By Bob Allen
Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd urged members of America’s second-largest faith group behind Roman Catholics to reaffirm their opposition to racism and injustice in a Dec. 15 statement endorsed by ethnic leaders.
“Southern Baptists have always been a prophetic voice crying out against matters such as the evil of abortion, the persecution of Christians around the world, the tragedy of human trafficking, or the sexual sins from adultery to homosexuality,” Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, said in a statement signed by 20 other Southern Baptist pastors from white, black, Asian, Native American and Latino communities. “The time is now for us to rise up together and cry out against the racism that still exists in our nation and our churches, and the subsequent injustices.”
Before writing the article, Floyd held a conference call with four African-American and two Anglo Southern Baptist pastors who encouraged him and offered to enlist others to voice their support.
Floyd called on all Southern Baptists “to repent personally and collectively of all racism and injustice.” While “all ethnicities are capable of committing the sin of racism,” he said, white Christians must “recognize the deep pain and hurt that has come to many of our African-American brothers and sisters.”
“The recent events in America have reawakened many of their greatest fears,” he said. “Their wounds from the past run deep.”
Floyd said the Bible teaches that there is just one race — the human race. “We are not black Christians. We are not white Christians. We are not Latino Christians. We are not Asian Christians. We are not Native American Christians,” Floyd said. “We are Christians! We are followers of Jesus Christ.”
“We need to stop talking about ‘my people’ and start loving all people,” he said. Citing a statement denouncing racism in the convention’s confession of faith, Floyd announced, “Today we restate we oppose all racism and injustice in America and around the world.”
“We replace these evils with the beauty of grace and love as His people and His church,” Floyd said. “Yes, one body of Christ. We are not a black convention. We are not a white convention. We are not a Latino convention. We are not an Asian convention. We are not a Native American convention. We are a Jesus convention.”