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<\/source><\/picture>A commemorative plaque placed in the lobby of the Broadus Chapel at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary<\/a> that President Al Mohler says is meant to serve as a \u201cprominent\u201d acknowledgment of the contributions enslaved people made in building the Louisville, Kentucky, institution is being challenged as a disappointing celebration by two outspoken black Southern Baptist ministers.<\/p>\n The controversy over the memorial erupted after Pastor Dwight McKissic, who founded and leads\u00a0Cornerstone Baptist Church<\/a> in Arlington, Texas, visited the seminary in June and noted that he did not \u201csee a memorial erected to the slaves who built SBTS\u201d that Mohler promised in 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cI did see buildings & memorabilia honoring the four racist\/sexist founders. However, I didn\u2019t see any memorial erected honoring the slaves who funded & physically constructed the original campus,\u201d McKissic remarked in a post on X<\/a>, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after his visit.<\/p>\n \u201cAs [I] walked on old cobblestone bricks at one point, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder had slaves actually handled those bricks. President Mohler promised to build a memorial honoring the slaves, and I trust he\u2019ll keep his word before he retires,\u201d McKissic continued. \u201cI promised to give toward helping toward that end, within my very limited financial capacity. I will keep my end of my commitment, by contributing a modest gift towards that project if he keeps his.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2020, McKissic called for the renaming of Boyce College<\/a>, the private college located at SBTS, amid a general outcry from racial justice activists across the country for the removal of statues of slaveholders from public spaces as well as their names from buildings in the wake of the killing of George Floyd<\/a>, which rocked the nation that year.<\/p>\n Prior to that call, Mohler had urged the SBTS community in 2018 to repent of the sin of racism in a 71-page document called, \u201cReport on Slavery and Racism in the History of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe must repent of our own sins; we cannot repent for the dead. We must, however, offer full lament for a legacy we inherit, and a story that is now ours,\u201d Mohler\u00a0wrote\u00a0to the school founded in 1859 as part of the pro-slavery SBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was noted in the report that James P. Boyce, the founder, and first president of the SBTS and other founding faculty \u2014 John A. Broadus, Basil Manly Jr. and William Williams \u2014 all owned slaves. Together, they owned more than 50 persons and invested capital in slaves who could earn for their owners an annual cash return. The seminary\u2019s early faculty and trustees also defended the righteousness of slaveholding.<\/p>\n Despite calling for repentance for \u201ca legacy [of slavery] we inherit, and a story that is now ours], Mohler, who previously noted in June 2015<\/a>\u00a0that he had no intention to remove the names of any of the founders from the school\u2019s buildings, reiterated that commitment in 2020 in response to McKissic\u2019s call. He offered, however, to erect a memorial to the enslaved people who were held by the seminary\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n On seeing McKissic\u2019s post on X in June, Mohler replied with an apology and noted that the memorial was already done and \u201cis quite prominent\u201d on the school\u2019s campus. The SBTS president further offered to show the Texas pastor where the memorial is located if he would rejoin him on the campus to have a look.<\/p>\n \u201cPastor, glad you visited. Sorry you did not see the memorial. It is quite prominent. You had suggested it, and we followed up as promised. Your suggestion was right and timely. If you have time to come back, I will gladly show it to you this afternoon,\u201d Mohler wrote.<\/p>\n McKissic was unable to return to the campus but Deryk Hayes, pastor of Saint Paul Baptist Church at Shively Heights in Louisville<\/a>, replied in a post on X<\/a> with a photo of the memorial.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m no scholar but prominent seems to be somewhat of a stretch in my estimation. Again, I\u2019m no scholar. Neither am I [a] dummy \u2026 the very placement of this plaque proves at the very least that @albertmohler<\/a> is either culturally insensitive or ignorant. The founders aren\u2019t heroic!\u201d Hayes wrote.<\/p>\n Hayes, who would later reveal to The Christian Post that he is also one of a few black students enrolled at the seminary, was not pleased with the inscription on the plaque nor the placement of the plaque on a building that celebrates one of the founding faculty members.<\/p>\n \u201cOur founding faculty, James P. Boyce, John A. Broadus, Basil Manly Jr., and William Williams gave this institution its birth and devoted their lives to its cause,\u201d the inscription on the memorial began.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are also slaveholders and defenders of slavery. Together they claimed ownership over at least 50 fellow human beings, equally made in God\u2019s image,\u201d the inscription endorsed by the unanimous action of the seminary\u2019s Board of Trustees on Oct. 12, 2020, added. \u201cWe do not know their names, but God does. We now honor and express gratitude for their unrecognized contribution to this seminary and its mission. \u2018Honor to whom honor is owed.\u2019 Romans 13:7.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement shared with CP on the memorial, McKissic said he harbored greater expectations of what the slavery memorial at SBTS would have looked like compared with the photo of the plaque shared by Hayes.