences, a common method of evangelization and Bible teaching among American Protestants during the early twentieth century. In 1941, McIntire took a leading role in acquiring and operating Harvey Cedars Bible Conference on the Jersey shore at Harvey Cedars, New Jersey (1941–56). After the Bible Presbyterian denomination underwent its first split in the latter year, McIntire's organization purchased the histori
Admiral Hotel
in
Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...
in 1962, and founded the Christian Admiral Bible Conference and Freedom Center. McIntire added a number of distressed properties to his holdings, becoming an unwitting preservationist as he prevented outmoded structures—the most notable being the nineteenth-century Windsor and
Congress Hall Congress Hall, located in Philadelphia at the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets, served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790, to May 14, 1800. During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United State ...
hotels—from being destroyed to make room for motels. The conference itself contributed to the revival of Cape May as a summer resort. In 1971, McIntire also developed a Bible conference in Cape Canaveral, Florida.


Church councils

During the 1940s, McIntire's influence expanded throughout the United States and overseas. In 1941, he helped create the
American Council of Christian Churches The American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC) is a fundamentalist organization set up in opposition to the Federal Council of Churches (now National Council of Churches). The council's motto is Jude 3, "Earnestly contending for the Faith". His ...
(ACCC) as a conservative alternative to the liberal Federal (later, National) Council of Churches (NCC). In 1948, he likewise helped to found the
International Council of Christian Churches The International Council of Christian Churches (Abbreviation: ICCC) was founded on 12 August 1948 at the English Reformed Church, Amsterdam, as a fundamentalist Christian group of constituent national churches with opposition to the more liberal- ...
(ICCC) to challenge the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
(WCC). McIntire was elected first President of the ICCC and was reelected at each World Congress until he died. He and his wife, Fairy, traveled around the world scores of times both to encourage evangelical Christians abroad and to demonstrate his opposition to the World Council of Churches. (During McIntire's long presidency, the headquarters of the ICCC were located in Amsterdam, and J. C. Maris served as General Secretary.) During the late 1960s, McIntire's relationship with the ACCC leadership became strained, and he secretly transferred an ACCC relief agency (along with $62,000) to the ICCC, which remained firmly under his control. McIntire "was perennially late to ACCC meetings, and then he would demand that any decisions made in advance of his arrival be undone." When ACCC leaders refused to accommodate him, he attacked them in the ''Christian Beacon'', claiming that there was a "Baptist plot against him." After being outmaneuvered, McIntire attempted a parliamentary takeover in October 1970, which eventually led to a court order against him in 1971, and a final severing of his relationship with the ACCC.


Educational institutions

McIntire promoted several educational ministries. The Sunday School and the Summer Bible School of the Collingswood church were large and active. (The Summer Bible School of the Collingswood church—McIntire disliked the term "Vacation Bible School"—ran for four weeks rather than the typical one week of most churches during the period.) McIntire also gained control of the National Bible Institute in New York City and transformed the school into a liberal arts college,
Shelton College Shelton College was a private, Christian, liberal arts college that was located in Cape May, New Jersey. It was involved in a landmark case requiring religious schools to acquire a state license to grant academic degrees. The college motto was ...
, which moved to the "Skylands" estate in Ringwood, New Jersey, in 1953. In 1964, the college moved to Cape May, later to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and then back to Cape May before closing in the 1980s after the New Jersey Supreme Court in '' New Jersey Board of Higher Education v. Shelton College'' prohibited Shelton from granting academic degrees without a state license. Faith Theological Seminary, organized in 1937 as an independent school associated with the Bible Presbyterian denomination, later occupied Lynnewood Hall, the Gilded Age estate of P.A.B. Widener in
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the northern suburbs outside of Philadelphia, which it borders along Cheltenham Avenue roughly from C ...
. McIntire and west coast supporters of the Bible Presbyterian Church founded Highland College in Pasadena, California, a small Christian liberal arts college, and remained associated with the college until 1956.


Christian emphases

McIntire considered himself to be first of all a pastor and preacher. His sermons were frequently exegetical, and he often proceeded systematically through particular books of the Bible. He urged his congregation to read the Bible through every year. For McIntire the term Fundamentalist included attachment to the fundamentals of the historic Christian religion as defined by the
Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" o ...
, the doctrinal standard of the Presbyterian Church and by the
Apostles Creed The Apostles' Creed ( Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...
and
Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is ...
. He was a
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...
who believed that John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, the Westminster Confession, and the Shorter and Larger Westminster
catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adul ...
s were the finest articulations of the Christian faith. McIntire emphasized the
doctrine of separation The doctrine of separation, also known as the doctrine of non-fellowship, is a belief among some Protestant religious groups that the members of a church should be separate from "the world" and not have association with those who are "of the world". ...
, which he based on 2 Corinthians 6:17: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." To McIntire, separation emphasized the purity of the church in opposition to apostasy, the falling away from the historic Christian faith in which he believed theological liberals to be engaged. Like other fundamentalists of the period, McIntire also separated from evangelical groups, such as the
National Association of Evangelicals The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is an association of evangelical denominations, organizations, schools, churches and individuals, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. The association represents more than 45,000 local churches ...
(NAE), which he believed had compromised with the liberalism of the National Council of Churches. He early rejected the Neo-evangelicalism of
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
even before Graham's New York City Evangelistic Crusade of 1957, because Graham's organization had accepted the support of those McIntire regarded as liberals.


