Fred Luter's Historic Election

The Southern Baptist Convention, which was created more than a century and a half ago because of segregation, has elected its first black president.

He is Fred Luter, a New Orleans pastor, and he ran unopposed. The 55-year-old Luter rebuilt his damaged church after Hurricane Katrina devastated it in 2005. 3,500 Southern Baptist churches are African-American. there are 45,700 congregations in the denomination.

The American demographic is changing from majority white to majority minority. Its church leadership should reflect that change. But more than that, as in politics, it should be about the content of character, not the color of skin. It matters less what one sees on the outside than what one sees on the inside.

That's the fallacy behind the Left's diversity game. One can be a black or white liberal, but still a liberal. How about more focus on who one is, not how one looks? Fred Luter has both qualities. His election is truly historic.

I'm Cal Thomas.

Publication date: June 22, 2012