Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

Racially segregated churches ‘blasphemy,’ SBC leader says

NewsBob Allen  |  March 27, 2015

By Bob Allen

Ethics head Russell Moore told 550 people at a conference March 26 he believes God is giving the Southern Baptist Convention a second chance to atone for its racist past, but “in order to do that we must repent, not just rebrand.”

“Our heritage is one that comes to us, we’ve been told, through a trail of blood, but not all of that blood is the blood of Christ’s cross,” Moore, president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said during the opening address of a two-day summit titled The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation in Nashville, Tenn.

russell moore cropSpeaking on the second anniversary of his election to lead the Southern Baptist entity dedicated to issues in the public square, Moore based his message in the New Testament book of Ephesians, where the apostle Paul mediates between quarreling Jewish and gentile Christians by reminding both groups they “are united in one body through the gospel.”

“The problem when we come to this text, when we’re talking about issues of racial reconciliation, is that white people inevitably assume that we are the Jewish Christians in this text, and that black people and Hispanic people and Asian people and others are the gentiles,” he said. “We’re the regular people who are supposed to be here, and you all are welcome.”

Moore said the problem with reading the text that way is: “There aren’t any white people in Jerusalem in First Century A.D.”

“The fundamental problem that we have when it comes to this issue in the American church, even when we understand that there is a problem, is that those of us who are white, born-again Christians tend to assume that the Body of Christ is white with room for everybody else,” he said. “White people are normal, and the others that we minister to are ethnic.”

Moore said if preachers do not address race “we are leaving consciences in sin” and “empowering the devil.”

“We are not the state church of the Confederate States of America,” Moore said. “We are not inheritors of a lost cause but of a new creation. The cross and the Confederate battle flag cannot coexist without one setting the other on fire.”

Moore said Southern Baptists need not just conservativism, but “the sort of conservatism that knows what to conserve.”

“If what we’re conserving is 1950s Dixie, then we’re conserving something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we will be fighting God, and we will not win,” he said.

“For a people who have all the marks on our history that we have, it seems to me that God is working and God is giving us another chance to get this right,” Moore said. “In order to do that we must repent, not just rebrand.”

Moore said the problem is not that black, white, Hispanic and Asian churches are openly hostile toward each other or cannot come together in a meeting or joint worship service, but the message that worshipping separately sends to unbelievers.

“The problem is that Sunday morning, when we are signifying to the rest of the world, ‘here is a picture of the Kingdom of God,’ we gather with the same people we would gather with if Jesus Christ were still dead, and that’s blasphemy,” Moore said.

“What people will say is we’re trying to reach people with the gospel, and people would rather be around people like them,” Moore said. “Sure they would, and I’d like to fight and fornicate and smoke weed and go to heaven.”

This is the second year the ERLC has held a summit for pastors and church leaders on pressing social issues facing the church. Attendance at last year’s inaugural summit on homosexuality was 1,300, with 10,000 live-stream viewers on the Internet.

Moore had originally planned to address race at next year’s leadership summit in 2016 but moved it up a year after the deaths of black men killed in clashes with police in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y.

The original theme of “The Gospel for Life” will be integrated into a large-scale pro-life conference in Washington in partnership with next year’s March for Life demonstration held annually on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establishing a woman’s right to abortion.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Tags:Russell MooreSocial IssuesracismEthics & Religious Liberty Commission
More by
Bob Allen
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • More religion in public schools raises concerns about religious liberty

      Opinion

    • Al Mohler vs. Andy Stanley: What’s really going on?

      Opinion

    • It’s ‘Boycotts R Us’ for American Family Association

      News

    • Baylor settles sexual assault lawsuit

      News


    Curated

    • Trump Says On Rosh Hashanah That ‘Liberal Jews’ Voted To ‘Destroy America’

      Trump Says On Rosh Hashanah That ‘Liberal Jews’ Voted To ‘Destroy America’

    • African churches urge US Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR

      African churches urge US Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR

    • Lawsuit by Islamic rights group says US terror watchlist woes continue even after names are removed

      Lawsuit by Islamic rights group says US terror watchlist woes continue even after names are removed

    • Bible debates, ancient and modern: Why did early church choose only four Gospels?

