ATLANTA (ABP) — Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal and Moderator-elect Colleen Burroughs have issued a historic letter in response to Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
The statement responding to King’s letter emerged from the annual Christian Churches Together conference held in Birmingham, Ala., Jan. 11-14. The CCT one-page statement is believed to be the first-ever clergy response to the now-famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The full text of the CCT statement is available on their website .
“Martin Luther King Jr. continues to inspire all of us to choose courage over caution in addressing racial and social injustice,” said Vestal. “It is crucial for churches and individuals that are a part of the CBF to join with Christians from other traditions to speak and act on behalf of the poor and those who are marginalized by racism. Our involvement with Christian Churches Together is one way we can demonstrate our solidarity with other Christians in this struggle.”
During CCT’s annual meeting, leaders from more than 40 religious bodies and organizations examined the issue of domestic poverty through the lens of racism.
Occurring the week before the national Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration on Jan. 17, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” served as a backdrop for CCT to explore how much progress has been made since 1963 and in what areas progress is still needed.
King originally wrote his letter from jail as a response to a group of Alabama clergy who had sent him an “appeal to common sense,” in which they asked for a lessening of civil rights activities in the area. The eight ecumenical signers of the Alabama clergy letter appealed to King for restraint and “common sense” and withdrew their support for the civil rights demonstrations.
The CCT leaders in their statement remembered with gratitude the sacrifices of the leaders of the civil rights movement, who demonstrated the power of Christian, nonviolent action. They also expressed repentance that “some of us have not progressed far enough beyond the initial message from the Birmingham clergy.
“Too often our follow-through has been far less than our spoken commitments,” the CCT statement reads. “Too often we have chosen to be comfortable rather than prophetic. Too often we have chosen not to see the evidence of a racism that is less overt but still permeates our national life in corrosive ways.”
During the week, the racially and denominationally diverse group of CCT leaders visited the Civil Rights Institute and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, finding inspiration and renewed commitment to fight racism. In their statement, the CCT leaders described two windows at the Sixteen Street Baptist Church — one where the face of Jesus had been blown out from the bombing in 1963 that killed four girls, and the other that depicts a Christ figure who with one hand rejects the injustice of the world and with the other extends forgiveness.
“In the spirit of this loving Jesus, and in the spirit of those who committed their very lives to that love, we renew our commitment to ending racism in all forms,” the CCT statement read. “We begin by taking time on Monday, January 17, to reread the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ — along with the message from the Birmingham clergy that prompted King’s letter — and to reflect on its meaning for us today. We urge all within our churches to do the same.”
Formed in 2007, CCT is the broadest Christian fellowship in the country, with members from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Historic Black and Evangelical/Pentecostal families.
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Lance Wallace writes for CBF communications.