How a Southern Baptist Leader Became Surprising Voice on Confederate Flag

Russell Moore is the president of the Southern Baptist’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. (Mark Humphrey/Associated Press)

(The Washington Post) – For Russell Moore, a tattered scrap of cloth pinned to the pegboard of his basement study had once been a reminder of loss and a testament to resilience.

It was a Mississippi flag, pulled from the wreckage of Moore’s Biloxi home town in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which in 2005 swept away his grandparents’ houses, the churches where he had heard and preached the Gospel, and most of the landmarks of his youth.

But one day when Moore was planning to have some African American friends over, he saw that flag, with its Confederate cross in the upper left corner, through the eyes of his guests.

“I found myself wincing, wondering what the flag communicates. Should I explain this is not the Confederate flag? I wish it were different, but it’s not,” he said.

READ MORE