Editors at the Associated Press were on to something big with that recent story that ran with this headline: “Baptists and Walmart criticize rebel-themed Mississippi flag.”
That’s a story. If you were listing major forces in Sunbelt life, you’d have to include the Southern Baptist Convention and Walmart.
But the AP team did downplay a key angle to that Mississippi flag fight, one that many locals would — with a chuckle — say was a “religion thing.” I’m talking about this recent story, seen here in a New York Times headline: “SEC Warns Mississippi Over Confederate Emblem on State Flag.”
Religion? You bet.
If SEC football isn’t functionally a “religion” down here then I don’t know what is. Some kind of ban on SEC events taking place in Mississippi? That would be like the end of the world. The AP folks put a passing reference to the SEC action way down in the story.
Think about the clout of this trinity of social forces in a Bible Belt state — SEC sports, Walmart and the Southern Baptist Convention. Add Chick-fil-A and NASCAR (speaking of racial tensions) and life would come to s stop.
All of those topics were in the mix as host Todd Wilken and I recorded this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in). We decided that it was pretty clear that folks behind the AP story really didn’t understand some of the forces affecting the battles over the Mississippi flag.
But let’s start with a chunk of the AP story that was spot-on accurate:
Mississippi has the last state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem: a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. …
The conservative-leaning and majority-white Mississippi Baptist Convention has more than 500,000 members at more than 2,100 churches. Mississippi’s population is about 3 million, and 38% of residents are African American.
“While some may see the current flag as a celebration of heritage, a significant portion of our state sees it as a relic of racism and a symbol of hatred,” the Baptist group said in a statement. “The racial overtones of this flag’s appearance make this discussion a moral issue.”
Here’s a question: How many of the state’s African-American citizens attend Southern Baptist churches? That number may be small, but it is probably rising — since black and multiracial churches are a rising factor in SBC life. That subject came up in this GetReligion post the other day: “Just a church-business story? Black pastor is new chairman of top Southern Baptist board.”
Here’s another question: Was there room in this new Associated Press story for a sentence noting the following 2016 action by the national Southern Baptist Convention? The key headline: “SBC repudiates display of Confederate flag.”
All of this is linked to several decades of Southern Baptist leaders trying to deal with their very mixed record on matters of race — even as the number of black Southern Baptists has continued to rise.
On one level, this is all about a doctrinal question: Is racism a sin? As a matter of biblical authority, the answer has to be a firm “yes.” Any kind of weak or negative answer undercuts the crucial doctrinal statement that all human life is sacred, from conception to natural death.
Listen carefully to the language in the 2016 speech by the Rev. James Merritt (a former SBC president) at the top of this post. Here’s the key Merritt quote:
“This flag is a stumbling block to many African-American souls to our witness, and I say that all the Confederate flags in the world are not worth one soul of any race.”
Worth a sentence of two in a report about the Mississippi flag debates? I would think so.
With that religion angle in mind, check out this piece of a new Baptist Press report on this topic. The key voice here is the Rev. Shawn Parker, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention board..
“Our position on this is motivated by our understanding of the teaching of Jesus Christ,” Parker said, referencing the golden rule found in Matthew 7:12 to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself, found in Matthew 22:39.
“We take these teachings quite seriously and believe that this is indeed a moral issue and a Gospel issue for our state, and therefore we want to be not a political player in the process,” Parker said. “We want to be a prophetic voice, and our hope is that our stand and our conviction will bring healing to the racial tensions that are felt in Mississippi.”
The Mississippi Baptist statement said, in part:
“We encourage our governor and state legislature to take the necessary steps to adopt a new flag for the state of Mississippi that represents the dignity of every Mississippian and promotes unity rather than division. … We further encourage all Mississippi Baptists to make this a matter of prayer and to seek the Lord’s guidance in standing for love instead of oppression, unity instead of division, and the Gospel of Christ instead of the power of this world.”
Relevant information, when covering this story? Yes, it matters with Southern believers use that kind of logic in debates in the Bible Belt.
As the old saying goes, “That’ll preach.” Then again, there are still people in pews (and football stadiums) down here who will say, “Them’s fightin’ words.” That’s a story.
Enjoy the podcast and, please, pass it on.
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