Some US Black Southern Baptists feel shut out by white leaders

 As a student in college and seminary, then as a pastor in Texas, Dwight McKissic has been affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention for more than 45 years. Now he’s pondering whether he and his congregation should break away.

“It would feel like a divorce,” McKissic said. “That’s something I’ve never had, but that’s what it would feel like.”

If he does, he would be following in the footsteps of several other Black pastors who have recently exited in dismay over what they see as racial insensitivity from some leaders of the predominantly white SBC. Tensions are high after an election year in which racism was a central issue, and after a provocative declaration by SBC seminary presidents in late 2020 that a fundamental concept in the struggle against racial injustice contravenes church doctrine.

A crucial moment for McKissic and other Black pastors could come in June at the SBC’s national meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, if delegates rebuff their views on systemic racism in the U.S., and if Rev. Albert Mohler, a high-profile conservative who heads the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is elected SBC president.

Last year, even while announcing new scholarship funds for Black students, Mohler declined to change the names of buildings at his seminary named after slaveholders. More recently he played a key role in the seminary presidents’ repudiation of critical race theory — a broad term used in academic and activist circles to describe critiques of systemic racism

The presidents later apologized for not consulting Black pastors before issuing that repudiation, but Mohler told The Associated Press the presidents would likely have reached the same decision in any case.

The seminary leaders’ stance on critical race theory, as well as Mohler’s public support for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, “should disqualify him from being SBC president,” said McKissic, who has become one of the SBC’s most prominent Black pastors since founding the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, in 1983.

Some of the pastors who cut ties with the SBC in recent months also share negative views of Mohler. The Rev. Ralph West, whose Church Without Walls in Houston claims a weekly attendance of 9,000, called him “a polarizing figure” who would worsen divisions within the SBC.

Mohler suggested his critics do not reflect the opinions of most Southern Baptists, white or Black.

“I believe I represent the vast mainstream of conservative Southern Baptists on these issues,” he said. “I think I am polarizing only at the extremes.”

Regarding Trump, who had overwhelming backing from white evangelicals, Mohler said he consistently pointed out the former president’s flaws, but opted to endorse him based on his stances opposing abortion and defending religious liberties.

The SBC, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. was founded in an 1845 split with northern Baptists over slavery and became the church of Southern slaveholders. Its membership of about 14.5 million remains overwhelming white — its predominantly Black churches claim a combined membership of about 400,000.

While the SBC formally apologized in 1995 for its pro-slavery past, and later condemned white supremacy, some tensions flared again after the Nov. 30 statement from six seminary presidents, all of them white. They declared that critical race theory was “incompatible with” central tenets of the SBC’s Scripture-based theology.

The statement swiftly created friction far beyond the realm of SBC academia, particularly due to the lack of Black involvement in its drafting.

Virginia pastor Marshal Ausberry, president of the organization that represents the SBC’s Black pastors, wrote to the presidents saying concepts such as critical race theory “help us to see and discover otherwise undetected, systemic racism in institutions and in ourselves.”

“The optics of six Anglo brothers meeting to discuss racism and other related issues without having ethnic representation in the room in 2020 — at worst it looks like paternalism, at best insensitivity,” Ausberry, first vice president of the SBC, elaborated in an interview with Baptist Press, the SBC’s official news agency.

The presidents apologized for not consulting Black pastors and met with some of them Jan. 6, but have not wavered in their rejection of critical race theory.

McKissic, who was in the Jan. 6 meeting, said the conversation was polite “but the outcome was not respectful to who Black people are in our history.”

He’s likely to remain in the SBC until the June meeting but is prepared to exit then if the delegates ratify the presidents’ stance on critical race theory as official policy.

“if they adopt that statement in June, it would be the feeling to me that people you trusted hit you in the face with a baseball bat,” McKissic said.

Another possible trigger for him would be if delegates rescind a 2019 resolution that included a positive reference to critical race theory, suggesting it could be useful as an “analytical tool” as long as it was subordinate to Scripture.

