Southern Baptist Leaders Meet After Critical Race Theory Statement Caused Controversy (RNS) — Southern Baptist Convention officials admitted it would have been better if they’d contacted Black leaders of their denomination before issuing a statement decrying critical race theory, which led to the departure of several Black pastors. In response to weeks of reaction to the statement and a request for a meeting from the SBC’s National African American Fellowship, the denomination’s seminary presidents and fellowship leaders met on Wednesday (Jan. 6). In late November, the leaders of the six SBC seminaries — all of them white men — declared critical race theory, a set of ideas about systemic racism, was not compatible with the statement of faith of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. After the presidents issued their statement, several Black church leaders announced they were leaving the mostly white denomination.