If you’ve been following the Southern Baptist happenings on social media today, you’re probably aware that Dwight McKissic, a Southern Baptist pastor who says he’s “getting off the bus” of the Southern Baptist Convention because it is too racist, purportedly received a letter from another former Southern Baptist that was not only personally denigrating toward McKissic, but to blacks as a whole.
If you haven’t seen the letter, you can view it below, but be warned, it’s offensive.
Disclaimer, this author has repeatedly and publicly disagreed with Dwight McKissic on many occasions and has written extensively on these disagreements. However — and though I shouldn’t have to, but because of the abject misrepresentation of conservative Christians by leftists, I feel the need to clarify — from a human perspective, and more importantly, as a matter of my own Christian faith, I find this letter reprehensible.
In this letter, the author, purported to be John V. Rutledge, who is also the author of an anti-Southern Baptist book titled A Church Gone to Hell, copied Mr. Ken Camp. Camp is the managing edtor of the Texas Southern Baptist publication, The Baptist Standard. Reformation Charlotte reached out to Camp this morning, along with the publication’s executive director, Mr. Eric Black, who verified the authenticity of this letter stating that it “has all the hallmarks of an authentic letter from Rutledge,” and that he sees “no reason to doubt its authenticity.” He also confirmed that Rutledge had submitted several Letters to the Editor to the publication in the past but noted that “his letters quickly became unpublishable.”
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Rutledge, however, appears to have apostatized from the Christian faith altogether to embrace some form of humanistic, Darwinian version of Christianity that rejects literal biblical interpretation and elevates human reasoning above God’s revelation. In his book, he writes,
The belief in Creation, the insistence that the rest of the Bible be taken literally, the proscription of the innocuous, and the prescription of the pointless have eliminated Southern Baptists as practical, desirable-to-beassociated-with responders to Christ’s command, “Follow me.”
And in his author biography, it states,
The first thing that stands out is that Rutlege appears to have much more in common with the political and theological left — the exact opposite of the so-called conservative “racists” being condemned on count of him — than he does with conservatives. His view on Scripture and Christianity contradict anything that the anti-social justice camp in the Southern Baptist Convention would stand for. He is, in fact, a progressive.
Rutledge is no longer a Southern Baptist, yet, the usual leftists are using Rutledge — an avowed racist and anti-Southern Baptist — as proof that Southern Baptists are racist.
McKissic’s cousin tweets,
Yet, without any investigation, he holds all Southern Baptists accountable for this. Other usual suspects including self-avowed anti-racists, David Bumgardner — who sponsored a Baptists for the Sodomy and Abortion President movement — along with Bradly Mason, do the same.
And James Riley indicts Southern Baptist leaders for failing to hold apostates, non-Christians, and non-Southern Baptists accountable for their racist actions.
And, following Al Mohler’s — arguably the most notable leader in the denomination — condemnation of this letter, Riley attempts to still pin this letter to Southern Baptists who he says are “still aligned” with this thought.
And Dwight McKissic himself asserts that “there are those yet within the SBC who share his views, but not his transparency.”
Here’s a thought — show me these Southern Baptists who share his views, who would affirm this letter. Show me one Southern Baptist who thinks this way about black people. Show me one Southern Baptist who, simply because they reject the influx of Marxism and social justice in the church, would actually align themselves with this. I will stand with you against them.
To compare conservatives to anyone who would think this way is not only insulting, it’s ignorant. Any Southern Baptist who does think this way should be immediately denounced — but they don’t. But to leftists, anything short of white SBC leaders standing outside of Rutledge’s house with Black Lives Matter signs and screaming sweet condemnations at him is going to be presumed to be “racist” — and even then, you better check your privilege.
And as much as the anti-social justice camp hates Critical Race Theory and identity politics, all of them that I know, personally, would, like myself, repudiate this letter. But this letter does not represent us, so stop using it to make a false point. Our opposition has nothing to do with skin color, it’s heresy that we hate.