The Rev. Charlie Dates of the Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, one of the pastors who have already severed ties, said the November statement was “the last straw.”

“When did the theological architects of American slavery develop the moral character to tell the church how it should discuss and discern racism?” Dates wrote in an op-ed for Religion News Service. “The hard reality of the seminary presidents’ statement is that Black people will never gain full equality in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Other Black pastors who have cut ties include the Rev. Seth Martin, whose multiracial Brook Community Church in Minneapolis had been receiving financial support from the Southern Baptist association in Minnesota, and the Rev. Joel Bowman, who abandoned plans to move his Temple of Faith Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, into the SBC fold.

“I genuinely believe the SBC is headed in the wrong direction,” Bowman said. “White evangelicals have gotten in bed with the Republican Party.”

Some white SBC pastors are also troubled, such as the Rev. Ed Litton of Mobile, Alabama, who is one of Mohler’s rivals for the SBC presidency. McKissic has endorsed Litton’s candidacy.

Litton was a co-signer of a statement by a multiethnic group of Southern Baptists last month which asserted that “some recent events have left many brothers and sisters of color feeling betrayed and wondering if the SBC is committed to racial reconciliation.”

Nine dead after cyclone hits Africa’s east coast

 At least nine people were reported killed after tropical cyclone Eloise hit Africa’s east coast at the weekend with wind gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour and heavy rain.

The majority of the deaths were reported in worst-hit Mozambican port city of Beira, according to authorities – most of them killed by falling trees.

The districts of Buzi and Nhamatanda were affected by severe flooding.

The cyclone, named Eloise by meteorologists, weakened as it moved towards neighbouring Zimbabwe, Botswana and parts of South Africa.

It came from the island nation of Madagascar, where authorities said there had been at least one death and flooding.

According to Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology (INAM), Beira saw 250 millilitres of rainfall within 24 hours.

Corona Voice - Angola. The tok show with Sofonie Dala. Don't Miss Out! Day 50

 Our Corona Voice show is live in Angola. Day 50

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused widespread disruption of lives across Africa. The rise of COVID-19 on the continent poses many challenges on the health, socio-economic, and political fronts.

Our today's guest will share with us the impact of covid-19 on his life.

Hello good afternoon! I am jadson Brione, I am a singer in the ministry azael.

First of all, the impact that covid-19 had on my life - made me give more value to people.

I also faced some difficulties in finding a job. Moreover, since the emergence of the pandemic, we have been eating poorly, it has become impossible to eat well as we did before. But thanks to God this situation increased my love for others and made me help people in need more than before. Above all, God was in charge as always and helped to overcome the difficult stages of our lives.

Covid-19 educated us and taught us to lean more into God's arms.

This is the first and the only Coronavirus show in Angola where the most ordinary citizens show their brilliant talents.

The heroes of the program are the most ordinary citizens - they share with the audience their songs, poems and real stories of how the Coronavirus pandemic affected their lives.

We launched the “Corona Voice show” campaign to provide a space for young women and men around Angola to share their views, experiences and initiatives.

FIND SOMEONE TO SPONSOR TODAY

Your sponsorship will help the most affected people by covid-19 to take the first step out of poverty.

In first days, Biden flashes action as deep problems loom

 Inside the White House, President Joe Biden presided over a focused launch of his administration, using his first days in office to break sharply with his predecessor while signing executive orders meant as a showy display of action to address the historic challenges he inherited.

But outside the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., there are signs everywhere that those crises are as deep and intractable as ever. The coronavirus pandemic surges, the economy teeters and Republicans in Congress have signaled objections to many of Biden’s plans.

Biden is looking to jump-start his first 100 days in office with action and symbolism to reassure a divided and weary public that help is in the offing. He also knows that what a president can do on his own is limited so he is calling for Congress to act while he is being candid with Americans that dark days are ahead.