<\/p>\n \u201cI must admit that I was hopeful and searched for a memorial so prominent and visible\u00a0that I could not have missed it. In my mind, I pictured an outdoor, highly visible memorial that could not be overlooked. No one told me that. It was simply what I had hoped for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Even though he promised to donate to the erection of the memorial honoring the enslaved men and women who helped build the seminary, no one informed him that the plaque had been made and placed in the Broadus Chapel for viewing.<\/p>\n McKissic said he only decided to check the campus of the seminary for signs of the memorial after reading a tweet from fellow Southern Baptist Pastor Alan Cross referencing the school\u2019s history of slavery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt triggered my memory to go and see if a memorial was actually there. I made a quick, hurried visit to a couple of buildings on campus, [but] did not see it. And I looked outside on the lawn and still did not see it. I assumed one had not been erected. But if I can be honest, I fulfilled my commitment to make a donation by sending Southern Seminary a $2,000 donation which was my estimate that should at least cover the cost to erect the plaque,\u201d he said. \u201cA more expansive and expensive memorial would have required a larger donation. So, the size of the memorial saved me money.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about the memorial, its formal announcement and placement on the campus of the seminary on Wednesday, Mohler told The Christian Post in an interview that the memorial was placed in Broadus Chapel shortly after the promise was made to add it to the campus in 2020. He said they also consulted with several black students and a black member of the seminary’s board of trustees to decide on a fitting tribute.<\/p>\n “I consulted with some African American students, and we have an African American board member who was involved in this decision,” Mohler told CP, noting that they also felt the Broadus chapel was the best place to show off the marker.<\/p>\n “We intentionally put the marker in a very strategic place which is in the main entrance to one of the most historic spots, prominent spots on the campus, which is in the foyer of the Broadus Chapel,” Mohler explained. “I guess there are persons who could say it could be in a more prominent spot, but, frankly, I’d be hard pressed to find an area of wall on which a marker could be made that would be more prominent.”<\/p>\n He noted that the SBTS board of trustees also had a restricted celebration of the marker at the time it was unveiled due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n “We invited a lot of people from the campus (to be a part of it), but let me remind you, we were doing it under the situation of COVID when we could not have large assemblies,” Mohler said. “It was not in time for a public ceremony. It wasn’t possible.”<\/p>\n Mohler noted that even though some people may criticize the marker as insufficient, he is also aware that everyone would not be pleased with what they have done to celebrate the slaves.<\/p>\n “We put up that marker in good faith. We stand behind it. It is a public statement. I realize that does not please everyone as sufficient for what they would hope,” he told CP. “I can say on behalf of the institution, we want to do everything that is right. But clearly, there’s a level of disagreement about what that right action would be.”<\/p>\n McKissic said even though he is disappointed by the stature of the memorial on the SBTS campus, he is \u201cgrateful that Dr. Mohler kept his word by acknowledging the role of the enslaved and their financial and labor contribution dedicated to the formation and founding of Southern Seminary.\u201d<\/p>\n Though he celebrates the acknowledgment of the contributions of slaves to SBTS, McKissic made it clear that it doesn\u2019t make up for the seminary leadership\u2019s refusal to scrub the names of the slaveholding founders from the school\u2019s buildings.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think the names of the slaveholding founders should be removed from the buildings on campus,\u201d he said, but he does not believe Mohler and the leadership team \u201chave the inner, moral wherewithal\u201d to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey obviously value the slave masters more than they did the enslaved, and they are not willing to admit the magnitude in which they were wrong and to deny the fruit of repentance by removing the names of these slave masters,\u201d McKissic added.<\/p>\n Hayes argued that if visitors were to intentionally go searching for the SBTS slave memorial on a random visit, it would be difficult to find on the campus because there is no guide directing them to the plaque.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I walked around the campus looking for it. I asked the employees, have they seen it? The way I was able to find it is I asked the campus police,\u201d Hayes told CP. \u201cThe campus police called two or three staff members, and one of the staff members was able to tell the campus police exactly where it was at. The campus police told me where it was located, and I went and looked at it and took the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes said he found both the quality and placement of the memorial to the enslaved at SBTS disingenuous.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m certain that a number of the faculty and staff were not aware of that plaque or what that plaque said. And I don’t know how much noise has been made about the plaque. … [The] truth is, there’s nothing significant about the plaque. There’s nothing prominent about where the plaque is placed, the plaque itself or what’s written on the plaque,\u201d Hayes said, likening it to a mere “footnote.”