Pastor Jim Goforth leads the New Life Baptist Church in North St. Louis County, MO, an intentionally multi-racial congregation. He frequently expresses his conviction that a church should look like the community in which it is located. In preparation for the recent 2007 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in San Antonio, Texas, Pastor Goforth submitted a resolution to the SBC Resolutions Committee. It addressed the 150th Anniversary Commemoration of the infamous 1857 U.S. Supreme Court Decision pertaining to Dred Scott, an enslaved man in St. Louis. In summary, the court ruled that African-Americans lacked personhood, that they could never have the civil rights afforded to whites, and that Dred Scott and those like him should continue in slavery. That decision helped trigger America’s Civil War. On January 1, 1863, less than six years after the Dred Scott decision was rendered, President Abraham Lincoln issued the “Emancipation Proclamation,” essentially providing freedom to America’s slaves. The SBC Resolutions Committee presented the resolution to the Convention. The thousands of messengers gave unanimous approval. The resolution can be seen at www.sbcannualmeeting.com (and click on “resolutions”). Jim Goforth’s SBC action was additionally personalized by his friendship with St. Louisan Lynne M. Jackson, great-great-granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott, founder, co-chair and spokesperson of the 2007 activities of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.
See www.thedredscottfoundation.org.
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