Mediaboss Marketing

Subscribe today for full access on your desktop, tablet, and mobile device.

Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

A national meeting of Southern Baptists will consider condemning the political movement known as the "alt-right."

Try Another

Audio CAPTCHA

Image CAPTCHA

Help

CancelSend

A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Rachel Zoll and Angie Wang, Associated Press 10:01 a.m. CT June 14, 2017

Home to prominent evangelical supporters of President Donald Trump, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a statement on moral leadership at the group's annual meeting Tuesday. It avoided pointed criticism of current political officeholders. The denomination also rejected a proposal to condemn the "alt-right." The political movement has come to the forefront during the presidential election that mixes racism, white nationalism and populism. Barrett Duke is a Southern Baptist executive who shepherded the statements through the meeting. He said the resolution contained inflammatory and broad language "potentially implicating" conservatives who do not support the "alt-right" movement. Wochit

Southern Baptist Executive Committee President Frank S. Page speaks during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.(Photo: .AP)

PHOENIX A national meeting of Southern Baptists will consider condemning the political movement known as the "alt-right" amid a debate aboutthe denomination's commitment to confronting prejudice. Barrett Duke, a Southern Baptist leader who led a committee that decided which resolutions should be considered for a vote, said the resolution as originally written contained inflammatory and broad language "potentially implicating" conservatives who do not support the "alt-right" movement.

More: First Presbyterian Church seeks healing, redemption for sins committed during civil rights era But the decision caused concern online and at the gathering in Phoenix from Southern Baptists and other Christians, especially black evangelicals. The denomination has been striving to overcome its founding in the 19th century in defense of slaveholders. Thabiti Anyabwile, a black Southern Baptist pastor, tweeted that "any 'church' that cannot denounce white supremacy without hesitancy and equivocation is a dead, Jesus denying assembly. No 2 ways about it". Southern Baptist leaders responded late Tuesday night with a call for attendees to return to the assembly hall, then announced they would take up the proposal after all on Wednesday. In encouraging the meeting to reconsider, Steve Gaines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he wanted to send the message that "we love everybody on this planet."

Norris Burkes: Seeking Gods will or willing Gods will?

The initial proposed resolution came from a prominent black Southern Baptist pastor, the Rev. Dwight McKissic, who had submitted the suggested statement to Duke's committee before this week's gathering. He called the "alt-right" a symptom of "social disease," ''deceptive" and "antithetical to what we believe." His resolution condemned Christians who attempted to use biblical teachings to justify white supremacy. The Southern Baptist Convention, based in Nashville, has 15.2 million members and is the largest Protestant group in the country. Leaders have repeatedly condemned racism in formal resolutions from the meeting and built new relationships with black Baptists.

Read or Share this story: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2017/06/14/southern-baptist-convention-ponders-rebuke-alt-right/395952001/

1:22

0:48

4:11

1:19

0:47

1:15

1:50

0:44

4:57

0:51

Excerpt from:
Southern Baptist Convention ponders rebuke of 'alt-right' - Montgomery Advertiser