<\/p>\n \u201cI think that’s a perfect way to explain it. It’s a footnote. And I believe that it’s also Al Mohler telling black people who speak out about it, I think it’s Al Mohler’s way of saying hush.\u201d<\/p>\n The National African American Fellowship, a network of more than 4,000 predominantly African American churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, boasts more than 400,000 members<\/a> (half of the over 800,000 black churchgoers affiliated with the SBC) but constitutes just over 3% of the denomination’s 13.2 million-strong community.<\/p>\n The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission <\/a>reports that, in 2020, the number of African Americans affiliated with the SBC was 880,108. According to the Baptist Research Center, in 2021, that number grew to 885,520 African American Southern Baptists, which accounted for 6.47% of the denomination’s membership at the time.<\/p>\n Data<\/a> show that of the 4,448 students enrolled at SBTS, only 128 or approximately 3%, are recorded as black or African American.<\/p>\n Since 2018, the seminary has designated scholarships<\/a> for black students as part of the Garland Offutt Scholars Program named in honor of the seminary\u2019s first African American graduate. The seminary states that the scholarship “is designed to redress the legacy of slavery and legal segregation in the United States …”<\/p>\n While there have been efforts made by the SBC to better address issues of race and racism over the years \u2014 including the historic SBC Resolution on Racial Reconciliation<\/a> in 1995, in which the convention officially apologized for the denomination having supported slavery and segregation, and asked forgiveness from their African American brothers and sisters \u2014 the SBC has struggled to engage black adherents on issues like racial reconciliation and critical race theory to better understand how racism impacts the community. A dispute over CRT in 2020 led a number of black churches to cut ties with the denomination<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hayes argues that Mohler\u2019s treatment of the memorial shows that he lacks cultural competence and that \u201che has to be discipled in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe’s not only insensitive but he doesn’t have the capacity to even want to understand systemic oppression,” Hayes said.<\/p>\n The Louisville pastor, whose church is loosely affiliated with the SBC, said he led a predominantly white congregation before moving to his latest congregation, which was created from a merger between a predominantly black church and a predominantly white church in 2009.<\/p>\n He admits that when he first started attending SBTS as a graduate-level student, he quit because he became uncomfortable. But God called him back.<\/p>\n \u201cInitially, to be honest with you, when I first started, I withdrew [for a while] because I just didn’t want to be a part of that climate and that content. I was so uncomfortable,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n He said he went back because, \u201cI am convinced that this is a part of the call that God has on my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI felt compelled, and to be honest with you, having to repent because ultimately I felt like I disobeyed God,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are people right now that know that I go to Southern, and you know, in their eyes, I’m a sellout. I’m an Uncle Tom and a number of things that they call me. But the truth is, I believe that I’m operating according to God’s will for my life. And I believe if I’m obedient to God, then I can make a difference in the space that God has called me to.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike McKissic, Hayes does not celebrate the plaque as a small win.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it’s not it’s not enough. I would rather they didn’t put a plaque up at all than to put what they put up and put the plaque where they put it. I would rather the library that has been redone and it’s partially open right now, particularly for students, to be named for the first African American graduate of the Southern Baptist seminary, Dr. [Garland] Offutt, rather than it being the Boyce library or whatever the library is called,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be something prominent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be more prominent if you had a plaque for those who were enslaved, it would be better to put it out into the open somewhere to give it a significant size to somehow make it attractive,\u201d Hayes explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we really want to do some of the things that I believe Al Mohler said that he wanted to do as far as reaching, particularly African American people, and doing right by African American people, I think at the very least, that’s some of the things that Dr. Mohler should do,\u201d he said, noting that he would also love to see the hiring of more African American professors.<\/p>\n He said the treatment of the slave memorial made him question Mohler\u2019s sincerity.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, first of all, we got to ask, What’s the motive behind that? Is it to silence Pastor McKissick? Is it for Pastor McKissick and other black pastors to say this is good enough?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cA better way to apologize and repent of systemic racism is to take the names of slaveholders [off] school buildings,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cWhen I go in certain buildings, I don’t want to see pictures of men being portrayed as heroes who enslaved people that look like me.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/images\/cache\/image\/2\/92\/29293_w_400_311.webp\")
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