SBC Leaders Address Racism, Riots and George Floyd Death in Live Video Event

ABOVE: Dr. Ronnie Floyd, CEO, and president of the SBC Executive Committee appeared on the Wednesday afternoon edition of CBN's Newswatch to talk about how the church needs to respond at this moment in American culture. Newswatch is seen weekdays on the CBN News Channel. For a programming guide, click here. 

The leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) addressed the death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed in a Live two-hour video event called SBC Advance on Tuesday afternoon.

Dr. Ronnie Floyd, CEO, and president of the SBC Executive Committee told church leaders the SBC cannot stay silent on racism.

"We must stand in solidarity with one another," Floyd said. "We must continue to work with compassion until justice is served. And we must commit to eradicate racism in all of its forms."

Dr. Floyd recalled the cell phone video showing "a black man being murdered slowly and cruelly."

"The end result? George Floyd died in a cruel, demeaning, and needless way. This poured fuel upon a nation that is already angry about many things," the SBC CEO said. "On top of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which has claimed more than 106,000-plus American lives since January, we have now witnessed another horrendous act of racial injustice."

"The racism that plays in our culture today is inextricably tied to the past, and continues to disproportionately impact the African American community," he said. "In many of our cities this past weekend, there were peaceful protests of citizens expressing their freedom of speech. Unfortunately, those peaceful protests have been drowned out by the actions of the few wanting to incite destruction. Consequently, violence has erupted, resulting primarily in the loss of more human lives, but also secondarily damage to properties at an already very (tough) economic moment in America." 

Dr. Floyd called on all Southern Baptists to join him in praying for an end to the violence. 

"We are extremely grateful for our law enforcement officers that risk their lives daily to protect us in every way," he said. "But we are also saddened when any misuse of authority causes harm to the very people they are to protect."

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