Southern Baptists Say 'No' to the Confederate Flag
Over 90 percent of messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention repudiated the Confederate flag in a vote Tuesday that calls on all Christians and member churches to remove the divisive symbol from public display.
Stephen Rummage, senior pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida, and chairman of the SBC Committee on Resolutions, spoke in favor of the resolution, saying, "We ask you to join us in calling Southern Baptists to take a further step in the right direction concerning racial unity for the sake of our witness to Jesus Christ."
Resolution 7 states: "With full respect of the autonomy of the local church, we call brothers and sisters in Christ who display the Confederate battle flag as a memorial … to consider prayerfully whether to limit, or even more so, discontinue its display. We urge fellow Christians to exercise sensitivity so that nothing brings division or hinders the unity of the Body of Christ to be a bold witness to the transforming power of Jesus."
