The recent RNS article by @JonathanMerritt about Al Mohler raised the SBC racism discussion to light again, and I posted a responsive series of tweets that in turn raised the hackles of a few pastors.

*I am from Birmingham.* Please hear my personal history. >

In my home SBC church, deacons had an plan to stop black people from entering the building. When my pastor left, the associational minister prayed this at a Wed night service: "Lord, thank you that we were born white in a prejudiced world." Does that sound normal? >

The municipal city pool stood 50 feet from my church (First Baptist Graysville, now an independent congregation). I served my turn as a teenage lifeguard & was almost fired for serving a black boy a Coke; he had slipped in unnoticed. He fled when the manager screamed at him. >

Blacks weren't allowed at the city pool either. The police were called regularly to remove black boys from standing at the fence, hands curled around the wire, watching the white folks swimming in the cool water. This was in the mid 1980s. — *the 1980s.* >

A lawsuit was finally brought against the city & pool by a resident who adopted a Korean child; the boy was deemed too dark to be admitted to the pool. My church was leery of him, too. I testified against the pool; I was in my 20s at the time — in the *1990s.* >

The all-white Birmingham jury awarded the resident a pathetic and darkly symbolic $1 in damages. The pool stayed open for about 10 more years and continued to prohibit blacks from entering, into the *2000s.*>

My SBC church did nothing. Their plan to stop blacks from entering stayed in place.

Today, years later in a different town, my university office sits inside a old SBC church that gave up their building and moved across town to avoid letting black students in to worship. >

I keep a pool tile from the Graysville Swim Club in my office — that once was a Sunday School room for an SBC church that picked up & moved rather than let black students worship. I keep it to remind me of the racism I saw. Do you see the pattern? Over 2 states and churches?

So. Racism was part of the SBC's founding, and it has remained in our churches since 1845. Not all of them, but many. I am from Birmingham. Now I'm in Georgia. I have seen SBC racism. This troubles me, but what troubles me more is the pastoral reaction to my comments. >

I shared my thoughts last weekend and readers are free to disagree. But some SBC pastors reacted to my statements with hate, vitriol, and demeaning language. Such men defile their calling and hurt the cause of Christ. Their pastoral hearts reveal hateful, abusive mindsets. >

Yes, my comments painted a broad brush about racism in the SBC. Discriminatory, segregationist behavior has occurred for close to 200 years, which is a broad swath of time and is most closely portrayed with a broad brush of commentary.

These pastors are keyboard warriors, setting aside their calling to wage war over social issues that obviously still exist. You cannot preach on Sunday and fight punitively on social media every day. The 2 behaviors are incompatible with ministry. Demeaning others cancels Christ.

We can all do better. As an average Christian, I can do better. My brothers in the pulpit, you can do better with your language and words. Disagree with me. But at least disagree with love and respect. Your words reveal your heart, motives and spiritual health.

You have a pulpit. Don't make it a bully pulpit. Address racism and the subsequent manifestations of it in society today. Don't be angry with me; be angry with those who killed Ahmad Arbury and so many others. Be angry with deacons who planned to keep blacks out. >

Our job as Baptists is to clear enough common ground so that all people can stand together with Christ publicly, without shame or hesitation. Our job as Christians is to love everyone and make that common ground accessible to all. >

Resolve to make the SBC better for all people. Pastors, be brothers and servants, not keyboard missile launchers. We see your hearts and they are mocking and dark and cruel. Christ alone deserves behavior that honors all, agreement or disagreement aside. >

@JonathanMerritt is right; racism exists in the SBC; in 1845, through the centuries, the recent 80s and 90s and still today. The SBC can be better with our love for all people. Bringing love for Christ to all can be our greatest strength. Hatred & divisiveness must go.

But SBC pastors must lead the way with kindness & gentleness on social media, along with love for all. Sunday morning sermons matter. But vicious social media posts against other Christians reach a far greater audience with a contradictory message. Let's be better. /