William Bell Riley (March 22, 1861 in

Greene County, Indiana Greene County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 33,165. The county seat is Bloomfield. The county was determined by the US Census Bureau to include the mean center of U.S. population in 1930. History ...

, USA – December 5, 1947 in

Golden Valley, Minnesota Golden Valley is a western and first-ring suburb of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The city is mostly residential and is bordered by U.S. Highway 12 (Interstate 394). Over 15% of the city is parks or nature reserves. ...

) was an American

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Biography

In 1878, at the age of 17, Riley publicly professed faith in Christ. He had planned to study law, but shortly after his conversion he felt called to the ministry. After being educated at

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso ( ), colloquially Valpo, is a city and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,151 at the 2020 census. History The site of present-day Valparaiso was included in the purchase of land from the ...

, Riley received his teacher's certificate. After teaching in county schools, he attended college in Hanover, Indiana, where he received an A.B. degree in 1885. In 1888 he graduated from the

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was a ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. He served several Baptist churches in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

before taking the pastorate at the First Baptist Church in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

in 1897. He was known as "The Grand Old Man of Fundamentalism." He resigned after forty-five years but served as pastor emeritus until his death five years later. Riley wrote a number of texts on Christian Evangelism and founded the Northwestern Bible Training School along with an Evangelical Seminary. In 1919 Riley founded the

World Christian Fundamentals Association World's Christian Fundamentals Association, was an interdenominational organization founded in 1919 by the Baptist minister William Bell Riley of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was originally formed to launch "a new Protestant ...

. Theologically, Riley was a

traditionalist who subscribed to the

New Hampshire Confession of Faith In 1833, Baptists in the United States agreed upon a confession of faith around which they could organize a missionary society under the Triennial Convention. The New Hampshire Confession of Faith was drawn up by the Rev. John Newton Brown of New ...

of 1833, the most popular Baptist creed of the 19th century. His first major work was an exposition of the Confession and in 1922 he tried to help the fundamentalist faction of the

Northern Baptist Convention The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...

gain control and reject theological liberalism by convincing the Convention to adopt the Confession as its binding statement of faith. Riley was the editor of '' The Christian Fundamentalist'' from 1927 to 1932. Riley was president of the Minnesota Baptist State Convention in 1944-45. When Riley died in 1947,

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 ...

, whom Riley had chosen to succeed him as president of Northwestern, conducted the funeral services. At Riley's death Northwestern Bible School was the second largest Bible School in the world, with some 1,200 students enrolled.

Evolution

In 1923 Riley set up the Anti-Evolution League of Minnesota, which blossomed the following year into the Anti-Evolution League of America (later run by T. T. Martin). While the anti-evolution crusade is often thought of as a Southern phenomenon, two of its foremost leaders, Riley and

John Roach Straton John Roach Straton (surname rhymes with "Dayton"); born April 6, 1875, in Evansville, Indiana; died October 29, 1929, in Clifton Springs, New York) was a Baptist pastor. Straton was the son of the Reverend Henry Dundas Douglas Straton and the fo ...

, were from

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

respectively. In the early 1920s Riley promoted a vigorous anti-evolutionary campaign in the Northwest and it was Riley's

that wired

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...

urging him to act as counsel for the association in the Scopes Trial.''Creationism in 20th-Century America''
Ronald L. Numbers, Science 218 (5 November 1982): 538-544 Riley and Bryan tried to remove all teaching of evolution from public schools. One of the creationists in their movement, T. T. Martin claimed that German soldiers who killed Belgian and French children by giving them poisoned candy were angels compared to those who spread evolution ideas in schools. Riley also claimed that "an international Jewish-Bolshevik-Darwinist conspiracy to promote evolutionism in the classroom" was behind the changes in curriculum occurring in the 1920s. Riley advocated a form of "

Day-Age Creationism Day-age creationism, a type of old Earth creationism, is an interpretation of the creation accounts in Genesis. It holds that the six days referred to in the Genesis account of creation are not ordinary 24-hour days, but are much longer period ...

". The main objection that Riley had to evolution was:

Anti-Semitism

Some of Riley's beliefs and writings were

anti-semitic 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 ...

. He wrote and spoke extensively about Jews, especially in relation to

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

, crime and historical social influence. He promoted the

antisemitic canard Antisemitic tropes, canards, or myths are " sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since the Middle Ages, such repo ...

of linking Jews with mysterious sources of influence, power and money. In his Introduction to a collection of Riley's anti-evolutionary writings William Trollinger, the editor, describes Riley's belief in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to control the media and the economy. Trollinger believed Riley was partly influenced by the anti-Jewish Czarist forgery ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

''.

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

had been promoting the Protocols at that time through his newspaper The Dearborn Independent. Riley believed that Jews had a prominent role in promoting evolution to undermine religious and social values. Riley saw this as part of a wider plot involving Communism's plan to conquer America, especially through the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he accused of being part of a communist conspiracy. Riley declared that Soviet Russia "was under the dominance of a successful mob of atheistic Jews." Riley described the origins of World War I as the result of the maneuvering of Jewish bankers and arms dealers. Riley preached a sermon entitled "Shivering at the sight of a shirt" in support of the Fascist Silver Shirts (of the

Silver Legion of America The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an underground American fascist and Nazi sympathizer organization founded by William Dudley Pelley and headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. History Pelley was a form ...