      Bible debates, ancient and modern: Why did early church choose only four Gospels?

    Read Next:

    Must we change our language to reach climate change deniers?

    AnalysisRick Pidcock

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Jen Hatmaker and Tyler Merrit find love and are taking their show on the road next week

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Ken and Angela Paxton do a little sidestep — while quoting Bible verses

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • This is why people are leaving the church

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • Criticism of Andy Stanley is rooted in father wounds

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • What do we mean by ‘affirming’?

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • How long before a revolution?

      OpinionJamar A. Boyd II

    • Baylor settles sexual assault lawsuit

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • SBC Executive Committee won’t explain McLaurin’s resume lies, and new interim president backs out one day after being announced

      NewsMaina Mwaura and Mark Wingfield

    • It’s ‘Boycotts R Us’ for American Family Association

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • On death

      OpinionGlen Schmucker

    • Al Mohler vs. Andy Stanley: What’s really going on?

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • More religion in public schools raises concerns about religious liberty

      OpinionBryan Kelley

    • Must we change our language to reach climate change deniers?

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • A surprising window into Black Jesus

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • In biblical truth-telling, we need to mind the gap between clergy and laity

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Prior explores the origin of evangelicalism’s ‘empire mentality’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • A ‘sad day’ for America?

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • In the midst of history-engendered pessimism, don’t forget the hope

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • Sometimes, ‘resignation’ isn’t the reason clergy walk away from their ministry callings

      OpinionMary Kate Deal

    • Upcoming BNG webinar guests: Matt Cook and Bill Wilson, Emily Smith, Amy Butler

      NewsBNG staff

    • Solidarity Circles program seeks to build a faith-based collaborative economy

      AnalysisCynthia Astle

    • Number of countries with blasphemy laws grows by 13%

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ten benefits of participating in a pastor peer group

      AnalysisBarry Howard

    • The SBC’s far-far right believes all members of a Cooperation Group should agree with their views

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Jen Hatmaker and Tyler Merrit find love and are taking their show on the road next week

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Baylor settles sexual assault lawsuit

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • SBC Executive Committee won’t explain McLaurin’s resume lies, and new interim president backs out one day after being announced

      NewsMaina Mwaura and Mark Wingfield

    • It’s ‘Boycotts R Us’ for American Family Association

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Prior explores the origin of evangelicalism’s ‘empire mentality’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Upcoming BNG webinar guests: Matt Cook and Bill Wilson, Emily Smith, Amy Butler

      NewsBNG staff

    • Number of countries with blasphemy laws grows by 13%

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The SBC’s far-far right believes all members of a Cooperation Group should agree with their views

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Judge again rules DACA illegal; humanitarian advocates call for congressional response

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Kansas is latest state to fund anti-abortion groups that encourage women to give birth

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Growth of Christianity in China may have stalled but no one knows for sure

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Transitions for the week of 9-15-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • SBC Executive Committee eliminates 20% of staff due to budget crisis

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • At AWAB lecture, Susan Shaw lays out 10 lies Christians tell about queer people

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Evangelical leaders condemn DeSantis for politicizing state executions

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Fellowship Southwest’s first conference calls for advocacy and action

      NewsJeff Hampton

    • Two other venues also have declined to host Promise Keepers events

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • McRaney to file appeal and keep his case against NAMB alive

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Retired pastor’s book finds Methodist history ‘strangely lukewarm’ on confronting racism

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • What you haven’t been taught about Martin Luther King

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Together for Hope adds Delta region vice president

      NewsBNG staff

    • Christian groups applaud Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Oklahoma joins Florida in allowing PragerU content in public schools

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ken and Angela Paxton do a little sidestep — while quoting Bible verses

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • This is why people are leaving the church

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • Criticism of Andy Stanley is rooted in father wounds

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • What do we mean by ‘affirming’?

