Last year, Mohler organized a research project on Southern Seminary’s role in in perpetuating things such as slavery, opposing the civil rights movement, and systemic racism. The report was released in December 2018 and outlined some pretty horrific things the seminary and its leaders did to perpetuate “white racial supremacy.” Mohler said he emphasized to the team of researchers that nothing should be withheld from the public.
Mohler summarized his feelings about diversity in the church this way: “Diversity is not an accident or a problem—it’s a sign of God’s providence and promise. If the church gets this wrong, it’s not just getting race and ethnic difference wrong. It’s getting the gospel wrong.”
Mohler’s critics say he has not taken a hard enough stance on rooting out the problem of abuse in SBC churches or of tackling the lingering issue of racism. McKissic, for instance, while acknowledging Mohler is “tried, trusted, and tested as leader, with regard to character and competence,” is afraid the seminary president may “turn the clock back” on the convention. Meaning “he might be more tradition-driven than biblical and Spirit-driven.”
Delegates for the SBC will have a chance to vote on Mohler and any other candidate who is nominated at the annual meeting in June next year.
