The recent report by the seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a welcome ray of sunshine on a dark and sordid American past. It admits the seminary’s role in slavery and the 100 years of American apartheid between 1865 and 1965.
While I commend the ‘fessing up, I still must characterize their action as another attempt in the American body politic to produce “truth and reconciliation” on the cheap—a little bit, but not all the way.
In 1995, the SBC acknowledged the role that slavery played in the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention. Many Southern Baptist founders and leaders owned slaves, and in later years Southern Baptists failed to support, and in many cases opposed, legitimate initiatives to secure the civil rights of African-Americans.
The SBC also declared,
“We apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously or unconsciously and we ask forgiveness from our African-American brothers and sisters, acknowledging that our own healing is at stake.”
Last week the SBC acknowledged the legacy of their seminary in “the horrifying realities of American slavery, Jim Crow segregation, racism, and even the avowal of white racial supremacy.”
While I do not doubt the sincerity of the SBC leaders, I see at least two problems with these confessions. First, these statements of obvious facts should not be news. The Southern Baptist Convention originated when the southern Baptists split from the northern Baptists over slavery.
Every year or two some old organization confesses to having played a role in the enslavement of black people and the subsequent American racial apartheid between 1865 and 1965 when it should not be news. It may be more useful to point out major institutions that were not touched by slavery and racial apartheid. There were few if any.
Few institutions north or south were not involved in one way or the other. I refer the doubting reader to Anne Farrow’s book, “Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery.” And there are many others telling parts of this story.
The second problem I see with the SBC confessions is its failure to address its very active role in current American racism. Reverend Lawrence Ware, an African American SBC minister, resigned from the SBC in 2017 and expressed his reasons:
“As a black scholar of race and a minister who is committed to social justice, I can no longer be part of an organization that is complicit in the disturbing rise of the so-called alt-right, whose members support the abhorrent policies of Donald Trump and whose troubling racial history and current actions reveal a deep commitment to white supremacy. . .For all of its talk about the love of Jesus Christ, the Southern Baptist Convention’s inaction on the issues of racism and homophobia has drowned out its words.”
I would add that asking for forgiveness for past sins (of racism) is hollow when it is not accompanied by actions against current racism.