Southern Baptist Convention's flagship seminary details its racist, slave-owning past in stark repor

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Washington Post

More than two decades after the Southern Baptist Convention — the country’s second-largest faith group — apologized to African Americans for its active defense of slavery in the 1800s, its flagship seminary on Wednesday released a stark report further delineating its ties to institutionalized racism.

The year-long study by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary found that all four founding faculty members owned slaves and “were deeply complicit in the defense of slavery,” R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the seminary, wrote in his introduction to the 72-page report he commissioned.

The report also noted that the seminary’s most important donor and chairman of its Board of Trustees in the late 1800s, Joseph E. Brown, “earned much of his fortune by the exploitation of mostly black convict lease laborers,” employing in his coal mines and iron furnaces "the same brutal punishments and tortures formerly employed by slave drivers.”

The report provided largely harsh assessments of the seminary’s past actions, even as it at times lauded the institution for racial strides.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/12/12/southern-baptist-conventions-flagship-seminary-admits-all-four-its-founders-owned-slaves/?utm_term=.30b0bea03f84

[GulfCoast66]

1. I grew up Southern Baptist in the 70s.

They were apolitical then. But in the late 70s were taken over by hard core fundies and became more and more political. Seminaries and baptist universities either became doctrinally pure or ended their association with the convention. Like Wake Forest and Stetson.

There were many Southern Baptist who listened to the doctrine with a wink and grin. Sadly they are all now gone. Either decided religion was a farce like me, or joined a mainline Protestant demonation that was, well, not hateful. Most of which now have open LGBT policies and welcome all married people in their church and as ministers.

Almost 20 years ago I returned to the southern capitol city I graduated high school in. Met up with old high school and church friend. Was expecting a dull night of clandestine beer drinking. Imagine my surprise when we piled in to their cars and went to a drag show at a bar that would have been raided 20 years previously!! None of them were baptist anymore!

[Major Nikon]

5. They weren't apolitical back then

Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were both quite political. If anything the GOP became more like the SBC than the other way around. Meanwhile the whole time they never strayed far from their white nationalist roots.

[GulfCoast66]

6. Those guys were unheard of in the early 70s.

They came into their own in the 80s.

I would guess over half that Church I grew up in voted for Carter in 76. By 84 the politicalization was well under way and I would not be surprised if 80% of that church went for him. Of course, my example is the change in one church.

And in the 70s both Carter and Clinton were comfortable and welcome to attending SBC churches.

[summer_in_TX]

2. Now that they are bringing buried history into the light...

one positive outcome I would like to see is them actively countering the false theology of the white Christian evangelicals. If they truly take this repentance and soul-searching to heart, and recommit to following Jesus' teachings, then they might be good ones to speak to the evangelical movement that sprung up in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement to keep attempting to provide a theological justification of attitudes of white supremacy.

Repentance and reparations are other outcomes I'd like to see.

Who knows if they'll have the courage to really tackle any of those though.

[pecosbob]

3. Some evangelicals believe God sent Putin to save them from the godless liberals

and the're perfectly happy to relinquish all their civil rights to fight the gay.

From the Video and Multimedia section...https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017524015 Thanks to fellow DUer LongTomH for this post.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. I live in the state with a huge SBC population. Mike Huckabee, a

Southern Baptist ordained minister, was governor here and the current state government is probably close to 80% SBC. I have seen the hate of their congregations in fighting against gay rights, banning cities from passing equal rights ordinances, and barring same sex couples foster care and adoption rights.
All they have done over the last 50 years is shift from targeting African Americans to targeting LGBT people.