NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Southern Baptist Convention is taking its biggest step to date to confront the legacy of support for slavery and segregation that still looms over the denomination.
The two-day “Gospel and Racial Reconciliation” summit in Nashville wasn’t a how-to seminar on making churches more diverse; it wasn’t long on solutions. It was more of a call to arms, with speaker after speaker proclaiming the evil of racial divisions.
Russell Moore, who helped bring the event together, was blunt about why he believes racism is an urgent spiritual matter. Racial divisions and hatreds don’t just hurt people in this world, he said in the opening presentation on Thursday. “Hatred of others sends people (who hold those views) to hell.”
Moore, who is white, is the president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which organized the event. He said he often hears complaints from pastors that people won’t attend a diverse church because they want to worship with others who are like them.
“Sure they do. And I’d like to fight and fornicate and smoke weed….” Moore said to applause and laughter and shouts of appreciation that drowned out the end of his sentence.