Mike Stone introduces resolution against SBC’s promotion of Critical Race Theory & Intersectionality.
Resolution repudiates infamous Resolution 9. This resolution declares promotion of CRT ‘has brought confusion and division’ among SBC churches.
Mike Stone led effort to hold Russell Moore & ERLC accountable for divisive racial identity politics
Southern Baptist Presidential candidate Mike Stone just announced a resolution repudiating Critical Race Theory (CRT) as an Analytical Tool useful for Southern Baptists. The Resolution declares “the Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with The Baptist Faith and Message.”
Stone announced the resolution on Twitter this morning, May 19, 2021. Stone tweeted,
“In an effort to provide leadership with clarity, compassion, and conviction, I will submit this resolution to the 2021 Resolutions Committee. Over 50 others have already agreed to jointly submit this resolution. If you are SBC, you can join us.”
Among announced co-sponsors are leading conservative Southern Baptists like Brad Jurkovich, Lewis Richerson, Tom Ascol, Z. Scott Colter, Tom Buck, Larry Taunton, Rod Martin, Kelvin J. Cochran, Carol M. Swain and many more. Too many to list, but you can read the co-sponsors here.
Dr. Tom Ascol encouraged Southern Baptists to join in support of the resolution. Ascol lead the opposition to Resolution 9 on the floor of the SBC’s Annual Meeting in Birmingham.
He said, “To Southern Baptist church members: read this resolution on CRT/I & if you agree, become a joint submitter by following the steps outlined. See you in Nashville!”
Scroll down to read the entire text of the important resolution that will be considered at the SBC’s Annual Meeting in Nashville. You can go to the website southernbaptistsagainstracism.org to become a co-sponsor and make clear standing against CRT is standing against racism.
The Nashville meeting is sure to be filled with drama now that this resolution directly repudiating Resolution 9 has been submitted. Resolution 9 was the resolution approved by the SBC in Birmingham that approved the use of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality as “Analytical Tools.”
One key point made by Stone in the text of this resolution is that Resolution 9 caused needless division among the Southern Baptist Convention. Stone’s resolution explains Resolution 9 “has brought confusion and division among its churches.”
Such division ultimately distracts the SBC from its core evangelistic mission. And Resolution 9 was only thing causing division among Southern Baptists. The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and its chief Russell Moore were spreading division and distraction.
This was one of the key criticisms the ERLC Study Committee pointed out. The ERLC’s promotion of Leftist politics was harming the Great Commission work of Southern Baptists. The ERLC Study Committee was led by Mike Stone. He deserves credit for highlighting the divisions caused by Leftists like Russell Moore.
Now that Russell Moore is gone, conservatives should celebrate; however, the work is not done. It requires more work to save the SBC from its Leftward Drift.
A good start will be the adoption of this resolution in Nashville.
The Resolution on the Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with The Baptist Faith and Message
Here is the text of the Resolution on the Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with The Baptist Faith and Message
WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith and Message states, “Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality…” (Article XV); and
WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith and Message states that Scripture “will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried” (Article I); and
WHEREAS, the inclusion of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, since the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Birmingham, Ala., has brought confusion and division among its churches by describing Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality as analytical tools that are helpful to explain how racism functions in society and how to evaluate human experiences; and
WHEREAS, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality are ideologies rooted in Neo-Marxist and postmodern worldviews, by which our civilization is being deconstructed around our families, communities, and nations, which make them incompatible with Scripture as they are characterized by worldly “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col 2:8); and
WHEREAS, Critical Race Theory collectively designates people by their social identity groups (e.g., people of color, women, homosexuals, and transgenders) which views people “according to the flesh” (2 Cor 5:16); and
WHEREAS, Intersectionality combines gender, sex, sexuality, and a myriad of other identity-related concepts in order to allocate power, positions, revenue, and opportunities in such ways that are contrary to objective biblical standards of justice (Lev 19:15; Deut 16:19-20); and
WHEREAS, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality contradict The Baptist Faith and Message which states, “The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love” (Article III); and
WHEREAS, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality emphasize a view of humanity that fails to properly recognize the sinful nature of man, focusing upon collective guilt as opposed to the emphasis on individual responsibility in The Baptist Faith and Message, which states that all who “are capable of moral action” have “become transgressors and are under condemnation” (Article III); and
WHEREAS, the Bible instructs Christians not to separate ourselves into groups based upon ethnicity, socio-economic status, or gender (Gal 3:28 and James 2:1, 9), teaching instead that all men and women are created equal in the image of God (Gen 1:25-27) and have descended from Adam and Eve, the biological progenitors of the whole human race (Acts 17:26), and are all sinners (Rom 3:23), and The Baptist Faith and Message declares that “only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God” (Article III); now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Nashville, Tenn., June 15-16, 2021, affirm the portion of the Nov. 20, 2020, statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents that states “affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message;” and be it further
RESOLVED, that we deny that any analytical tools can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences if those analytical tools are themselves rooted in worldviews incompatible with the Word of God; and be it further
RESOLVED that we reaffirm our agreement with historic, biblically-faithful Southern Baptist condemnations of racism in any and all forms and our agreement with The Baptist Faith and Message which states “that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love” (Article III); and be it finally
RESOLVED that we reaffirm our absolute conviction that a proper interpretation of the Holy Scriptures — apart from any worldly ideology, any personal identity trait, or any lived experience — is sufficient to serve as the sole standard by which our faith and practice are to be measured.