Posted on 04/06/2018 7:58:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Often in history, the "White American Bible Belt" paid homage to racism while calling it "Jesus Christ," according to prominent evangelical Russell Moore.
Delivering a speech at the MLK 50 Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday, Moore drew a parallel between America's struggle for racial equality and the ancient Israelites being told to choose between serving God or serving Baal.
"Time and time again, when told they could not serve both, the people of God tragically often chose to worship Baal but to rename him God," said Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
"And time and time again, in the white American Bible Belt, the people of God had to choose between Jesus Christ and Jim Crow, because you cannot serve both, and tragically, many often chose to serve Jim Crow and to rename him Jesus Christ."
Moore read Matthew 23:29-39 where Jesus denounced the teachers of the law for decorating the tombs of prophets and claiming that they would not have supported murdering the Old Testament prophets if they lived back then.
Moore drew a modern parallel to the wreaths being laid in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., warning against misremembering the slain civil rights leader's struggle for equality and claiming they would support the civil rights leader if they were alive back in the 1960s.
"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a beloved community, but he was not a beloved preacher in an awful lot of communities," Moore explained.
"It's all too easy for us to think right now that the hatred directed toward Dr. King and his message was limited to that bullet that felled him at the Lorraine Motel."
Moore's remarks came as part of the MLK 50 Conference, whose theme is "Gospel Reflections From the Mountaintop." The conference is being held around the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King, Jr. The day before, April 3, 1968, King gave his final public speech, where he famously spoke of having been to the mountaintop.
"I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land," stated King.
"I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."
Phillip Bethancourt, executive vice president of the ERLC and one of the other speakers at the conference, explained in a video just before the event began that the goal of the two-day conference is to strengthen those involved in racial reconciliation efforts.
"What we want to do is inspire and equip people so that wherever they're starting at here, they leave here better than they came," said Bethancourt.
"We want to see relationships form and connections where people look around the room and say 'I'm not alone in this. There are thousands of people just like me who love Jesus and who care about justice and those don't have to be separate from each other.'"
In addition to Moore and Bethancourt, other scheduled conference speakers include NFL player and author Benjamin Watson, DesiringGod.corg founder and pastor John Piper, best-selling author and Bible study leader Beth Moore, Acts 29 President Matt Chandler, and Liberty University English Professor Karen Swallow Prior, among others.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam made a special appearance on the main stage before Moore's speech, stating that government is better at "fixing potholes than fixing hearts."
"We need the Body of Christ to come around us to do those things that we're not so good at," said Gov. Haslam, noting that the church was well equipped for racial reconciliation because Christians "understand grace" and "understand what it means to have all of us created in God's image."
One other thing: he considered rural conservative Christian Southerners admirable, and often pointed out that, white or black, they had the same cultural and spiritual roots. And he opposed abortion, which he saw as an attack on the Image and Likeness of God.
A thoroughly New Testament kind of a guy.
Moore is a Calvinist. Was it pre-destined, Moore?
He also fails to realize that the Klan was very active in the North prior to WWII.
I grew up in the 50, but saw very little of the type of preaching that he references. If seen it was avoided. Simply because the Southern Baptist Convention was very much involved in mission throughout the world, and unbelievably in Africa.
I do remember one sermon that made it very clear that we were to have no part in discrimination. There are no walls in heaven. No matter what the skin color we would all be there. If not, why were we evangelizing around the world.
Yes I ran into some racist in my life, felt it strange that there were two water fountains.
I’m not obsessed over race unless my life or my family’s is in danger from being white
No offense but we’re way past white guilt
Campbell was complex I’ll give you that and he was somewhat fair but in the end a pro life anti Vietnam war leftist
Not my favorite and guess what
I knew him in passing through Waylon
He was quite a raconteur
Jessi adored Will
I am not a supporter of King either
Mr Moore can say whatever he chooses about the baptists he represents. That ain’t the only church in the Bible Belt. The Methodist church the episcopal church the Lutheran church and other Protestant churches were integrated in those days and still are
Matt Chandler’s keynote earlier this week was masterful and glorious and deeply convicting.
All 13 original colonies had slaves for a couple hundred years. In other words the entire country. That was the times they lived in.. Want to see more slavery read your Bible. And guess what, Jesus never condemned it. As a matter of fact he never spoke of it.
Good call wardaddy!
He stressed that we're all sinners in of need for grace. He defended the term "redneck," because it refers to the poor, white, working people of the rural South, outdoor people in John Deere caps, totally sun and wind exposed, who should be treated with the same dignity all people deserve. I liked that.
He said the white rural Southerner was the last "minority," the last people it's OK to mock with cruel stereotypes, to make fun of. My people, he said for emphasis.
He could translate the NT from Greek to Nashvillean at the drop of a chord.
On Judgment Day, I'd consider it a plus if he'd come over and stand by my side.
. . . and the Democrat Party which stood for racism.The Republican Party never became racist, but the white southerner has become Republican.
Out of all the thousands of Democrat southern office holders only a dozen became Republicans.
+1
It was just a photo I found on an images search for his name. I had no idea who he was but thought it ironic him posing with a nun considering the things he said about the bible belt.
I will graciously defer
Your ground time in defeating baby killing is far more than mine
But it's like this: I didn't want to butt into a Baptist intramural argument about Russell Moore, beinst it's not my church, but when Will Campbell's name was brought into it, I felt loyalty-bound to defend this good man.
Enjoying eternity now with Jesus, if I'm not missing my bet!
Have a good weekend, FRiend.
OK.
Speak for yourself...
Even though I lived a large part of my life in the South - Selma, Alabama for ten of them - I was not brought up to be racist. Sure, I saw the signs, segregation, the “Colored” people sitting in the back of the bus, and so on, but it never made sense that as a white person I had any rights over anyone else. As a Christian, I know that we are all one in Christ Jesus and anyone who would use His name to justify or rationalize discrimination against someone else was wrong and sinful.
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