Many depictions of southern white Protestantism during the 1950’s and 1960’s portray a monolithic bloc, united against the African-American quest for equality. However, among southern white Christians, a cadre of individuals openly condemned southern racial mores at significant personal risk. Set in Mississippi, this dissertation highlights the efforts of these ministers and lay people—a group who have been largely ignored in historical literature. The study examines the theological underpinnings and historical antecedents that informed their outlook, and analyzes their strategies for maintaining both personal integrity and ministerial effectiveness in carefully monitored and punitive surroundings. Particular punishment awaited the religious who labored for African-American equality, since the State used civil religion as a pretext to actively manipulate the public religious discourse. My work sets socially conscious southern Christians in their historical context by examining the influence of the Cold War on American Christianity, and by exploring the southern Church’s use of Cold War rhetoric to frame its arguments about racial justice. I argue that the use of Cold War rhetoric by religious liberals undermined the effectiveness of their arguments about race. I further contend that southern Christianity in this era was not monolithic, but rather painfully fractious, as it displayed both blind adherence to southern culture and agonized commitment to a prophetic role. Indeed, many of the fractures of this era prefigure the lineaments of contemporary Christianity.