Election of Luter would ‘put money where mouth is’

NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans pastor seeking to become the Southern Baptist convention’s first black president says his election would add credibility to a 1995 resolution that apologized for the denomination’s past support of slavery and segregation. 

Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, said March 11 on NPR’s “All Things Considered” that since adopting a Resolution On Racial Reconciliation On The 150th Anniversary Of The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Atlanta, the nation’s second-largest faith group has tried to let the public know it “is not just a convention that … is lily white and that is not open to folk who are not white.”

“And they’ve done that, I think, successfully,” Luter said. “I think what this election would do, if I am elected, it will say, ‘Hey, we’re not only talking this thing; we’re putting our money where our mouth is.’”

Ethnic congregations made up 18 percent of SBC churches in 2008, with African-American and Hispanic congregations leading the way at 6 percent each of SBC churches, followed by Asians and other ethnic groups making up 3 percent each.