In the public eye

Although his Oklahoma family had voted Democratic, McIntire eventually became a conservative Republican. Before and during World War II, McIntire opposed
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
totalitarianism and
anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
, and afterwards he became a champion of
anti-Communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
and especially one who attacked Communist control of religion in the Soviet Union. McIntire argued that although America had once honored God and freedom, it was in danger of losing its heritage. On his radio program, McIntire often repeated the slogan, "Freedom is everybody's business, your business, my business, the church's business, and a man who will not use his freedom to defend his freedom, does not deserve his freedom." McIntire attracted considerable public attention through his public demonstrations, early gaining a feel for gestures that attracted popular notice. For instance, in 1947, he unsuccessfully opposed a revised New Jersey state constitution in a radio address entitled, "The Governor's Kittens," while he (more-or-less) held a cat and kittens before the microphone. McIntire attended virtually every important meeting of the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
wherever its meetings were held and usually mounted demonstrations with placards outside the meeting hall, calling attention to what he regarded as the WCC's religious apostasy or its collaboration with Russian clergy who he believed were KGB operatives. Beginning in 1967, McIntire engaged in a running battle with the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
over the then-applicable "
Fairness Doctrine The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a mann ...
," by which radio stations had to provide varied political views to retain their licenses. WXUR was "incompetently run and flagrantly disrespectful of FCC requirements," but there was also "no doubt that the station was targeted because many members of the local Philadelphia community found speech expressed on WXUR offensive and therefore wanted it censored." When the FCC refused to renew the WXUR license (rejecting the recommendation of its own examiner) and the station was forced off the air in 1973, McIntire demonstrated his theatrical flair by holding a "funeral" for the station (complete with coffin) while dressed as
John Witherspoon John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense real ...
, a Presbyterian pastor and signer of the Declaration of Independence. After a supporter purchased for McIntire a World War II vintage wooden-hulled Navy minesweeper named ''Oceanic'' (which McIntire renamed ''Columbus''), he tried to
broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...
outside the
three-mile limit The three-mile limit refers to a traditional and now largely obsolete conception of the international law of the seas which defined a country's territorial waters, for the purposes of trade regulation and exclusivity, as extending as far as the r ...
near Cape May, calling the floating station "Radio Free America." The station began broadcasting at 12:22 PM Eastern Time on September 19, 1973, but was only on the air for ten hours—the ship began to smoke from the heat of the antenna feeder line, and the signal interfered with that of radio station WHLW in Lakewood, New Jersey which broadcast on a neighboring frequency of 1170 kHz. Nevertheless, the notion of a Christian pirate radio station off the United States caught the attention of the media. "I became a very famous man out of that," McIntire later recalled, "People stood along the coast to see me. It was a crazy thing to do, but it was dramatic." McIntire also gained the public eye in the early 1970s when he organized a half dozen pro-Vietnam War "Victory Marches" in Washington, D.C. The march of October 3, 1970 was supposed to have featured South Vietnamese vice-president Nguyen Cao Ky, but the Nixon administration ensured that Ky would not be present. McIntire attributed the prosecution and conviction of Lt. William Calley on 22 charges related to war crimes at My Lai to "a no-win policy" of the U.S. government in Vietnam. More than once McIntire's sense of the dramatic passed over into the risible, as for instance, when he urged in 1971 that a full-scale version of the
Temple of Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...
be constructed in Florida or two decades later when he suggested that
Noah's ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...
be rebuilt and perhaps refloated off his conference center in Cape May. "It would be a tourist attraction," said McIntire of the latter, "and it would forever down these liberals." In 1970, when gay activists proposed " Stonewall Nation", the takeover of sparsely populated
Alpine County, California , other_name = , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Alpine County, California.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = Seal of Alpine Co ...
, McIntire announced that he would counteract the plan by having his followers move to the area in trailers. Neither the activists nor McIntire did anything of the sort.


