Baptist & Reflector
More than 8,100 messengers, including 544 from Tennessee, to the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting June 14 raise ballots to vote on various resolutions during the two-day meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center. Messengers receive the paper ballots when they register at the meeting. — BP photo
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Messengers voted June 15 to continue funding the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
North Carolina messenger Joshua Scruggs made a motion June 14 to “abolish the ERLC, with the first of the two necessary votes taking place during the 2022 annual meeting and, upon an affirmative vote, the second vote be automatically added to the 2023 SBC annual meeting’s Order of Business.”
Scruggs spoke on his motion the following day. Abolishing the ERLC will remove an entity that has “caused division among Southern Baptists and will continue to do so,” he said.
A current and former leader both spoke against the motion.
Brent Leatherwood, acting director of the ERLC, noted the entity is needed now more than ever before with the possible reversal of Roe v. Wade just around the corner.
“To turn our back on the public square when it is needed the most is to turn our back on the gospel,” Leatherwood observed.
Former ERLC head Richard Land agreed.
“I can’t imagine a more damaging moment to defund the ERLC when we are on the verge of having Roe v. Wade overturned,” he said.
Land noted that if the abortion ruling is overturned, it will “lead to a battle in all 50 states.
“The ERLC is perfectly primed to be a resource and help to the states,” Land said.
The motion failed in a show of hands vote. B&R
