Southern Seminary reparations

Southern Seminary leadership nixes idea of reparations for historically black college

Southern Baptist seminary denies request for reparations

 

The statement from Empower West:
A Call For Repentance and Repair to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
We, the undersigned, call for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to make an act of repentance and repair to descendants of American slavery for its leading role in crafting a moral and biblical defense of slavery; for its support of the Confederacy; for perpetuating the Lost Cause mentality; and for defending Jim Crow policies.

We call the Seminary to transfer a meaningful portion of its financial wealth to a black-led educational institution which is outside the Seminary’s sphere of influence.

While the weight of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s history is shared by its alumni and all Southern Baptists, we call specifically on Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to make a global moral witness by publicly bearing fruits of repentance as the natural and right response to its historic and undisputed role as chief apologists in defense of slavery.

Today Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has enormous potential for good. Just as Southern Baptist Theological Seminary led in dividing our nation before the Civil War, today Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has the opportunity to lead in reuniting our nation around the sacred vision of a people restored and whole.

Across our country higher education institutions such as Georgetown, Princeton, Furman, Wake Forest, and University of Virginia are considering an act of repentance and repair for their roles in slavery. We call on Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to be the first to take the transforming initiative to transfer a portion of its wealth from a historically white institution to a historically black institution, specifically, Simmons College of Kentucky.

We issue this call in the spirit of peace and in confidence that new life await us all when we follow the sacred way.

Signed by the members of EmpowerWest
(The first signature is Kevin W. Cosby, pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church, Co-chair of EmpowerWest, and President of Simmons College. He has a Master of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.)

 

From the Baptist Standard link:
“We’re not going to respond to public demands for reparations made, quite interestingly, by the people who demand that the reparations be paid to them,” Mohler told Religion News Service.

Simmons College has partnered with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group that split from the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1990s over differences about biblical interpretation and women’s ordination, which the SBC does not support.