Leftists plan conference at conservative Christian seminary

The far left is moving into one of America's more conservative seminaries this weekend, with a conference that will talk about the "undead beast" of race in U.S. churches.

The Leadership Development Resource Weekend is being held at Covenant Seminary, affiliated with the conservative Presbyterian Church in America denomination, which recently began offering courses in Nashville, according to the Tennessee Star.

The conference, according to the report, is "designed for and by people of color.

Last year it was run by Black Lives Matter activist Michelle Higgins, who told Religion News Service "the decentralized movement of Black Lives Matter allows local pastors or local groups to use the phrase to mean all black people are despised systemically in such a way that our country does not hesitate to refuse them proper health care, quality education or fairness in the face of potential arrest."

The conference Web page includes a letter from Joel Littlepage, a pastor, who addresses his "white brothers and sisters" with his concerns that there is a "communal agitation" among them stemming "from the use of the word white itself: calling white people, well, white people, pointing out the social and systemic realities of whiteness in America, and being intentional about the balance of power and representation between whites and people of color."

In "Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America," Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson – a true black leader whom many affectionately call "the other Jesse" – shows how the civil rights establishment has made a lucrative career out of keeping racial strife alive in America.

He calls claims of reverse discrimination, against whites, "frankly absurd."

The Star reported the conference will ask "white attendees to recognize that their participation 'means hearing, repenting and listening more than you speak.'"

Blog page headlines include, "On Driving While Black," "Breaking the Silence," "Black Voices – Critical to the Future of the Church" and "Racism: The Undead Beast Among Us."

The conference is sold out.

The Presbyterian Church in America was created nearly 50 years ago in response to the move toward liberalism of the mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

"Today the denomination is characterized by growing conflicts between conservatives and progressives on a number of topics, including race. Conservatives maintain that present-day injustices against racial minorities are being grossly exaggerated for political gain and that the emphasis on the supposed need for radical social change is causing division and drawing attention away from the gospel," the Star said.

The late D. James Kennedy's church in South Florida, Coral Ridge, is a PCA member.

The conference is the work of the Reformed African American Network (RAAN), the PCA's Mission to North America, the New City Network and South City Church, a PCA church in St. Louis, the Star said.

South City Church is where Higgins is the director of worship and outreach.

The Star noted RAAN includes Jarvis Williams, of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, who claims the book, "Divided by Faith," by Michael Emerson "will help evangelicals see" that historical evangelicalism has "benefited from racism."

"Last week, RAAN co-founder Jemar Tisby wrote in a piece that it's hard for blacks to integrate at predominantly white churches because 'it's hard to have a 401 level solidarity with people who are on a 101 level of racial awareness,'" the Star said.

In fact, both PCA and Southern Baptist leaders repeatedly have condemned white supremacy.

RAAN claims: "From the founding of this nation until the present hour, the idolatry of whiteness has been a pro-death spirit within our republic. It is easy for us to scapegoat the domestic terrorists who incited violence that ended in the deaths of three Americans. We can call them extremists who do not represent American values, but upon closer examination, the ideology deployed as a weapon in Charlottesville haunts every institution of the country, including the church."

One critic the Star quoted was Darrell B. Harrison, a fellow of the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton.

He wrote recently that "words like slavery and oppression are applied so flippantly and, dare I say, ignorantly today as to divest them of their historical significance."

He explained, "Not every perceived injustice involving black people can be attributed to 'racism' (another term which, like slavery and oppression, is losing its force due to overuse.)"