On Wednesday, June 14th, the Southern Baptist
Convention approved a resolution formally distancing themselves from the alt-right.
The legislation condemns, "every form of racism, including alt-right white
supremacy and every form of racial and ethnic hatred as of the devil." Had
this resolution passed a day earlier it wouldn’t be newsworthy, but it didn’t. The
Southern Baptist Convention’s bumbling of this issue is another stain on a
denomination that seems to take a step backwards for every step forward they take.
There are dozens of published statements from evangelicals who
were in attendance Tuesday night supporting the first draft of the amendment,
yet they lacked the sufficient will or power to push it through. It took public
shaming to get the largest protestant denomination in America to disavow white
supremacy. All of the work the (SBC) did in the mid 90’s to address their
support of slavery and Jim Crow is undermined by the constant stream of micro-aggressions
committed by the convention. The (SBC) wants to distance itself from its past,
but seems unwilling to make the move from words to actions.
What happened in Phoenix is another example of the disconnect
between black and white churches over racial issues. Too often, predominantly white
churches take a naval gazing approach to race. Instead of working to address
and rectify any role they may play in propagating racism too many seek absolution
from the stigma associated with their actions. This resolution is meaningless
if the church continues to remain silent about issues that affect people of
color.
The German Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave a
philosophical treatment to the difference in naming a sin and working to
correct the mindset that gives rise to its existence. In his seminal text The Cost of Discipleship He wrote:
Cheap grace is the
grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness
without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion
without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without
the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
This is the box Southern Baptist find themselves in. The double
standards people of color see feed the distrust that ensures 11:00 am will
continue being the most segregated hour of the week. As an ordained member of
clergy, and a man of color in the south, I’m invested in the (SBC) coming to
grips with the racism that still permeates too many of their congregations.
Many of the same Southern Baptists who couldn’t find anything good in President
Obama continue to find ways to excuse Donald Trump’s decadence. This convention
deserves no credit for doing the right thing after the fact. You shouldn’t have
to think twice about the Klan, Neo Nazis, or the alt-right.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for his public stance against
racism and nationalism. The consequences for offering a prophetic (and highly
visible) witness against those evils are nowhere near as high today as they
were in Nazi Germany during the Third Reich, yet too few seem willing to
sacrifice their comfort and popularity to offer it.
I’m not giving up on the (SBC) writ large. There are members
and member churches trying to right the historical wrongs of the institution
they inherited; sadly, their work is made harder by a political leadership that
appears to be more influenced by Washington than Jerusalem. If Southern
Baptists are truly interested in divorcing themselves from their past they have
to match their words with tangible actions.
