You’ll have to forgive this interlude from politics into the Southern Baptist Convention and its politics.
Today, Southern Baptists from around the world will gather together in Dallas, TX as Messengers to begin shaping their future policies.
On the agenda in a few hours is a motion to kill the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (“ERLC”).
As someone raised in and baptized in the Southern Baptist traditions, but who is currently in the Presbyterian Church in America, I hope my brothers in Christ voting in Dallas will just consider the perspective of someone in the faith and of conservative credentials (former Rush Limbaugh guest host who now does the midday talk radio slot nationally among other things).
Save the ERLC. Do not kill it.
Certainly, there is one motion for some reforms that might need to be considered.
But what is happening is a political campaign of those who have a political agenda that has turned their faith toward their politics instead of the other way around.
As I went through seminary, I became more and more mindful that my politics should conform to my faith, not the other way around.
We are often catechized by those we surround ourselves with and I do not think it is a coincidence that the loudest voices in favor of killing the ERLC are a set of highly online, highly on social media political activists, many of whom are attacking Brent Leatherwood who heads the ERLC and the ERLC itself as some offspring of Russell Moore, the former leader of the ERLC who is a loud critic of Donald Trump and who has left the Southern Baptist Convention.
They have catechized themselves into a political operation that would blend their politics and the church. But the church has always been counter to the culture, including the culture of this age and the sound and the fury of the online mob.
I do not agree with every position taken by the ERLC and I would note that some of Brent Leatherwood’s convictions on guns, which stem from the impact of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville that directly impacted his family and those of many of his friends, have been weaponized against the ERLC.
Frankly, though I disagreed with Governor Lee’s proposal, I understood the deep-rooted concern to do something, given the situation, and also understood how individuals, parents, and friends of those affected by the murders might feel compelled to take action I disagree with.
But, to demand the ERLC be shut down for taking a position to support Governor Lee’s proposal boggles the mind when the ERLC was acting consistent with two resolutions Southern Baptist Messengers passed in 2018 and 2022.
Did the Southern Baptist Messengers repeal those resolutions? They did not. So they passed a resolution that stated, “We call on federal, state, and local authorities to implement preventative measures that would reduce gun violence and mass shootings while operating in accordance with the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.” Governor Lee proposed something that he and others thought fit those guidelines after the Covenant School shooting. The ERLC said it was consistent with those two resolutions.
And now the ERLC should be shut down because of it?
Or is it because the ERLC has not taken a side on some specific issue against transgenderism? That is another criticism.
But the ERLC has been very vocal in opposition to transgenderism, pornography, abortion, etc.
It has been able to open doors at the White House and on Capitol Hill to defend the sanctity of life, take on sports betting, challenge transgenderism, etc.
It just isn’t a wing of MAGA.
And that is the point. Christ did not come to affirm your politics and the ERLC has not been in the business of affirming the politics of a set of hyper-online Baptists who tie too much of their lives into Twitter controversies and partisan politics.
The people I see who are vocally insistent that the ERLC be shut down are more on social media than me. They have treated this effort not with the spirit of brotherly love, charity, and grace, but with a political campaign waged online and in the rumor mill.
It has not been edifying or glorifying to the spirit of the church and as the Messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meet today, I hope they will consider this.
When the online echo chamber of politically engaged Baptists mobilizes a political campaign, it is not leading the church toward Christ, but towards the world of politics. The attacks on the ERLC overlap with a contingent of vocal politically engaged Baptists who have sought some amalgamation of secular politics and the church that often loses the church for politics.
More directly, one of the great moral fights of our age that is shaping up is a fight against online sports betting. The ERLC has been one of the leaders in this fight, giving voice, argument, and idea to an issue that is growing. Sports betting apps, sports networks, colleges, etc. are ensnaring hundreds of thousands of young men and indebting them. The ERLC has been one of the loudest and clearest voices against the proliferation of online sports betting. This fight is only just building. Killing the ERLC would be a moral setback. As an aside, I thought it was funny last night to see several major proponents of online gambling cheering on the motion to kill the ERLC.
The ERLC has been a voice for good. It could, as all earthly institutions could, undoubtedly use some reforms. But it certainly does not deserve a death sentence because, though they’d never say it this way, it does not align with the politics of the age. It just aligns with where the Messengers lead it. And that, my brothers in Christ, is on you the Messengers, not the ERLC.
God bless.
PS – While you’re at it, pass the Law Amendment.
