Editor’s note: This article replaces and updates a previous article posted just two hours earlier.
One day after Brent Leatherwood offered a gracious comment about President Joe Biden bowing out of the presidential race, he was fired as head of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
No reason was given for Leatherwood’s sudden termination, but it came Monday evening, July 22, one day after Baptist Press quoted Leatherwood saying of Biden’s decision: “Not only is this a historic decision, it is the right decision for our nation. … Despite what some partisans will say, to walk away from power is a selfless act — the kind that has become all too rare in our culture.”
Brent Leatherwood
That comment set off a firestorm of criticism of Leatherwood and the ELRC online, mainly from the far right Calvinist wing of the SBC that has been advocating to defund or abolish the agency for several years. The same group of pro-Trump Southern Baptists so severely critiqued Leatherwood’s predecessor, Russell Moore, that he resigned. Moore now serves as editor in chief of Christianity Today.
Although Leatherwood and the ERLC have a solid track record of taking conservative stances on social issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights, their failure to embrace the fullness of Trumpism and to deny the reality of sexual abuse in the SBC have remained constant points of criticism.
A motion to abolish the agency failed to get traction at this summer’s annual meeting. Some ultra-conservative churches already have stopped giving to the SBC Cooperative Program in protest of the ERLC.
News of Leatherwood’s removal came after hours Monday through an announcement on the organization’s website and the three-paragraph BP story. The firing was attributed to the trustee executive committee, which has four members.
Sources close to the situation told BNG two of the four executive committee members did not know of the firing, which reportedly was prompted by board Chairman Kevin Smith.
Smith serves as pastor of Family Church Village in West Palm Beach, Fla. He previously served as executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware, where he succeeded Will McRaney, who had been fired at the request of North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell, leading to litigation that has been ongoing for seven years.
Kevin Smith
Smith previously served as a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and was a teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church there, where Ezell was pastor.
Smith left his role at the Maryland and Delaware convention suddenly in 2021 to return to a pastorate in Florida. He has served on the ERLC board since 2018 and was elected chairman of the board last year.
The executive committee action reportedly happened without any notification to the full board. Other board members reportedly found out about the firing when news was published on BP.
The official statement said: “The executive committee of the board of trustees for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention has issued the following statement: In accordance with our bylaws, the executive committee has removed Brent Leatherwood as president. Further details, as well as plans for the transition, will be provided at our September board meeting. Until then, the Executive Committee of the board of trustees will assume directional responsibility for carrying out the ministry assignments for the ERLC.”
The full board is not scheduled to meet until Sept. 10-11, which is seven weeks away.
According to sources close to the situation, it was Leatherwood’s statement about Biden that precipitated his firing.
The SBC, while part of the white evangelical group that makes up Trump’s political base, includes both pro-Trumpers and never-Trumpers. In June, Trump was invited to speak to a side event during the SBC annual meeting in June, which drew sharp criticism from some Southern Baptist pastors.
Leatherwood, like his predecessor, has tried to walk a finer line of being staunchly anti-abortion while not appearing to be pro-Trump. Moore’s “never Trump” stance forced him out of the ERLC leadership.
Calling Biden’s decision a “selfless act” did not go down well with that far right crowd, exemplified by Georgia pastor Mike Stone, a former candidate for SBC president and former chairman of the SBC Executive Committee.
Calling Biden’s decision a “selfless act” did not go down well with that far right crowd,
Stone tweeted a link to the BP story and said: “Despite what some partisans will say, nothing in the record indicates Mr. Biden has ‘walk(ed) away from power’ as ‘a selfless act.’ Nothing.”
To which Southern Baptist pastor Wade Lentz replied, “Even Ray Charles could see that!”
Which prompted this public reply from Stone: “Ray Charles, Ronnie Milsap, and Stevie Wonder could’ve written a song about it.”
A posting of the BP story by the ERLC on X — and Stone’s posting on X — both drew dozens of angry responses demeaning Biden, damning Leatherwood and pouncing on the ERLC.
Southern Baptist commentator Megan Basham quickly joined the fray: “This is one of the most dishonest and cynical political statements I have ever seen. No one believes that Joe Biden dropped out due to selflessness. It’s almost obscene to utter something so discrediting in a moment like this.”
Other responses included:
jojomarks81: “Oh dear lord, you people make me ashamed to be associated with the SBC!! This wasn’t a selfless act. This man has been unfit for years. The only reason he is ‘dropping out’ is because he is being made to do so. Why? Because his poll numbers show he can’t beat Trump. Please spare me your moralistically egregious platitudes.”
Pastor Rich Lusk: “Nowhere in the Bible is walking away from power considered godly in itself. But if it is godly, why doesn’t the director of the ERLC show true selflessness by stepping down?”
Kangmin Lee: “Why doesn’t Brent Leatherwood resign as well if walking away from power is a selfless act? Stop being selfish!”
Bobby: Quoted Gerard Baker, who said: “Pretending Joe Biden has voluntarily surrendered the presidency in an act of historic self-denial is almost as big a lie as the claim for the last six months that he was competent to serve four more years.”
Kurt Mahlburg: “What an inane tweet. It was a palace coup by the most corrupt political party in the history of the United States.”
MamaCan: “Just when I thought the ERLC couldn’t embarrass the SBC more, they outdo themselves.”
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