“They didn’t talk about racism, they just practiced it,” he said. “If you don’t talk about it, it’s not going to change. Throwing rocks doesn’t help a bit, it only increases anger.”

The Confederate flag resolution was first proposed by an African-American pastor, the Rev. Dwight McKissic. The proposal presented was less strongly worded than the original. It added a paragraph that the flag serves for some not as a symbol of racism but as a memorial to loved ones who died in the Civil War.

It also called on Christians to “consider prayerfully whether to limit, or even more so, discontinue” the flag’s display.

But Tuesday, the convention approved a motion to remove the added paragraph and urge Christians to discontinue the flag’s use.

A call to evangelism

The denomination, based in Nashville, Tenn., was founded in a split with northern Baptists over slavery. It has a history of complicity with Jim Crow laws and is still 80 percent to 90 percent white. But with 15.3 million members, that translates to at least 1.5 million nonwhite members.

And while membership at white churches is decreasing, it is on the rise at churches identified as predominantly “non-Anglo.”