Baptist leaders urge Miss. church to reject racism

"Mississippi Baptists both reject racial discrimination and at the same time respect the autonomy of our local churches to deal with difficulties and disagreements under the lordship of Jesus," Futral said in a statement.

After being slow to reach out across racial lines, Southern Baptists have made increasing efforts in that direction in the past two decades. Nationwide, about 19 percent of 45,000 Southern Baptist churches are majority-minority, including 3,500 that are majority black.

Earlier this year, the convention elected its first black president, the Rev. Fred Luter Jr. of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. At the same meeting, delegates voted to give churches the option of calling themselves Great Commission Baptist churches, for those who wish to break free of the baggage of the Southern Baptist name and reach more followers.

"We are all saddened when any sin, including the sin of racism, rears its head," said Southern Baptist Convention spokesman Sing Oldham. "Part of our gospel is that we are being redeemed. We are flawed, failed creatures and redemption is a process."

Oldham said "a sizeable number" of Baptist pastors are fired or forced to resign each year in conflicts with church members. Most seminaries teach that pastors should be fired only for moral failure or theological error, but Baptist officials say many ministers are fired for personal conflicts or other reasons.

"Unfortunately, most of the members of the church don't read those books," Oldham said.