Baptist leader defends Martin case comments

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm condemns the response of many black leaders to the Trayvon Martin case as "shameful." Some black pastors within the nation's largest Protestant denomination say Richard Land's comments are setting back an effort to broaden the faith's appeal beyond its traditional white, Southern base.

Land says he stands by his assertion that President Barack Obama "poured gasoline on the racialist fires" when he addressed Martin's slaying and that Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have used the case "to try to gin up the black vote for an African-American president who is in deep, deep, deep trouble for re-election."

Land, who is white, said he had no regrets about his remarks. He also defends the idea that people are justified in seeing young black men as threatening. A black man is "statistically more likely to do you harm than a white man," he said. "Is it tragic that people react that way? Yes. Is it unfair? Yes? But it is understandable."

George Zimmerman, a Sanford, Fla., neighborhood watch volunteer, says he was defending himself when he fatally shot Martin during a scuffle. Martin, 17, was unarmed and the case has become a racial flash point with protesters speculating Zimmerman singled out Martin because he was black.

Land's comments come as the Southern Baptist Convention is trying hard to diversify its membership.

Last year, the denomination for the first time elected a black pastor to its No. 2 position of first vice president, and the Rev. Fred Luter is expected to become the first black president of the Southern Baptist Convention at this year's meeting in June.