by Sandy » Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:11 pm
First of all, the Carver medal wasn't awarded by the SBC, it was awarded by Simpson College, a United Methodist-related school in Iowa. It is a medal given in honor of George Washington Carver, who was, among his many accomplishments, the first African American to do a lot of things. One of the considerations for which Luter received the award was being the first African American president of the SBC, an accomplishment that I would consider worthy of the award, and completely relevant to it. He is the President of the SBC, and so a recognition as prestigious and as honorable as this one would certainly draw the attention of Baptist Press, among other news media outlets. If that's "milking his status for all its worth", then the United Methodists and Simpson College are collaborators with the SBC in doing it.
It really seems to bend some non-Southern Baptists out of shape pretty badly that the SBC is making strides in the area of equality and diversity that they once thought was their own personal domain.