The Southern Baptist Convention was formed in Augusta, Georgia in 1845 due to schism between North and South over slavery. The SBC continued on its peculiar path after the Civil War, and the nation’s largest Protestant denomination became a bulwark of white supremacy and segregation. In 1995, the organization finally renounced its racist origin and subsequent practices. Since then, minority membership in the SBC has increased dramatically. On Monday, 167 years after its founding, a historic change occurred. By acclamation, the convention selected African-American minister Fred Luter Jr. of New Orleans as its first black president. The New Orleans Times-Picayune coverage includes background on Luter, who built a tiny congregation into a massive one and was forced to rebuild it again after Hurricane Katrina: Although Luter acknowledged that his election was…
