Messengers to the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting renounced display of the Confederate battle flag in a historic, overwhelming vote June 14.
The convention adopted a resolution that urged “brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters.”
The Confederate battle flag resolution was another step in the convention’s effort to address its past actions regarding slavery and racism.
The SBC, which was established in 1845 in part in support of slaveholding missionaries, approved a resolution in 1995 repenting of racism and asking for forgiveness from African-American Christians. Alabama Baptist pastor Charles T. Carter spearheaded that effort as chairman of the Resolutions Committee in 1995.
The convention also has acted in a variety of ways in an attempt to bring about racial reconciliation and involve African-Americans and other minorities in leadership roles in the convention.
Wording of resolution
The 2016 Resolutions Committee brought a proposal calling for “sensitivity and unity” regarding display of the Confederate battle flag. The committee’s proposed wording called for Christians who display the flag “to consider prayerfully whether to limit, or even more so, discontinue its display” because of the “undeniably painful impact of the flag’s symbolism on others.”
After two messengers spoke against the resolution, former SBC President James Merritt offered an amendment that went beyond the committee’s proposed language.
His two-fold amendment deleted a paragraph that said the flag “serves for some not as a symbol of hatred, bigotry and racism, but as a memorial to their loved ones who died in the Civil War, and an emblem to honor their loved ones’ valor.”
It also removed language about prayerful consideration and called for a halt to displaying the flag.
Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church, Duluth, Georgia, said he offered the amendment not just as a pastor but as the great-great-grandson of two men who fought in the Confederate Army.
“[N]o one can deny” the Confederate battle flag is “a stumbling block” for many African-Americans to the witness of Southern Baptists, Merritt told messengers.
In a comment that produced a partial standing ovation, he said, “[A]ll the Confederate flags in the world are not worth one soul of any race.”
Calling it “a seminal moment in our convention,” Merritt said, “This is not a matter of political correctness. It is a matter of spiritual conviction and biblical compassion.
“We have a golden opportunity to say to every person of every race, ethnicity and nationality that Southern Baptists are not a people of any flag. We march under the banner of the cross of Jesus and the grace of God.
“Today we can say loudly and clearly to a world filled with racial strife and division that Southern Baptists are not in the business of building barriers and burning bridges,” he said. “We’re about building bridges and tearing down barriers.”
Alan Cross, of Montgomery and a former Alabama Baptist pastor, said, “It was the most wonderful surprise, a complete denunciation of the flag because of what it represents and because of the Southern symbol that it is to African-American brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Differing views
Not all Southern Baptists are as excited about the move as Merritt and Cross, however.
Prior to Merritt offering his proposed amendment, John Killian, pastor of Maytown Baptist Church, urged messengers not to approve the resolution.
“When you get home on the grassroots level, this is going to be a horribly divisive issue,” he said. “In the name of unity and racial reconciliation, don’t pass this resolution.”
Resolutions Committee chairman Stephen Rummage “respectfully disagreed” with Killian’s comments from the platform.
“We are talking about one particular symbol that is used by some and perceived by many as a symbol of racism and that causes great harm,” Rummage said. “We acknowledge there are those who do not use it with those intentions … but we call for people prayerfully to limit or discontinue use of that symbol.”
When introducing the resolution, Rummage asked messengers to “pass this unanimously and with urgency … for the sake of our witness for Jesus Christ and for the sake of showing His love of all people.”
The original resolution was submitted by Dwight McKissic, an African-American and pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas, but was reworked before being submitted to messengers.
‘Tempered language’
Rummage said during a press conference on all resolutions passed by messengers (see Resolutions passed on support for Israel; screening of, care for refugees), “[T]he language was tempered from the original submitted resolution.
“The resolution that we crafted was one based on what we believed Southern Baptists would be amenable to, that they would vote a strong yes to,” he said. “The reason for tempering the language in the way that we did was that we wanted to achieve as broad a consensus as possible.
“When Dr. Merritt presented his amendment to that and we heard the response as he was presenting his amendment, then we wanted to see what the convention would say,” Rummage added. “Once we heard, it was so overwhelmingly clear, at least to me, the convention wanted to say what we said but say it more strongly.
“I was elated to see us make the type of statement that we did,” he said. “I’m thankful to Dr. Merritt for bringing the word and the way he did.”
Messengers approved both the amendment and the amended resolution by wide margins.
(Baptist Press, TAB)
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Resolution on Sensitivity And Unity Regarding The Confederate Battle Flag
WHEREAS, Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Ronnie Floyd has rallied Southern Baptists to “rise up and cry out against racism that still exists in our nation and our churches,” recognizing we are in a “desperate hour” that calls us to “replace these evils with the beauty of grace and love”; and
WHEREAS, In 1995 the SBC repudiated “historic acts of evil, such as slavery,” and committed “to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry”; and
WHEREAS, In more recent resolutions the SBC called “all Christian men and women to pray and labor for the day when our Lord will set all things right and racial prejudice and injustice will be no more” (2014) and expressed continued grief “over the presence of racism and the recent escalation of racial tension in our nation” (2015); and
WHEREAS, More than 20 percent (nearly 11,000) of our cooperating Southern Baptist congregations identify as predominately non-Anglo and for the last two years more than 50 percent of Southern Baptist new church plants are predominately non-Anglo; and
WHEREAS, We recognize that the Confederate battle flag is used by some and perceived by many as a symbol of hatred, bigotry and racism, offending millions of people; and
WHEREAS, We recognize that, while the removal of the Confederate battle flag from public display is not going to solve the most severe racial tensions that plague our nation and our churches, those professing Christ are called to extend grace and put the consciences of others ahead of their own interests and actions (1 Cor. 8:9–13, 10:23; Phil. 2:3–4); and
WHEREAS, The state of South Carolina, with the support of state Baptist leaders, responded to the tragic slayings on June 17, 2015, of nine precious believers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston by removing the Confederate battle flag from their Capitol grounds and placing it in preservation at a military museum in Columbia; and
WHEREAS, Oklahoma Baptist University recently removed an image of the Confederate battle flag from its campus chapel; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the SBC meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, June 14–15, 2016, commend the governmental officials of South Carolina, Baptist leaders in that state and the Oklahoma Baptist University administration for their sensitivity and for fostering unity; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we acknowledge both the importance of remembering family heritage and sacrifice, as well as the urgency of pursuing a unified body of Christ and racial healing in America; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we urge fellow Christians to exercise sensitivity so that nothing brings division or hinders the unity of the body of Christ to be a bold witness to the transforming power of Jesus.
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