No 'Cheap Reconciliation': Southern Baptists Call Out White Evangelicals on Racial Justice

Stirring keynote addresses at the Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission's (ERLC) and The Gospel Coalition's MLK50 conference in Memphis left no doubt that its leaders see the church as a stumbling block on the road to racial reconciliation.

"When we live in a world of racial injustice...the answer is not to re-brand but to repent," said Dr. Russell Moore, ERLC president.

In his keynote address, Moore chastised the evangelical church for perpetuating segregation. "Why is American evangelicalism so white and middle class? Why are we not cultivating the future?" He said, "Why are we not bearing one another's burdens?"

Moore spoke of the last 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and decried "no progress" on issues ranging from black home ownership and employment to incarceration. 

Evangelicals must act on these issues, he said, in order to live out the Gospel.

"Young evangelicals are having a crisis of faith," he observed. "They are wondering if we really believe what we preach and teach and sing all the time."

The answer, said Moore, is not more "manifestos and gatherings." He called on believers to lament the lack of racial equality and reconciliation in both the church and society and noted "God does not need an American evangelical movement. God does not need a Southern Baptist Convention."

Moore pointed to church growth in Africa and Asia that could leave the American church behind. "Aslan is on the move," he said referencing C.S. Lewis literature. "The question is whether we will join what God is doing in the world."

The second keynote speaker, Dr. Charlie Dates, senior pastor at Progressive Church in Chicago, called out white evangelicals for creating a segregated church. 

"The white evangelical church in America has done very little to change de jour segregation and our society has gone in one direction and the church has strangely followed," he said.  

He described "the sting of white evangelical compliance with racial segregation" as found in the curriculum of seminaries, evangelical podcasts and the editorial boards of Christian publishing houses.

"This segregated brand of evangelicalism seems unready to file divorce papers with white privilege," he said.

Dates cautioned the conference to avoid clinging to party politics. "We've seen enough of that," he said. Instead, Dates called for white evangelicals to join black evangelicals in strategizing around issues of racial injustice, including equitable housing and education. "The Christian has an obligation to call out wickedness where it exists," he said, "to love mercy and justice on a corporate, societal level."

Moore warned that those who stand for racial justice will find themselves unpopular but urged conference attendees to take the long view. "Are you able to look beyond your ministry right now and see those that will be asking in the future, 'Did you really believe the word of God that came to you?'" he asked.

The MLK50 Conference continues through Wednesday. Close to 4,000 are attending amid heightened security in Memphis during the 50th anniversary week of Martin Luther King Junior's death. Memphis pastor Jason Cook warned attendees to carry their name tags at all times. "The city of Memphis is locked down," he said, "and the convention center is locked down."