Alt-Right Movement Condemned by Southern Baptists

Alt-Right (from Urban Dictionary): Alt-Right, short for Alternative Right, is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness” and “social justice” to undermine white people. Characterized by heavy use of social media and online memes, Alt-Righters eschew “establishment” conservatism, skew young, and embrace white ethno-nationalism as a fundamental value. The Alternative Right is a term coined in 2008 by Richard Bertrand Spencer, who heads the white nationalist think tank known as the National Policy Institute, to describe a loose set of far-right ideals centered on “white identity” and the preservation of “Western civilization.”

“The alt-right is old racism for the tech-savvy generation.” -Giles Fraser

Led by an African American pastor from Texas, younger members of the denomination, and Dr. Russell Moore who was under fire after refusing to support Donald Trump for president, the Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly to condemn the alt-right white supremacy movement.

During their convention that took place in Phoenix earlier this month, the nation’s largest protestant organization squashed the hate group, a move that was hailed by the SBC’s fellowship of African American pastors as a welcomed statement strongly condemning racism.

It’s a good step for the old time religion.

The vote for approval was followed by a standing ovation from more than 5,000 convention attendees, but the Washington Post reported that it had been a drawn-out process:

Dwight McKissic, a black pastor from Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Tex., had introduced the resolution calling on the denomination to make it clear it had no sympathy for the alt-right.

“I saw people identifying themselves as Southern Baptist and members of the alt-right, so this is horrifying to me,” McKissic said. “I wanted the Southern Baptist Convention to make it very clear we have no relationship to them.”

… when the resolution on the alt-right failed to move forward [on Tuesday] because of objections to some of the wording, many younger members and evangelicals of color became upset. “I thought it would be a slam dunk, but I misread Southern Baptists apparently,” McKissic said.

The Post continued:

Battling for the Heart and Soul of the Southern Baptist Convention

For those who have not been paying attention, there has been religious fallout following Donald Trump’s election as U.S. President.

Many have been following the saga of Dr. Russell Moore who is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention who stood up against supporting Trump for president, but he is by no means the only person of faith who resisted Trump. Among them are pastor and author Max Lucado, Dr. Michael Brown, and NC pastor and blogger John Pavlovitz.

Moore’s resistance to Trump made him the subject of a Trump tweet during the campaign: “Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart!”

I dare say Donald Trump never took the time to read the doctrine of the Baptist denomination but he cavalierly deemed Moore a nasty guy with no heart.

Dr. Russell Moore, 45, is a man of courage. It is difficult to stand up to the overwhelming majority, a head wind he has faced since splitting from the (as it turned out) overwhelming decision within the evangelical community to vote for Donald Trump (an estimated 81 percent of evangelicals backed Trump).