G. Frink's

In a blistering critique of evangelical denigration of president-elect Barack Obama, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary head Danny Akin told told the N.C. Pastors' Conference in Greensboro that God had raised up Obama to be president.

Echoing the Nov. 5 view of Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Akin said Monday that Christians are required by scripture to both accept Obama as president and to pray for God to change Obama's heart, especially with regard to abortion issues.

An unlikely defender of the Obama presidency, Akin argued in an impassioned Oct. 14 blog entry that faithful evangelicals cannot vote for Barack Obama, and emailed his views to SEBTS students. But now there is a fire to put out, and Akin certainly deserves credit for bringing water.

Akin attacked post-election racism in his sermon. Biblical Recorder Managing Editor Steve DeVane wrote:

Akin said he's heard people say that it wasn't God's will for Obama to be elected and or that Obama will not be their president. He said he's even heard some refer to Obama as "nigger."

"Shame on us," Akin said. "I'm not talking about secular people. I'm talking about people who say they're a Baptist, who say they're a born-again believer."

Akin's statement was far more forceful and direct than that of interim Baylor University President David E. Garland's in response to Nov. 5 racial incidents there involving a noose, a confrontation between black and white students and the alleged burning of Obama campaign literature.

Although Baylor is the world's largest Baptist university Garland made no mention of Christian faith or ethics in his statement and at his most compelling merely offered a boilerplate admonition:

These events are deeply disturbing to us and are antithetical to the mission of Baylor University. We categorically denounce and will not tolerate racist acts of any kind on our campus.

Published University incidents alone demand a response as forceful as Akin's. As Baylor's student newspaper, The Lariat, summarized it in a Nov. 7 editorial:

It's important to note that racial confrontations in response to the election have not occurred solely at Baylor. Last week, a life-sized effigy of Obama was discovered hanging in a tree at the University of Kentucky. At Middle Tennessee State University, a pumpkin bearing Obama's face was stabbed and covered in red paint. At North Caroline State University, negative Obama messages were written in the "Free Expression" tunnel.

Universities often recognize that preaching is not enough and create student reconciliation programs of various kinds in an attempt to staunch the racism before it becomes a malevolent outpouring.

This ugly, ancient fire was unnecessarily stoked by failing conservative efforts to defeat Obama. Brave, admirable preachments alone are no more sufficient to bank those fires among state Baptist conventions and in the society at large than they are to quiet the ugliness on university campuses.

This Southerner wonders how many divinity school and church-by-church reconciliation efforts will follow the theological statements.