Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) presidential nominee Mike Stone is leading over 50 SBC members and pastors in supporting a new resolution condemning critical race theory and intersectionality (CRT/I). Supporter Tom Buck praised Stone’s leadership on a “vital issue,” while detractor Dwight McKissic called the resolution “the most racially divisive resolution ever proposed in the SBC.”
“In an effort to provide leadership with clarity, compassion, and conviction, I will submit this resolution to the 2021 Resolutions Committee,” tweeted Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga. “Over 50 others have already agreed to jointly submit this resolution. If you are SBC, you can join us.”
The SBC specifies that resolutions for 2021 must be submitted to the Resolutions Committee by May 31. The committee will then review them and make recommendations to the messengers who attend the SBC’s annual meeting, to take place June 15-16. The form for Mike Stone’s resolution invites SBC members to sign the resolution by May 27.
Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, denounced the resolution and said that the SBC’s response to it will be a “defining moment.”
“Interesting that there is not one African American lead or senior pastor on this list of signatories,” said McKissic. “This may be the most racially divisive resolution ever proposed in the SBC.”
Mike Stone: CRT Has No Place in the SBC
The “Resolution on the Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with The Baptist Faith and Message” starts off by condemning racism. Referencing the Baptist Faith & Message (BF&M), the resolution affirms the authority of Scripture and details the ways in which CRT/I are incompatible with the Bible. The resolution states:
Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality are ideologies rooted in Neo-Marxist and postmodern worldviews, by which our civilization is being deconstructed around our families, communities, and nations, which make them incompatible with Scripture as they are characterized by worldly “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col 2:8).
The resolution does not offer definitions of CRT and intersectionality. Britannica defines “critical race theory” as “the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour.”
According to Merriam-Webster, “intersectionality” is “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.” It should be noted that people take university courses to understand these complex topics.
The new resolution Mike Stone proposes mentions Resolution 9, “On Critical Race Theory And Intersectionality,” which the SBC adopted at its 2019 annual meeting. Resolution 9 acknowledges that CRT/I “alone are insufficient to diagnose and redress the root causes of the social ills that they identify,” but also states “these analytical tools can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences.”
Mike Stone’s resolution argues that Resolution 9 “has brought confusion and division.” Stone’s resolution also affirms part of a controversial statement put out by the SBC’s six seminary presidents last November: “Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message.”
Church leaders who signed Mike Stone’s resolution include Pastor Brad Jurkovich, spokesman for the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN), a grassroots movement launched in February 2020 to combat the alleged liberal “drift” in the SBC. Another is Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas, who drew criticism earlier this year for comparing Vice President Kamala Harris to Jezebel. Pastor Tom Ascol, president of Founders Ministries, signed the resolution as well. Ascol is a friend of and often collaborates with Voddie Baucham, an outspoken critic of CRT.
