by Sandy » Fri Aug 11, 2017 8:53 pm
The history of movements toward racial equality, and racial reconciliation, particularly in this country, is that they are always initiated, and largely carried forward by the minority group. The movements begin at the grass roots with whatever influence tools they have available to them. Along the way, they find sympathetic whites who help, and contribute what they have to offer to the influence battle, though when there is pushback, the minority group bears the brunt of the consequences. It takes generations for genuine gains to be realized, and there is almost always constant resistance.
Within a denomination like the SBC, the structure itself is an impediment to racial reconciliation, and a genuine change of attitude when it comes to race. The organizational structure is set up to be a "good ole boy" favor granting system, which, by the way, didn't get changed as a result of the conservative resurgence. And that same system is replicated at the state convention level, and at the associational level. The level of resistance to change in the SBC is quite telling. The most dramatic shift the convention ever saw in terms of the position of the leadership who gained power and control was the conservative resurgence, based on a hard-line, conservative view of the scripture, and on some pretty hard-right interpretations of it. Yet the racial attitudes and actions exhibited openly within the convention from its inception, and all the way through most of its history are antithetical to the principles of the very scripture touted as the "inerrant, infallible written Word of God" by the SBC.
The SBC, billed as the "nation's largest Protestant denomination," and clearly the dominant religious group in the south, claiming as many as half of all Christian church members in many counties in the southern states, made no appreciable record of assistance to those involved in the Civil Rights movement. In other words, when African Americans were looking for allies and advocates, they didn't go to the SBC to find them.
I think a lot of that has changed since then, certainly in recent years it has. But it is still the African American, Latino, and Asian voices within the convention itself who are doing the lion's share of the work to bring about racial reconciliation, and even when progress is made, there are still disappointing setbacks, like the way Dr. McKissic's resolution was handled. If a prominent, well-known conservative had presented a resolution to the committee, would there have been any hesitation in passing it along, unedited, to the convention? Rhetorical question, but the answer is no. Until the SBC abandons its provincial oligarchy, and actively seeks to resolve the nagging and persistent resistance to racial reconciliation, and the inclusion of its minority race church members in full leadership, it will continue to be a problem.