By Bob Allen
As the nation’s most racially diverse Protestant denomination, American Baptists must take the lead in eradicating racism and violence such as the June 17 hate crime that took nine lives at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., New York City pastor Amy Butler challenged the audience at the 2015 Mission Summit of American Baptist Churches USA.
Butler, the first female pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City whose predecessors include Harry Emerson Fosdick, William Sloane Coffin Jr. and James Forbes Jr., told 600 delegates and 1,000 guests that they, now, hold the prophetic mantle of American Baptists.
“We cannot profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ and not be compelled by that gospel to be agents of radical love in the world,” Butler said June 26 at the Overland Park Convention Center in Kansas City, Kan. “And I want to say at this moment on our journey, friends, we cannot be agents of radical love without working hard and long to dismantle racism and white supremacy in our country.”
Butler, 45, recounted a litany of racially motivated hate crimes in the United States that have been going on her entire life. She said those lives were lost “because people of faith wouldn’t stand up and say no.”
“As a nation we have failed to address and eradicate the original sins of our country,” Butler said. “This is the path on which we find ourselves this day in America — a path that views black and brown bodies as lesser value than white bodies and a path that belies our claim to be a nation of equality and freedom for all.”
Butler said people of faith can start addressing America’s racial divide “by taking down some flags, and we must,” but that isn’t enough.
“We have to repent,” Butler said. “We have got to at long last come together to end access to deadly weapons and to a culture in which their possession and use is tolerated and celebrated.”
“We must address systems of oppression that incarcerate African-Americans at nearly six times the rate of whites and fuel massive racial inequity in housing income and education,” Butler said. “We must speak truth to power.”
Butler recalled Martin Luther King’s famous saying, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“And it will,” she said. “We saw it even today with the just and right Supreme Court ruling legalizing marriage for all Americans.”
In light of the Charleston shooting, Butler said, many voices are lamenting that even in the 21st century that “our churches remain the most segregated communities in society.”
“That may still be true, that that is not our legacy and it is not our witness,” Butler said. “Our denomination is the most diverse Protestant denomination in America. We have been modeling this kind of messy, beautiful, beloved gospel community for decades. As we confront our own sin and the sin of our nation, we must remember who we are, and we must step forward to lead the church of Jesus Christ.”
“If we don’t insist that racism and violence in our country must end, we forfeit a legacy handed down to us,” Butler said.
In a meeting prior to the biennial meeting, American Baptist Home Mission Societies voiced solidarity with Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston S.C., with a letter by common consent of the board of directors and a gift of $9,000 for distribution to the families of the nine victims murdered while attending a Wednesday night Bible study.
In his report to the board, Executive Director Aidsand Wright-Riggins said on the heels of the Charleston massacre he is working with the New Baptist Covenant on an initiative that focuses on dealing with race in America by asking Baptist churches across the country to engage in conversations about racism on Sunday, July 5, followed by the development of covenants of action.