"The Civil-Rights Movement in America lasted from roughly 1955 to 1968 (with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968). That was half a century ago. In what many people would call “remarkable,” 2015 may go down in the annals of American church history as the year that conservative, Calvinist Baptists and conservative Presbyterians decided that racism is a real problem that needs the attention of the church. Why did it take so long?
In the 1950s and 1960s, if you were a white Christian burdened by the racial injustice of America’s past conservative Baptists and Presbyterians during that time would have likely labelled you “a liberal” and relegated the issues of racial justice to the category of “social issues” and not “gospel issues.”
In a capstone of
disconnected discussions over the past few years, in 2015 the Calvinistic
Baptist community decided to end the moratorium on racial issues as a merely
social issue through a series of conversations, conferences, and articles. As
I’ve said before, The Southern Baptist Convention, without question, is the
leading conservative evangelical denomination in the America on confessing past
racism, being completely honest about being on the wrong side of racial
oppression, and taking strides toward racial reconciliation (and led by very
visible leaders like Russell Moore). For example, Justin Taylor at The Gospel
Coalition initiated, led, and directed a conversation about the response of
evangelicals to the Civil-Rights Movement. The entire series was highly
instructive and I was honored that Justin Taylor even thought my question was
worth investigating. In a follow-up discussion, Russell Moore and Matt Hall had a
courageously public and transparent conversation about the failings of Southern
Baptists and posted it on social media–an unprecedented move for two white
males, in my experience, with high levels of credibility within conservative
evangelicalism."
Read the full article HERE.