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • How long before a revolution?

      OpinionJamar A. Boyd II

    • On death

      OpinionGlen Schmucker

    • Al Mohler vs. Andy Stanley: What’s really going on?

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • More religion in public schools raises concerns about religious liberty

      OpinionBryan Kelley

    • In biblical truth-telling, we need to mind the gap between clergy and laity

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • A ‘sad day’ for America?

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • In the midst of history-engendered pessimism, don’t forget the hope

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • Sometimes, ‘resignation’ isn’t the reason clergy walk away from their ministry callings

      OpinionMary Kate Deal

    • Life lessons learned while pondering ‘that little man!’

      OpinionBob Newell

    • Reflecting upon a new opportunity to minister to senior adults

      OpinionSara Robb-Scott

    • Confronting our violent culture with an engaged spirituality

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • The Jesus Room

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • Post-evangelical snapshots

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Do complementarian men do better? A response to Nancy Pearcey

      OpinionSheila Wray Gregoire and Joanna Sawatsky

    • An out-of-the-box lesson from Barbie

      OpinionJeremiah Bullock

    • Anthony, Aldean, Dylan and Guthrie

      OpinionRichard Conville

    • Four things the SBC Executive Committee should do right now to address clergy sex abuse

      OpinionChrista Brown

    • Bruce Springsteen is a fraud, and so are we

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • Women crying out in the wilderness in Tennessee

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • The night I stopped believing in substitutionary blood atonement

      OpinionMartin Thielen

    • Who exactly is the pastor?

      OpinionPaul R. Gilliam III

    • Trump Says On Rosh Hashanah That ‘Liberal Jews’ Voted To ‘Destroy America’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • African churches urge US Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Lawsuit by Islamic rights group says US terror watchlist woes continue even after names are removed

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Bible debates, ancient and modern: Why did early church choose only four Gospels?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • March for Our Lives, faith leaders call on Florida lawmakers to ‘cease and desist’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Survivors Of The Birmingham Church Bombing Say GOP Culture War Bills Are Trying To Erase Their History

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Let’s Have A Look At Education And Religious Attendance

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Her plans to play the piano and sing with the choir were interrupted by the news that the nearby 16th Street Baptist Church had been bombed.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are times for soul-searching, but not on your own – community has always been at the heart of the Jewish High Holidays

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Wheaton College Releases Report on Its History of Racism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Catholics in Ukraine struggle as Pope Francis’ approval rating is at an all-time low

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pope’s visit to France stirs debate over immigration, secularism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • As Soccer Moses, Jars of Clay guitarist Stephen Mason finds unexpected joy

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Saudi Reforms Soften Islam’s Role, But Kingdom Takes Hard Line Against Dissent

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Security experts urge Jewish communities to prepare for possible High Holidays bomb threats

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pope Francis and Bill Clinton set discussion on climate change at Clinton Global Initiative

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • At Rosh Hashanah reception, Doug Emhoff and Kamala Harris talk about putting antisemitism plan ‘into action’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Christian lawmakers push battle over church and state after Roe

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • California school district must reinstate Christian club, court rules

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • New Yorkers Watch as Their Only Evangelical Colleges Close

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Saints Linebacker Demario Davis Places Spotlight On The Power Of Prayer After Daughter Suffers Seizure

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How Christians Can Break the Stronghold of a Curse-Informed Worldview

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • At least 49 synagogues have been evacuated due to bomb threats in the last 2 months. Next up, the High Holidays.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Canadian man charged with murdering four Muslims was inspired by white nationalism, prosecutors say

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Hindu and Jewish Americans foster kinship through shared traditions, connections to homeland

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS