Embattled State Rep. Will Dismukes has resigned as pastor of a Baptist church but defiantly declared that he has no plans to step down from the state Legislature.
The Alabama Baptist, an online and print news source for Baptists around the state, reported on Thursday that Dismukes had agreed to step down from Pleasant Hill Baptist Church following heavy criticism from lawmakers and citizens around the state over Dismukes’ decision to attend and give the invocation at a birthday celebration for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Immediate effort was made to connect with Will on behalf of our leadership with commitment toward a biblically based process to mitigate controversy surrounding this issue,” Mel Johnson, a mission strategist for the Autauga Baptist Association and a deacon at Pleasant Hill Baptist, told the Alabama Baptist. “He was open and receptive to our call and subsequent in-person meeting on Tuesday afternoon (July 28).”
In an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday morning, however, Dismukes, a freshman lawmaker from Prattville, said he had no plans to step down from the Legislature. Both Democrats and Republicans, including Republican Sen. Clyde Chambliss, who is Dismukes’ senator, have called for Dismukes to resign. He is not up for re-election until 2022.
Dismukes’ Facebook post, which went up the same day the state was honoring Civil Rights hero John Lewis, showed him speaking at the Forrest event. The backlash from around the state was swift and severe.
Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, told the Alabama Baptist, “We are saddened and grieved to learn of the recent Facebook post by state Rep. Will Dismukes. … In the wake of tremendous controversy, we reaffirm our opposition to any kind of racism.”
The day after his controversial post, Dismukes participated in an interview with WSFA-TV in Montgomery to offer an explanation but seemingly made things worse for himself. In the interview, he blamed the backlash on “cancel culture” and expressed surprise over the outrage.
Immediately following the interview, Chambliss issued his call for Dismukes to step down.