“The crisis is not getting better. It’s deepening,” Biden said Friday about the impact of a pandemic. “A lot of America is hurting. The virus is surging. Families are going hungry. People are at risk of being evicted again. Job losses are mounting. We need to act.”

“The bottom line is this: We’re in a national emergency. We need to act like we’re in a national emergency,” he said.

Biden’s first moments as president were meant to steady American democracy itself.

He took the oath just before noon Wednesday in front of a Capitol that still bore scars from the insurrection that took place precisely two weeks earlier and was aimed at stopping Biden’s ascension to power. The violence underscored the fragile nature of the peaceful transfer of power and led to the historic second impeachment of Donald Trump.

Biden resisted calls to move the inauguration to a more secure indoor setting. He was intent on preserving the usual inauguration trappings as a signal that normalcy could be achieved even though there were signs everywhere that things were far from normal: a military presence that resembled a war zone, guests on the dais wearing masks, a National Mall filled with 200,000 American flags standing in for the American people who were asked to stay away because of the pandemic.

Biden was plain-spoken and direct about the confluence of crises the nation faces. More than 410,000 Americans have lost their lives to the pandemic, millions are out of work and the aftershocks of a summer reckoning with racial justice are still felt.

“You can hear this collective sigh of relief that Trump is gone, but we have no time for a sigh of relief because of the cascading crises,” said Eddie Glaude Jr., chair of the department of African American studies at Princeton University. “We don’t want to assume that the election of Biden solves everything. The scale of the problems is immense and the question for us is do we respond at scale.”

The changes within the White House have been swift.

After Trump’s departure, his final staffers cleared out and a deep clean began. The White House had been the site of multiple COVID-19 outbreaks and, in a physical manifestation of a new approach to the virus, plastic shields were placed on desks, and scores of new staffers were told to work from home.

New pictures were hung on the West Wing walls and the Oval Office received a fast makeover. Gone was a painting of Andrew Jackson and the Diet Coke button of the desk; in came images of Robert Kennedy and Cesar Chavez. But the most important symbol, the clearest break from the previous administration, came from the president himself.

When Biden sat down at the Resolute Desk to sign the first batch of his executive orders on Wednesday, he was wearing a mask. Trump had resisted wearing one, putting one on only occasionally and instead of turning mask-wearing into a polarizing political issue

Biden urged all Americans to wear a mask for the next 100 days and used his platform to model the same behavior, one of several ways he tried to change the tone of the presidency in his first few days.

Daily press briefings returned, absent the accusations of “fake news” that marked only sporadic briefings in the Trump era. Biden held a virtual swearing-in for hundreds of White House staffers, telling them to treat each other with respect or they would dismiss, a marked change from the contentious, rivalry-driven Trump West Wing. Calls to the leaders of Canada and Mexico were made without drama.

The executive actions Biden signed during the week were a mix of concrete and symbolic actions meant to undo the heart of Trump’s legacy. Biden halted construction of the border wall, rejoined the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord and bolstered the means for production for vaccines.

But the might of the executive actions pales in comparison to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that he requested from Congress. Biden has not ruled out asking Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to push it through by tactics requiring only Democratic support. But the president, who spent decades in the Senate, hoped to persuade Republicans to support the measure.

“Leaning on executive action makes sense at the start, you can get things going and show momentum right away without waiting for Congress,” said Robert Gibbs, former press secretary for President Barack Obama. “But this is going take a while. Like it was for us in 2009, change doesn’t come overnight.”

“Everything he inherited is likely to get worse before we see improvement,” Gibbs said. “One thing you learn on January 20th is that you suddenly own all of it.”

Just two Cabinet nominees were confirmed by week’s end, to the frustration of the White House. But with the Friday night announcement that Trump’s impeachment trial will not begin until the week of Feb. 8, Biden aides were optimistic that the Senate would confirm more before then.

