Arlington Southern Baptist pastor receives racist letter over split with denomination

A Southern Baptist pastor in Arlington received a letter laden with racist remarks after pulling his church from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and weighing whether to leave the national convention over leaders’ shortcomings in addressing racial insensitivity in the denomination.

The Rev. William Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington is one of several Black pastors who is considering leaving the Southern Baptist Convention. McKissic announced Jan. 15 he would pull his and his church from the Texas convention after leaders created a policy that denounced Critical Race Theory, a school of thought that examines structural racism and conscious and unconscious bias against people of color, as divisive and harmful to the church.

Days after his announcement, McKissic received letter from John V. Rutledge, an author and former Southern Baptist. In a one-page letter, Rutledge said “nothing is ever enough” for Black people. Drawing on offensive words and stereotypes of Black people, he noted people of color should be grateful, citing their accomplishments in the denomination and federal initiatives such as Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

“Yet they remain savages; they defile and diminish every arena in which they parade: academic, political, corporate, judicial, military, athletic,” he wrote.

The letter, dated Jan. 25, was shared Monday evening on Twitter, where commenters largely reacted with disgust and disbelief over the letter’s contents.

McKissic has said he will leave the national convention if leaders in June vote to rescind or replace a 2019 resolution that acknowledges critical race theory and intersectionality as lenses to analyze the faith. A statement by the church’s Council of Seminary Presidents in November argued that affirmation of the theories is “incompatible” with the denomination’s faith and message.

A spokesperson for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention said the group was informed of the letter Tuesday evening. Executive Director Jim Richards said in a statement the convention “denounces both the statements and sentiments” of the letter.

“Although recently Pastor McKissic lead his church to withdraw from the SBTC, he is still considered a beloved brother and gifted pastor,” Richards said. “He nor any of our African American brothers and sisters in Christ should ever have to endure such racist, ungodly remarks.”

McKissic was not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon. However, he thanked Twitter followers for support after sharing the letter. Rutledge, he noted, left the Southern Baptist church after 50 years. Rutledge has penned two books, both critical of the church.

“I posted the letter because there are those yet within the SBC, who share his views, but not his transparency,” McKissic wrote.

McKissic has pressured the state and national Southern Baptist conventions for years to update or eliminate policies that ostracize or restrict worship. In a 2006 sermon, he challenged a national policy restricting Southern Baptist missionaries from praising in tongues and praying in private. The sermon was pulled from archives, but leaders rescinded the policy in 2015 and archived his sermon in 2018.

The response to McKissic’s sermon and complaints almost caused him to leave the Texas convention in 2006, he wrote in a blog post, when leaders at the time told him those with “private prayer languages” may “ride on the bus at SBTC, but ... will not be able to drive the bus.”

“Today, I decided it is time to ‘get off the bus,’” McKissic wrote. “I no longer want to ride, and I certainly do not want to drive!”

McKissic was also behind the proposal to condemn the Confederate battle flag that the national convention approved in 2016.