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Black and White evangelicals once talked about 'racial... - African American News Today - EIN News

White evangelicals angered over the death of George Floyd this summer have joined protests and declared that "black lives matter" - and some have even championed reparations as they tried to promote racial reconciliation. But their continued support for President Donald Trump has disgusted Black evangelical leaders, many of whom have let them know they are not interested. John Onwuchekwa, a 36-year-old Black pastor who was a rising star in the Southern Baptist Convention, announced in July his church would leave the convention. Onwuchekwa was troubled that Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, endorsed Trump in April after fiercely opposing the president's 2016 campaign. But what was especially shocking, Onwuchekwa said, was that other Southern Baptists leaders stayed silent. "If another leader had come out and endorsed a Democratic candidate, there would've been recourse," said Onwuchekwa, who is based in Atlanta. "It made me feel like I didn't know if the Southern Baptist Convention is a safe place to be if people don't feel the freedom to call out something like that." Trump, who has demonstrated a pattern of amplifying racism throughout his presidential term, responded to mass social-justice protests this summer by calling demonstrators "thugs" and defended the naming of U.S. military bases for Confederate generals. A survey conducted in June suggested White evangelical support for Trump has slipped slightly, but they remain the religious group most likely to support him: 82 percent plan to vote for him in November. Onwuchekwa said that this summer - as he watched NASCAR get rid of the Confederate flag, and Mississippi remove the rebel-themed emblem from its own banner - he felt frustrated that Southern Baptists did not appear willing to make similarly major gestures, including...

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