) calling them "defenders of the Constitution." In his book, "The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century", Glen Yeadon compares Riley's use of anti-Jewish imagery and rhetoric in his sermons and writings to Hitler's propaganda. Some writers think that Riley moved towards anti Semitism after the failure of his crusade against evolution, blaming the Jews for his inability to influence Schools against teaching evolution. Trollinger also argues that Riley was influenced by and became a leading part of the anti-Semitism prevalent in

. There were also parts of wider fundamentalist culture at that time adopting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Riley denied that he was an

anti-Semite 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 ...

. He argued that he was merely commenting on social conditions at the time, and that he theologically and personally supported the Jews. Soon after the British Army entered Jerusalem in 1917, Riley described his hopes of a restored Jewish state and the role of Jerusalem in end time events in a published sermon. Riley also believed that Jews as a race had been "under God's punishment", similar to the theology of

Medieval antisemitism Antisemitism in the history of the Jews in the Middle Ages became increasingly prevalent in the Late Middle Ages. Johannes, Fried (2015) p. 287-289 The Middle Ages. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Early instances of pogroms aga ...

. Riley continued to be a supporter of more modern manifestations of anti-Semitism, such as belief in a worldwide Jewish-Bolshevik-Darwinist conspiracy.

Award

In 1908, the Southwestern Baptist University of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, conferred upon Riley an honorary

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

degree.Marie Acomb Riley
''The Dynamic of a Dream''
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1938), 95.

References

Works by W.B. Riley

Books and pamphlets

''The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist.''
40 Volumes. Cleveland: Union Gospel Press, 1925-1938.
''The Crisis of the Church.''
New York: Charles C. Cook, 1914.
''A Debate: Resolved, that the Creative Days in Genesis Were Aeons, Not Solar Days.''
With Harry Rimmer. Los Angeles: Research Science Bureau, 930?
''Doom of World Governments.''
Minneapolis: University of Northwestern: William Bell Riley Collection online.
''The Evolution of the Kingdom.''
New York: Charles C. Cook, 1913.
''The Finality of Higher Criticism; or, The Theory of Evolution and False Theology.''
inneapolis? W.B. Riley, 1909.
''Hitlerism; or, The Philosophy of Evolution in Action.''
Minneapolis: Irene Woods 941?
''Inspiration or Evolution.''
Cleveland: Union Gospel Press, 1926.
''Jerusalem and the Jew.''
Minneapolis: University of Northwestern: William Bell Riley Collection online.
''The Jew and Communism.''
Minneapolis: University of Northwestern: William Bell Riley Collection online.
''The Menace of Modernism.''
New York: Christian Alliance Co., 1917.
''Messages for the Metropolis.''
Minneapolis: Winona Publishing Co., 1906.
''My Bible: An Apologetic.''
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1937.
''Painting America Red.''
Wichita, Kan.: Defender Tract Club, 94-?
''The Philosophies of Father Coughlin.''
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1935.
''The Promised Return.''
Chicago: Star Printing Co., 897?
''Problems of Youth.''
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1941.
''Prophecy and the Red Russian Menace.''
Minneapolis: L.W. Camp, 93-?
''Protocols and Communism.''
Minneapolis: L.W. Camp, 934?
''Revival Sermons: Essentials in Effective Evangelism.''
New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1939.
''Riley versus Robinson: a Discussion of the Superintendency of Minneapolis Schools.''
inneapolis: Luverne Gustavson? 944?
''Shivering at the Sight of a Shirt.''
inneapolis: L.W. Camp 1936.
''Socialism in Our Schools: Sovietizing the State through Schools.''
inneapolis: L.W. Camp? 923?
''Ten Burning Questions.''
New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1932.
''Ten Sermons on the Greater Doctrines of Scripture.''
Bloomington, Ill.: Leader Publishing Co., 1891.
''Vagaries and Verities; or, Sunday Nights in Soul-Winning.''
Minneapolis: Hall, Black, and Co., 1903.
''Wanted--A World Leader!''
Minneapolis: W.B. Riley, 939?
''What Is Fundamentalism?''
inneapolis: L.W. Camp 927?

Works on W.B. Riley

* Hull, Lloyd B
''A Rhetorical Study of the Preaching of William Bell Riley.''
PhD., Wayne State University, 1960. * McBirnie, Robert Sheldon
''Basic Issues in the Fundamentalism of W.B. Riley.''
PhD., State University of Iowa, 1952. * Riley, Marie Acomb
''The Dynamic of a Dream: The Life Story of Dr. William B. Riley.''
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1938. * Szasz, Ferenc Morton
''Three Fundamentalist Leaders: The Roles of William Bell Riley, John Roach Straton, and William Jennings Bryan in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy.''
PhD., University of Rochester, 1969. * Trollinger, William Vance
''God's Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism.''
Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. * Trollinger, William Vance
''The Antievolution Pamphlets of William Bell Riley.''
New York : Garland Pub, 1995.

Historical works on the political and social history of the era

*Berman, Hyman
''political anti-Semitism in Minnesota during the great depression.''
New York : 1979. *Dinnerstein, L
in America.''
New York : Oxford University Press. 1994. *Lundin. R
''Christ across the disciplines: past, present, future.''
Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2013. * Yeadon, Glen
''The Nazi Hydra in America: Suppressed History of a Century.''
California: Progressive Press, 2008.

External links

*
William Bell Riley Collection - Berntsen Library, University of Northwestern-St. Paul
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, William Bell 1861 births 1947 deaths American Christian creationists American conspiracy theorists American fascists Baptist ministers from the United States Christian fascists Christian fundamentalists Southern Baptist Theological Seminary alumni Valparaiso University alumni American anti-communists