Rev. Dwight McKissic's Resolution on Honoring President Obama as Submitted to the SBC

WHEREAS, the American colonists declared their independence from the British crown on July 4, 1776, by recognizing as self-evident that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, [and] that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;" and

WHEREAS, at the time of the nation's founding and for nearly a century thereafter, the American principle of liberty coexisted perfidiously with the evil institution of chattel slavery whereby, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, men dared "to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces;" and

WHEREAS, President Lincoln - with undaunted and unparalleled courage - issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, to declare that "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State . . . shall be, thenceforward, and forever free;" and

WHEREAS, from that time forward there grew efforts - both political and cultural - to recognize the equality of all human persons and vouchsafe the civil rights of all American citizens regardless of race; and

WHEREAS, among these advances in racial equality and civil rights are: The adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery in the United States (1865); the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to guarantee due process and equal protection under the law to all U.S. citizens (1868); the Fifteenth Amendment to ensure the right to vote for all U.S. citizens (1870); President Truman's executive order to desegregate the United States armed services (1948); the landmark decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education to end racial segregation in public schools (1954) and Bailey v. Patterson to declare segregation in transportation facilities as unconstitutional (1962); the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in voting, federal-assistance programs and public accommodations, facilities and education; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited discriminatory voting practices ationwide; and the landmark Loving v. Virginia decision of the Unites States Supreme Court to strike down racially discriminatory marriage laws; and

WHEREAS, in 1868, John Willis Menard (R-LA) was the first African American to take the oath of office to serve in the United States House of Representatives, and has been followed by 115 other African Americans in the nation's history;

WHEREAS, in 1870, Hiram Revels (R-MS) was the first African American to take the oath of office to serve in the United States Senate, and has been followed by only five other African Americans in the nation's history; and

WHEREAS, in 1967, Justice Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court, and has been followed by only one other African American in the nation's history; and

WHEREAS, since 1937 the Southern Baptist Convention has formally rejected every vestige of racial discrimination that remained from its founding in 1845 by the adoption of resolutions denouncing racial prejudice, lynching, church desecrations, segregation and the Ku Klux Klan; and

WHEREAS, on its 150th anniversary, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted "A Resolution on Racial Reconciliation" that recognized the failures of some Southern Baptists to affirm the dignity, worth, and equal rights of African Americans, apologized and sought forgiveness for these injustices and purposed to "eradicate in all its forms;" and

WHEREAS, during our 1996 annual meeting in New Orleans, Southern Baptists demonstrated a renewed commitment to racial equality and justice by electing Rev. Fred Luter as the first African American to serve as the convention's second vice president, and in 2001 selected him to be the first African American to deliver the annual convention sermon; and

WHEREAS, on November 4, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama was elected as the first African American to serve as the President of the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, this tremendous moment in our nation's history provides a new opportunity for people of faith to facilitate racial reconciliation and heal the wounds and scars of the past; and

WHEREAS, President Barack Hussein Obama - while pursuing numerous social, political and economic policies that are in fundamental opposition to the values for which our convention and our churches have stood - has yet demonstrated commendable efforts to include the perspective of Southern Baptists by appointing our former convention president, Dr. Frank Page of South Carolina, to advise his administration concerning issues of faith and public policy; and

WHEREAS, it is the sacred responsibility of God's people to pray for their leaders and render them appropriate honor and due respect in accord with the principles of Holy Scripture; now

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Louisville, KY, on June 24, 2009, celebrates the historic nature of the election of President Barack Hussein Obama as a significant contribution to the ongoing cause of racial reconciliation in the United States; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we earnestly pray that President Barack Hussein Obama will use the constitutional authority assigned to his office to promote liberty and justice for all people, including the unborn; and 

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we will join hands with President Obama and his administration to advance causes of racial justice insofar as those efforts are consistent with biblical principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.