In this undated file photo, the Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington speaks in chapel at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. | SWBTS / Margie Dolch, File
Prominent Southern Baptist Convention Pastor Dwight McKissic Sr. has retracted his support of a controversial statement from SBC seminary heads that denounced racism and critical race theory. He believes the denomination could use it to rescind a CRT resolution it had approved earlier.
In an op-ed published in SBC Voices Monday, McKissic, who detailed his experience with discrimination in the SBC, argued that the statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents denouncing racism and CRT as incompatible with their beliefs is paving the way for the denomination to rescind Resolution 9 “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality,” which was passed with much dissent in the summer of 2019.
Ralph D. West, Houston pastor, cuts ties to Southern Baptists over critical race theory rejection
West, founder of the Church Without Walls, is just the latest to criticize six seminary presidents who said critical race theory was incompatible with their faith. The Rev. Ralph D. West, founder and senior pastor of The Church Without Walls, in Houston. Courtesy photo
December 16, 2020
(RNS) A pastor pursuing a doctorate at Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, announced in an editorial Wednesday (Dec. 16) that he was withdrawing from his degree program and severing his megachurch’s affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention over a recent statement by its seminary presidents on critical race theory.
Marshal Ausberry is president of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention, first vice president of the SBC and pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax Station, Virginia. | Facebook/Marshal L. Ausberry
The head of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention says he will soon meet with the leaders of the denomination’s most prominent seminaries to “discuss our concerns” regarding their recent statement denouncing racism but declaring critical race theory incompatible with their beliefs.
Marshal Ausberry said in a statement: “I have been in conversations with SBC leadership and with the leadership of the Council of Seminary Presidents of the SBC. We will be meeting in the near future to further discuss our concerns that affect all ethnic groups in the SBC about the breadth and depth of their recent statement and published comments. As brothers in Christ, we of all people should be able to dialogue and resol
Critical race theory debate likely to continue
The Conservative Baptist Network applauded the seminary presidents just as they had praised President Donald Trump earlier this year when he banned critical race theory training for federal workers. Trump s decision came on the heels of a summer filled with protests against police brutality and heightened awareness about systemic racism.
Opposition to critical race theory is one of the reasons the grassroots Southern Baptist group launched in February. They want the seminary presidents to go further, including helping to rescind a critical race theory resolution the convention passed in 2019. We look forward expectantly to the presidents cooperation with us in rescinding Resolution 9 and to their taking concrete actions toward the elimination of these unbiblical doctrines and others like them, such as Black Liberation Theology, from our SBC seminaries, the network said in a news release.
Several years ago, budget cuts cost me a great job. I had a salary, great benefits, and my wife and I, kidless at the time, had plenty of money and time to enjoy the so-called “good life.” But then it was gone. Within a few weeks, we watched our bank account slip closer and closer to the red.
As we pass eleven months of a worldwide pandemic, perhaps you’re in a similar boat. Maybe you’ve been furloughed or laid off, and there’s this thing on your calendar staring a hole through your soul: Christmas! The day we celebrate God giving us our Savior, Jesus Christ.