This week in Christian history: SBC apologizes for slavery, Matthew Henry dies, Exodus International closes

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, June 18, 2023

SBC apologizes for slavery – June 21, 1995

Messengers gathered for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, held June 20-22, 1995. | Screengrab: YouTube/Steve Smith

This week marks the anniversary of when the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly passed a resolution apologizing for the denomination’s historic support for slavery and racism.

The SBC was originally established in 1845, the result of a split within the American Baptist Convention over the issue of slavery, with the Southern wing being pro-slavery.

At the SBC Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, messengers approved a resolution that lamented and denounced “historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest” and apologized “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 (Psalm 19:13) or unconsciously (Leviticus 4:27).”

“Be it further RESOLVED, That we ask forgiveness from our African-American brothers and sisters, acknowledging that our own healing is at stake,” added the resolution. “That we hereby commit ourselves to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry.”