Later life

McIntire could combine gravitas with a populist appeal to what he called "the grass roots." A gifted preacher when he chose to be, he seemed to prefer dabbling in politics to Bible exposition. A man who inspired listeners and easily raised money for his various ministries, McIntire had few trustworthy associates to manage the day-to-day activities of his ramshackle empire. Nor could he brook sharing power. In the 1960s his long-time friend and fellow fundamentalist, Robert T. Ketcham, pleaded with McIntire to "be more gracious in his dealings with other Christians," but McIntire instead used the ''Christian Beacon'' to attack members of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches of which Ketcham was an influential leader. In 1971, all but two of the professors of Faith Seminary, including President Allan A. MacRae, left over McIntire's alleged suppression of academic freedom and "oppressive leadership style." McIntire refused to participate in fundamentalist organizations which he could not dominate, even those led by other separatist fundamentalists of the period such as Bob Jones, Jr., and
Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...
. Nevertheless, McIntire often inspired good-natured respect from some of the religious liberals whom he regularly picketed through the years; and his rhetoric, although sometimes bombastic, was rarely personal. By the early 1970s, McIntire's ministries were debt-ridden and began to collapse one by one. In 1970, he owed the town of Cape May more than a half million dollars in back taxes. The buildings he had accumulated were sold or destroyed. By the time he died, at age 95, without a successor, virtually everything was gone. Even the shadow that remained of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood finally forced his resignation in 1999, after he had served the congregation for sixty years. In the words of
Joel Belz Joel Belz (born 1941) is the founder of God's World Publications in 1977, which includes the World Journalism Institute started in 1999 and ''WORLD'' magazine, a biweekly Christian newsmagazine, in 1986. Personal life Belz was raised in the gra ...
, McIntire was "a classic example of a brilliant and winsome man who chose his battles badly. Unyielding on petty issues, he divided where division was both unnecessary and costly to the very causes he championed. Too often, he seemed to love the fight more than the very valid issues over which the fights raged." McIntire had repeatedly criticized
Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...
, an institution he had left in 1929, as a bastion of theological liberalism. Yet when Princeton honored him almost affectionately as a distinguished alumnus, McIntire responded to its overtures and donated his papers to the Seminary.Princeton described the Carl McIntire Papers as "the largest single donation of papers that have come to the Seminary since its founding in 1812.
Carl McIntire Papers


Further reading

*Markku Ruotsila, ''Fighting Fundamentalist: Carl McIntire and the Politicization of American Fundamentalism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016). *Gladys Titzck Rhoads and Nancy Titzck Anderson, ''McIntire: Defender of Faith and Freedom'' (Xulon Press, 2012) .
CarlMcIntire.org
includes many primary and secondary sources about McIntire.
International Council of Christian Churches website
. *K. C. Quek, ed., ''The McIntire Memorial: Carl McIntire, 1906-2002'' (Seoul, Korea: Truth & Freedom Publishing Company, 2005). *Margaret G. Harden, comp., ''A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and Its Agencies'', (privately published,
966 Year 966 ( CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Byzantine-Arab War: A prisoner exchange occurs at the border betwee ...
. *''The Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood: for the Glory of God'' (Collingswood BPC, 1957). *''40 Years...Carl McIntire and the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, 1933-1973'', written by Ethel Rink (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1973). *''Carl McIntire's 50-Year Ministry in the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, New Jersey'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1983). *''ICCC Silver Jubilee, 1948-1973'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1973). *John Fea, "Carl McIntire: From Fundamentalist Presbyterian to Presbyterian Fundamentalist," ''American Presbyterian'' 72:4 (Winter 1994), 253-68. *Heather Hendershot, "God's Angriest Man: Carl McIntire, Cold War Fundamentalism, and Right-Wing Broadcasting," ''American Quarterly'', 59 (June 2007), 373-96. *Heather Hendershot, ''What's Fair on the Air? Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest'' (University of Chicago Press, 2011). *Douglas Martin, "Carl McIntire, 95, Evangelist and Patriot, Dies,"
''New York Times'', March 22, 2002
*David O. Beale, ''In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism Since 1850'' (Greenville, S.C.: Unusual Publications, 1986), 323-30. *Shelley Baranowski, "Carl McIntire," in Charles Lippy, ed., ''Twentieth-Century Shapers of American Religion'' (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1989), 256-63. *J. Wesley Leckrone,
Carl McIntire: Twentieth Century Voice of Christian Anti-Communism
, MA Thesis, Temple University, 1995.


Works

*''A Cloud of Witnesses or Heroes of the Faith'' (Philadelphia: Pinebrook Press, 1938; second edition, Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1965), sermons on Hebrews 11:1-12:2 *''Twentieth Century Reformation'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1944) *''The Rise of the Tyrant: Controlled Economy vs Private Enterprise'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1945) *''Author of Liberty'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1946; second edition, 1963) *''For Such a Time as This: The Book of Esther'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1946) – sermons *''Modern Tower of Babel'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1949 *''Better Than Seven Sons'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1954) – sermons on the Book of Ruth *''The Wall of Jerusalem Also Is Broken Down'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1954) – sermons on the Book of Nehemiah *''Servants of Apostasy'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1955) *''The Epistle of Apostasy: the Book of Jude'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1958) – sermons *''The Death of a Church'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1967) *''Outside the Gate'' (Collingswood: Christian Beacon Press, 1967)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McIntire, Carl 1906 births 2002 deaths Christian fundamentalists University and college founders Seminary presidents Presidents of Calvinist and Reformed seminaries 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Orthodox Presbyterian Church ministers Park University alumni People from Collingswood, New Jersey American Presbyterian ministers Westminster Theological Seminary alumni People from Ypsilanti, Michigan New Jersey Republicans Burials at Harleigh Cemetery, Camden Old Right (United States) American anti-communists 20th-century American clergy Activists from New Jersey