The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
President Joseph R Biden
fired ERLC President Brett Leatherwood
****UPDATE***** July 23, 2024 - while the below reporting was 100% accurate at the time that it was written, the ERLC has since retracted its statement firing Brent Leatherman. The Alabama Gazette has published a new story updating readers,
The uncomfortable relationship between the Southern Baptists and ERLC President Brent Leatherwood finally ended after Leatherwood praised President Joseph R. Biden on the Baptist's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission's social media account.
He was fired on Monday, after his post praising President Biden's decision to end his reelection bid.
"In accordance with our bylaws, the executive committee has removed Brent Leatherwood as president," the executive committee of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said in a statement Monday. "Further details, as well as plans for the transition, will be provided at our September board meeting."
Leatherwood has served in the role since September 2022.
He was removed from his position by the ERLC's board of trustees after conservatives exploded with outrage over Leatherwood's praise of Biden's decision.
"We should all express our appreciation that President Biden has put the needs of the nation above his personal ambition," Leatherwood told the Baptist Press. "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."
He then posted the comments on the official account of the ERLC.
There is a long history of mainline American Protestant Churches: the Episcopal, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists etc. adopting more leftward social and political stances and entered a period of decline and in some cases schisms where more conservative congregations split off into their own faction of churches. Conservatives within the Southern Baptist community had pointed to a number of positions taken by Leatherwood that they interpreted as the SBC taking that same path. Sunday's effusive praise of Biden's decision and the implied opposition to former President Donald J. Trump's candidacy was taken as enough cause to end Leatherwood's tenure in the powerful position within the Baptist Church,
Conservatives had previously attempted to shut down the ERLC over their opposition to Leatherwood by asking delegates to the SBC's annual convention. That motion failed.
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