The trial looms as an unwelcome distraction for the Biden team. But while Trump will shadow the White House, Biden aides have noted that the former president commands far less attention now that his Twitter account is gone. They have expressed confidence that the Senate can balance the impeachment proceedings with both Cabinet confirmations and consideration of the COVID-19 relief bill.

Biden has made clear that steering the nation through the pandemic will be his signature task and some Republicans believe that Trump’s implosion could create an opening to work across the aisle on a relief deal.

“There is a very narrow permission structure for congressional Republicans who want to move past the Trump era and want to establish their own political identities,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who was a senior adviser on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Romney is now a Utah senator.

“There is an old saying: ‘Make the main thing the main thing.’ And the Biden White House knows that’s the main thing,” Madden said. “If they can improve the pandemic response in the next 100 days, then they can move on to other priorities, they’ll have the capital for legislative fights. But they need to get it right.”

China mine rescue: Eleven miners brought to surface, say state media

 Rescuers in China have freed 11 miners who were trapped 600m underground, state media report.

TV footage showed the first miner, who was blindfolded to protect his eyes from the light, being lifted out as emergency workers cheered.

They were part of a group that had previously made contact with rescue workers and been sent food and supplies.

The entrance tunnel to the Hushan gold mine in Shandong province collapsed after an explosion on 10 January.

A total of 22 miners were trapped in the blast, the cause of which is unknown.

At least one died, and it is still not clear if the remaining 10 are alive underground.

The first miner was brought to the surface on Sunday morning. He was blindfolded to protect his eyes from the light and was immediately taken to hospital for treatment, with his condition described as “extremely weak”

About an hour after his rescue, eight more miners were brought out from a different section of the mine. CCTV said one of the miners among this group was injured.

Several others were seen walking by themselves, supported by rescue workers, before being transported to the hospital.

Rescue efforts have been sped up significantly, as a tunnel that was being bored out to reach the known trapped miners was expected to take weeks to dig.

This first man to be rescued had been trapped in a different part of the gold mine to the main group of 10 who have been receiving food and medicine for days.

The group told rescuers they had established communication with a lone miner about 100m below them but had since lost touch with him.

Authorities have been unable to communicate with 10 other miners who remain missing.

Larry King: US talk show host dies weeks after testing positive for COVID-19

 King's career spanned more than six decades and is estimated to have covered more than 50,000 interviews.

The TV star King was taken to hospital in Los Angeles in late December after testing positive for coronavirus. King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

King, whose career spanned more than six decades and is estimated to have covered more than 50,000 interviews, had Type-2 diabetes and had suffered from lung cancer, angina and heart attacks in recent years.

During his career, King, hunched over his desk in rolled-up sleeves and braces, quizzed thousands of world leaders, politicians and entertainers.

He became known for an interview-style that ensured the subjects were the true stars of his programmes, and left himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and audience.

“Whether he was interviewing a US president, foreign leader, celebrity, scandal-ridden personage, or an everyman, Larry liked to ask short, direct, and uncomplicated questions.

COVID-19: ANGOLA RECORDS 98 POSITIVE CASES, 26 RECOVERIES

 The health authorities have registered 98 positive cases, 26 recoveries and five deaths for the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases, according to the national epidemiological report, 47 were diagnosed in Huambo, 27 in Luanda, 12 in Cuanza Sul, five in Huila, four in Lunda Sul, while the provinces of Benguela, Namibe and Moxico each registered one case.

With ages ranging from 8 months to 87 years, the list included 55 male and 43 female patients.

Of those recovered, 21 are in Luanda and 5 in Huambo, aged between 4 and 72 years.

In the same period, the laboratories processed 1,904 samples per RT-PCR.

The country has so far counted 19,367 positive cases, with 17,249 recovered patients, 457 deaths and 1,661 active.

Of the active patients, 5 are critical, 7 severe, 83 moderate, 96 mild and 1,470 asymptomatic.

There are 191 people in treatment centres.

There are 127 people in institutional quarantine, while 2,471 are under epidemiological surveillance.