NASHVILLE. Tenn., November 24, 2014Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, responds to the decision by the grand jury in Ferguson, Mo. to not indict officer Darren Wilson:
“We haven’t as of yet sorted through all the evidence the grand jury saw and we dont know precisely what happened in this nightmarish incident. What we do know is that the Ferguson situation is one of several in just the past couple of years where white and black Americans have viewed a situation in starkly different terms… . In the public arena, we ought to recognize that it is empirically true that African-American men are more likely, by virtually every measure, to be arrested, sentenced, executed, or murdered than their white peers. We cannot shrug that off with apathy. Working toward justice in this arena will mean consciences that are sensitive to the problem. But how can we get there when white people do not face the same experiences as do black people?
In order to get there, we will need churches that are not divided up along carnal patterns of divisionby skin color or ethnicity or economic status. We will need churches that reflect the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10) in the joining together of those who may have nothing else in common but the image of God, the blood of Christ, and the unity of the Spirit. When we know one another as brothers and sisters, we will start to stand up and speak up for one another.
To read Russell Moores entire comments on the grand jury decision, click here.
The Southern Baptist Convention is Americas largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.8 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBCs ethics, religious liberty and public policy entity with offices in Nashville, Tenn. and Washington, D.C.
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