Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, gives the ERLC report at the June 12 afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper
INDIANAPOLIS — The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is not just “rooted” in the Southern Baptist Convention, “it is responsive to this convention,” Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, told messengers in his report during the June 12 afternoon session of the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.
Leatherwood said the commission’s work on several key issues is evidence that the ERLC continues to provide a vital service in helping churches and individuals navigate key social, cultural and political issues like abortion, gender issues and support for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Living in a ‘post-Roe world’
“Even though we live in a post-Roe world, it is clear the abortion industry’s appetite for death has not been abated,” Leatherwood said. “That cruel reality led us to support a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court laying out the dangers posed by chemical abortion drugs, the ones that take pre-born lives and are targeted at vulnerable mothers.
“I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: If we are to establish a true culture of life, lawmakers must stop those who profit from a culture of death, the abortion mills and the abortion chemical manufacturers.”
Leatherwood called attention to the Psalm 139 Project, noting the effort has placed 12 ultrasound machines in the past year, including its second international placement in Southeast Asia in partnership with the International Mission Board.
Leatherwood praised the convention’s clear stance on moral issues and said that in the past year, the ERLC rallied against 19 federal efforts ranging from the Equality Act to abortion tourism to transgender issues.
“To put that into perspective, we historically have only had to file two or three (public opinions) per year,” Leatherwood said.
Leatherwood said the ERLC has recently developed two new resources to help individuals and churches address moral issues: “The Nations Belong to God: A Christian Guide for Political Engagement” and “God’s Good Design: A Practical Guide to Answering Gender Confusion.”
“You spoke, we acted,” Leatherwood said. “In all this work, in all that we strive to do, we do so without malice or despair but instead with hope.”
