What’s in a name - The Southern Baptist Convention and the name change

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members. It is also the second largest Christian body in the United States, after the Catholic Church. The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention stems from its having been founded and rooted in the Southern United States. The SBC became a separate denomination in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, following a regional split with northern Baptists over the issues of slavery (Wikipedia). Many years ago the debate about name change for the Southern Baptist Convention started with motions to study a name change having been presented to the convention on many occasions, such as 1965, 1974, 1983, 1989, 1990 and 1998. A straw poll on name change was defeated in 1999 as well as a 2004 motion to authorize the SBC president to appoint a group to study the name change. On September 21, 2011 the SBC president Bryant Wright announced a task force to study the prospect of changing the convention's name and sparked a lively debate during the SBC Executive Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Read here.