Southern Baptists drop ‘southern’ over racial connotations

Published September 15, 2020 3:01pm ET



Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention are dropping references to the South as the largest Protestant denomination in the country grapples with its history of supporting slavery.

Instead of using “Southern,” church leadership will now refer to themselves as “Great Commission Baptists,” President J.D. Greear announced Monday. The 50,000 churches in the convention, however, are mostly independent and can still refer to themselves as Southern Baptists if they so choose.

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