Messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to affirm the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, defeating a motion that would have defunded the entity amid accusations of a leftward drift. By a show of ballots, a motion that would have defunded the ERLC failed by estimated margins of 3-to-1 to 4-to-1. It would have required approval at two straight meetings.
The ERLC is the public policy arm of the SBC and addresses issues such as life, religious liberty, marriage, and human dignity in Washington, D.C.
Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, urged messengers to defeat the motion. The meeting was held in Indianapolis.
“It strives to be faithful to Scripture, faithful to what the Lord calls us to do, faithful to serve our churches,” Leatherwood told messengers. “And we are in a great hour of need in our culture and our convention. Division and anger are plentiful, voices are wanting to tear down with false assertions and half-truths that are everywhere. To eliminate an entity whose voice is needed now as much as ever would be the wrong move.”
The sponsor of the motion, Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., asserted that the ERLC has drifted from its mission.
“For the last eight years, the ERLC has become increasingly distant from the values and concerns of the churches that finance it,” Ascol said. “I, along with countless other pastors, have voiced our concerns to executive trustees and trustees over positions, actions, and inactions of the ERLC.”
In 2018, Ascol said, the ERLC “produced and released a professional video, arguing that animal rights is a pro-life issue.” Ascol said he found the video appalling.
“Though the video was finally taken down, I’m left to wonder: Why was Cooperative Program money ever used to produce such a video?”
The Cooperative Program is the funding system for SBC missions and ministries.
Ascol also criticized the ERLC for co-signing a 2023 open letter to state legislators that opposed legislation criminalizing women who seek abortions. National Right to Life, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, March for Life, and Susan B. Anthony List also signed it. The letter declared: “We will continue to oppose legislative and policy initiatives that criminalize women who seek abortions, and we will continue to work for initiatives that protect unborn children and policies that provide and strengthen life-affirming resources for abortion-vulnerable women.”
“That letter killed the bill in Louisiana, which would have been the first law in the United States to completely outlaw abortion,” Ascol said.
Leatherwood said the animal rights video preceded his presidency.
“That video was taken down nearly immediately because the organization realized it had made a mistake,” he said. “And so none of us is perfect. But we did take that down, and we accepted responsibility for it.”
Luke Holmes, a messenger from Immanuel Baptist Church in Duncan, Okla., urged messengers to support the ERLC. He, Ascol, and Leatherwood were the only individuals who spoke to the motion.
Holmes said discussion about the ERLC “often sparks debate from the 50s and 60s when they were leaders in race relations and religious liberty.”
“There were multiple, similar motions like this decades ago, and each time, they were decisively rejected,” Holmes said. “For decades, the messengers of the SBC have spoken clearly and affirmed the importance of this entity’s mission. It’s understandable that not everyone agrees with every action or stance. The disagreement is natural and healthy within a diverse body as ours. … The suggestion to abolish or defund from the floor is the equivalent of a nuclear option. It would leave damage all over the place. When our nation is navigating pivotal issues, having a dedicated and experienced voice on these matters is important.”
Holmes concluded, “The Southern Baptist Convention is one of the largest Protestant denominations in America [and] must maintain a presence in our nation’s capital.”
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.