Often in history, the “White American Bible Belt” paid homage to racism while calling it “Jesus Christ,” according to prominent evangelical Russell Moore.
Delivering a speech at the MLK 50 Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday, Moore drew a parallel between America’s struggle for racial equality and the ancient Israelites being told to choose between serving God or serving Baal.
“Time and time again, when told they could not serve both, the people of God tragically often chose to worship Baal but to rename him God,” said Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
“And time and time again, in the white American Bible Belt, the people of God had to choose between Jesus Christ and Jim Crow, because you cannot serve both, and tragically, many often chose to serve Jim Crow and to rename him Jesus Christ.”
Moore read Matthew 23:29-39 where Jesus denounced the teachers of the law for decorating the tombs of prophets and claiming that they would not have supported murdering the Old Testament prophets if they lived back then.