Southern Baptist Land Mines

Richard Land is head of "ethics and public policy" for the Southern Baptist Convention. I think that means he speaks for what public policies should be supported (aka what is viewed as politically correct) by Southern Baptists. That is a big responsibility. Since Land is the person at the top of the denomination's public morality food chain, the buck stops with him. 

While SBC presidents are elected for one-year terms, as the head of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for 23 years, the outspoken Land is arguably the most powerful person in the denomination and certainly its most visible spokesman.

Here are the some of the mines Richard Land put out in remarks about the Trayvon Martin killing. 


1. He criticized Barack Obama for expressing empathy to the Martin family by saying that "if I had a boy, he would look like Travyon." Land takes that one statement of empathy and calls it a political ploy to win votes in the African American community and abject racism. From the AP report:

Land says he stands by his assertion that President Barack Obama "poured gasoline on the racialist fires" when he addressed Martin's slaying and that Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have used the case "to try to gin up the black vote for an African American president who is in deep, deep, deep trouble for re-election." 

I wonder if Land would say the same thing about a white Republican president if the situation were reversed. Say if an unarmed white teenager was killed by an armed African American claiming to be part of a community policing program and the white Republican president said it could have been his son. According to Land, any criticism of an unarmed black teenager being killed by a white man is stirring "racialist fires." Even if he thinks it was an accident for a big armed white guy to kill a small unarmed black kid, I assume that he would still think the grief of that black kid's family should be acknowledged and sympathy extended to them. No such expressions of empathy, sympathy, and compassion can be found in the words of Richard Land. Sure seems like Land is worshiping the Mammon of politics rather than serving Jesus by emulating His teachings and examples. 


2. You cannot argue that Land is not capable of empathy. He just chooses to limit that empathy to the gunman and his family. Then he stoops lower to claim that he understands why white people feel threatened by black people. Also from the AP report.

Land, who is white, said in an interview he has no regrets about his remarks. He said he understands why the case has touched a nerve among black leaders, but he also defended the idea that people are justified in seeing young black men as threatening: A black man is "statistically more likely to do you harm than a white man."

"Is it tragic that people react that way? Yes. Is it unfair? Yes? But it is understandable," he said.

3. The Southern Baptist Convention has had a long history of supporting slavery, discrimination, and racism against African Americans and has been working hard to ask forgiveness for those wrongs and welcome African Americans to worship as part of the Southern Baptist family. Land's comments offended African American members of the Southern Baptist Convention, but instead of apologizing for his poor choice of words Land doubled down.

Land stood by his comments on Wednesday, saying the media and some political leaders have been unfair in their portrayal of George Zimmerman.

4. The words Land used to criticize Barack Obama, African American religious leaders, and the entire discussion of the Trayvon Martin case were taken directly from a conservative political columnist. Whether you call Land a plagiarist for not crediting his original source or simply a political tool in repeating talking points is up to you. The bottom line is that the head of "ethics and public policy" at the Southern Baptist convention failed to mention that his criticisms were taken nearly verbatim from another source and a secular political one at that. 


5. Land's arrogance in refusing to apologize is hurtful to the body of Christ. One clear sign of the divisiveness is the resolution for the Southern Baptist Convention to disavow the statements by Land. The fact that the resolution is not likely to pass with add further fuel to racial divisions.


What did Jesus say about false prophets (Matthew 7:15-20)?

  15“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.

If Richard Land claimed to be speaking as an individual rather than as a high ranking official of the Southern Baptist Convention, any rotten fruit would only reflect on his little tree. Unfortunately, Land is out peddling his fetid fruit as representative of the Southern Baptist orchard, no matter how badly it tastes.