"Today the nation's largest Protestant denomination voted to repudiate the Confederate battle flag, and it's time and well past time." The resolution, passed at the predominantly white convention's annual meeting in St. Louis, calls for Southern Baptist churches to discontinue displaying the Confederate flag as a "sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ." The U.S. Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution on Tuesday repudiating the Confederate battle flag as an emblem of slavery, marking the latest bid for racial reconciliation by America's largest Protestant denomination. In 1995, a Southern Baptist committee issued a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for condoning slavery and racism during the early years of the denomination's 171-year history. The action came four years after the denomination elected its first black president, Fred Luter, a pastor and civic leader from New Orleans.

Source: Huffington Post June 15, 2016 08:15 UTC