It’s Time for Southern Baptist Convention Leaders to Repent or Step Down

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At the 2017 annual meeting, the SBC passed a resolution against white supremacy. It includes resolutions such as the SBC decrying “every form of racism, including alt-right white supremacy, as antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” and, “That we denounce and repudiate white supremacy and every form of racial and ethnic hatred as a scheme of the devil intended to bring suffering and division to our society.”¹ {snip}

However, the resolution is unfairly vague and broad. What exactly does the SBC mean by ‘racism’ and ‘white supremacy’? Do they think it’s ‘hatred’ to have a preferential love for one’s own people? Do they think it’s ‘supremacy’ to prefer to live in a white country than a black one? More importantly, even if any examples of unjust hatred can be found, does it follow that anyone who can be classified as alt-right is himself guilty of such hatred? Of course, this SBC resolution is not intended to be faithful to Scripture or to clearly articulate the issue, only to virtue-signal and express platitudes.

Wrongful Removal of James Edwards’ Church

Many people in the SBC might not be aware that a Southern Baptist church was removed from the Mid-South Baptist Association after a black Southern Baptist preacher, Dwight McKissic, suggested that churches with ‘racist’ members be excluded from the SBC. In particular, McKissic was targeting the church of radio-host James Edwards. Edwards’ show, The Political Cesspool, covers politics, news, and culture from a white Southern Christian perspective.

For those who have not heard the Political Cesspool radio show, it is a refreshing alternative to the wretched and debased media establishment of the U.S. Notable aspects of the show include an annual Confederate History Month in April and an emphasis on the gospel of Jesus Christ each Easter and Christmas.² Edwards is unapologetically proud to be a white Southern Christian and should rightly be labeled as a race realist and pro-white, pro-Southern advocate. He has no malice in his heart towards other peoples, and yet he is maligned simply for holding to such views on race and ethnicity, and especially for loving his Southern heritage and regretting the South’s subjugation during and following the Civil War. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center did not call Edwards a ‘white supremacist’ in a recent article they published on the removal of his church from the SBC. Instead, they call him a ‘white nationalist’.

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The Pharisaism of the SBC Leadership

As I learned of these events, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Pharisee from Luke 18 who prayed: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get” (Luke 18:11-12). {snip}

Love of One’s People Is Not a Sin

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The only thing Edwards is guilty of is being explicitly and unapologetically pro-white. This is not a sin, but at the most, something closer to the issue that Paul dealt with in 1 Corinthians 8-9. Paul placed the preaching of the gospel above all other issues in the early Church. This led him to put aside cultural differences for the sake of teaching and preaching:

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Black Pride in the SBC

{snip} Basically, McKissic has written a book that explicitly focuses on black people in the Bible specifically because they are black. This, he says, is because “there can be no authentic Black identity unless we reclaim our Black families. Unless we pass on the strengths of our God-given heritage to the next generation, we can never hope to see true, lasting change take place in our community.”⁴ McKissic here has written these books because he wants black people to have a strong racial identity so they can flourish as a people.

Another example is Dr. Chris Williamson, founder and senior pastor of Strong Tower Bible Church, who has written articles posted on the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission website. One such article, entitled “How the Black Panther Has Inspired Me Since I was 9 Years Old,” relays how Williamson has been inspired by the Marvel comic-book character. {snip} Both of these men are unapologetically pro-black and want black people to flourish as a distinct race. Both see nothing wrong with being proud of black people and black culture.

The Hypocrisy of the Leadership of the SBC

While I do not agree with these men on how to reconcile blacks and whites in the U.S., I applaud them for being proud of and wanting the best for their people. However, it is obvious that the SBC only allows this type of pride in non-whites. Edwards and his church have been disfellowshipped from the SBC because Edwards is doing the same things that McKissic and Williamson are doing. Edwards is proud of his race and heritage and is always discussing how whites can best move forward in a country that increasingly demonizes them.

This double standard and hypocritical exclusion of whites who love their people is why the Pharisaical leadership of the SBC must repent. {snip} The question of whether blacks and whites should live together is not a gospel question, nor will it ever be. The leadership of the SBC is obviously conforming to the egalitarianism of the post-World War II era {snip}.

Conclusion

It is for these reasons that the leadership of the SBC needs either to repent and readmit James Edwards’s church, or to step down as leaders of the SBC. {snip} The cultural Marxist-like atmosphere of the convention will prove only to further divide its members and drive good Christians and non-believers away. All members of the SBC, especially whites, need to work to change this shameful situation in the convention now.