Fred Luter speaks at the Southern Baptist Convention s Annual Meeting in New Orleans, June 18, 2012. Luter was elected president of SBC on Tuesday, June 19. | (Photo: The Christian Post)
Fred Luter, the Southern Baptist Convention’s first and only black president, along with current leader J.D. Greear have joined a growing chorus of dissent over a statement from the denomination’s Council of Seminary Presidents denouncing racism and critical race theory.
, which argues that “the actions of some in the SBC appear to be more concerned with political maneuvering than working to present a vibrant, gospel-loving, racially and culturally diverse vision.”
Two Prominent Pastors Break With SBC After Critical Race Theory Statement
Charlie Dates and Ralph D. West spoke out in response to a controversial statement released by seminary presidents.
Kate Shellnutt| Image: bengrey / Flickr and MLK50 / BP
Ralph D. West and Charlie Dates
The leaders of two majority-black megachurches in major cities announced this week that they will no longer affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention.
In op-eds announcing their decisions to leave, Charlie Dates of Chicago’s Progressive Baptist Church and Ralph D. West of Houston’s The Church Without Walls both criticized SBC seminary presidents’ declaration that critical race theory was “incompatible” with the denomination’s statement of faith.
Anjanette Young, victim of wrong raid, using fundraising effort to help others seek justice kesq.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kesq.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
(RNS) In 2018, something happened at the MLK50 Conference in Memphis, an event co-hosted by the Southern Baptist Convention’s policy arm and The Gospel Coalition. It was the first time to my knowledge that white evangelicals had celebrated in concert the life, memory and work of the Rev. Martin L. King Jr. On the eve of the 50th anniversary of his assassination, it was as if they had come to reckon with the ghosts of their past and the theological underpinnings that ignored his ministry.
I left that conference feeling hopeful. The young people I met that week shocked me with the warmth and enthusiasm with which they embraced the subject matter.
Image: Courtesy of Chauncey Allmond
Chauncey Allmond dreams of a day when white evangelical preachers will reference the work of African American Bible scholars without even thinking about it. He and his colleagues at Logos Bible Software hope they can make that happen by adding more African American voices to the digital study tools currently used by more than 4.5 million people.
“The African American voice is a powerful voice that needs to be heard,” Allmond said. “There’s a lot of traditions in the African American church that I think Logos is missing out on.”
Logos has been working for about a year to diversify its Bible study products and has gathered a group of African American Christian leaders to help. They call the group the Kerusso Collective.