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First African-American Elected as Southern Baptist President—Will he push an anti-gay agenda?

First African-American Elected as Southern Baptist President—Will he push an anti-gay agenda?

which we continue to reap a bitter harvest," the Southern Baptist resolution on racial reconciliation stated, acknowledging that some congregations still excluded African Americans but promising to "commit ourselves to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry."

Sadly, Luter was unaware of the SBC's dark history.

As a huge denomination comprising the Christian Right and its anti-gay agenda, Luter may also be unaware of how the Southern Baptist Convention may actively recruit him, during this election period, to reach African American voters to unseat Obama by exploiting black homophobia.  
Since 1995—when the SBC held a conference on racial reconciliation in Dallas, and it generously donated $750,000 to rebuild Southern black churches that were recently burned—the once non-existing relationship between the SBC and black churches has now become wedded in an unholy matrimony.

The first sign I saw here in Boston was back in 1998 when an editor called me to solicit my opinion about an African-American minister named Rev. Jackson, who had joined with Ralph Reed’s Christian Right movement to funnel $5 million to $10 million to Black Churches to help them rejuvenate African American urban communities nationwide; it was called the Samaritan Project.

While the culture of many faith communities and denominations (that were once upon a time helplessly homophobic) are changing, a preponderance of these black churches will not (and sadly to say they won't in my lifetime).

And its this homophobic faith tradition that Obama—in his first presidential run to the White House—unabashedly wooed and won votes from.

Although many African American clerics came out in support of Obama's stance on same-sex marriage, so, too, did many decry it.

With right wing organizations like National Organization for Marriage (NOM) courting black churches for their strategic 2012 election game plan to drive a wedge between LGBTQ voters and African American voters, the question is will Luter fall into their hands—either as the SBC’s titular head or simply as a misguided Christian homophobe?

Either reason Luter would wield enormous influence in pushing a right wing agenda.

While we don't know what Luter will do in his post, there is enough data to predict with certainty how African Americans will vote in this 2012 election as it was predicted in 2008—irrespective of the President's views on marriage equality or right wing anti-gay agendas.