Statement on the Resignation of Brent Leatherwood as President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Brent Leatherwood, who has served for the past three years as President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, has officially resigned from his position.
Part of the legacy he leaves behind at the ERLC was his opposition to equal protection of the laws for preborn children.
Despite an overall desire within the SBC for the abolition of abortion in our country, articulated in a 2021 resolution passed by SBC messengers, Leatherwood consistently argued against the notion that preborn persons should be protected by the same homicide and assault laws already protecting born persons.
Beyond opposing this simple biblical and constitutional position in word, he subverted such efforts in deed, even when they were championed by fellow members of the SBC.
One infamous example was his decision to endorse a 2022 letter that opposed any abortion legislation that could penalize women for willfully murdering their preborn children, a document that was used to defeat abortion abolition efforts in Louisiana, followed by other states such as Kentucky, Missouri, and North Dakota. This letter has indeed been a hindrance to the cause of abolishing abortion and saving preborn babies from death in our nation.
That is why the Foundation to Abolish Abortion is respectfully urging, alongside thousands of our brothers and sisters in the SBC, that the next President of the ERLC remove the endorsement of the organization from that document.
Such a move would be a welcome first step toward ensuring that the ERLC is not abusing the influence of the SBC, the largest association of Protestant churches in our nation and a bulwark of conservative evangelicalism, against sincere efforts to end abortion.
We would also encourage the next President of the ERLC to support equal protection of the laws for preborn children, alongside the SBC messengers who have made their position clear on this matter in recent years.
Rather than subverting such equal protection for preborn babies, the ERLC has a newfound opportunity to serve as a vanguard for advancing the complete and total abolition of abortion. We pray that they would enthusiastically embrace this opportunity, and that our Lord would provide the ERLC with leaders who are zealous to establish justice in our land.