Regular readers will remember the ERLC, which is a branch of the Southern Baptist Convention that is often accused of advancing left-wing Democrat party policies. There was an opportunity to de-fund the ERLC at the most recent SBC convention, but the attempt failed. In this post, let’s review a couple of articles that explain what the ERLC is, and why conservatives wanted to shut them down.
The first article is from Daily Signal:
The Southern Baptist Convention held its annual conference this week, and delegates narrowly voted against eliminating the public policy arm, which has been accused of advancing left-wing ideology.
[…]ERLC has been accused of pushing social justice initiatives like critical race theory and gun control. ERLC President Brent Leatherwood has lobbied for gun control under a pro-life banner and led a group to block the release of the transgender Nashville shooter’s writings.
Former ERLC president, Russell Moore, repeatedly denounced President Donald Trump, even though the majority of Southern Baptists voted for him.
About that mention of critical race theory in the quote above… A resolution opposing critical race theory was blocked at a previous Southern Baptist conference. It makes sense to me that this refusal to condemn critical race theory would come from the ERLC, based on their other leftist positions on political issues. But let’s review the refusal to condemn first.
Here’s what Dr. Voddie Baucham had to say about it, as reported by Capstone Report:
The Southern Baptist Convention messengers were cowards for not repudiating Critical Race Theory by name, said Dr. Voddie Baucham on the Todd Starnes Show.
“I don’t think it was so much buying in (to CRT) as much as white guilt and cowardice,” Dr. Baucham said. “It was obvious building up to the Convention that the issue at hand was Resolution 9 on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality from two years ago and how that was going to be responded to. And when you respond to it with a Resolution that refuses to even name Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, that is an act of cowardice.”
And another black conservative Carol Swain said this:
I was most interested in the Critical Race Theory issue and a resolution that the Conservative Baptist Network crafted and put forward.
And I am on the steering committee of that network. Our resolution was killed by the resolutions committee. And they put forth a substitute that was vaguely worded and did not mention intersexuality or Critical Race Theory itself.
[…]…then they shut down any debate about how the issue was handled.
Critics of the ERLC claim that the ERLC associates with and is influenced by secular left-wing groups. Critics also claim that the ERLC takes their marching orders from the secular left – not from Scripture or Baptist faith and convictions. And those critics may have a point, when you consider the previous leader of the ERLC, Russell Moore. You might remember him, because he met with Barack Obama. They got along really well! And now Moore is heading up Christianity Today, which has a record of advancing Democrat party policies.
Regarding the ERLC’s links to the secular left, Daily Signal notes:
Between 2018 and 2021, during Moore’s presidency, ERLC received $150,000 from eBay founder and longtime Democrat donor Pierre Omidyar, Basham reported. The Fetzer Foundation, which gets money from Bill Gates, has given ERLC $220,000. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg gave another $90,000.
And that’s not even to mention their connections with the Evangelical Immigration Table, which receives funding from none other than George Soros.
The Center for Baptist Leadership explains in this May 2025 article:
The National Immigration Forum launched the Evangelical Immigration Table with funds from George Soros. The 2013 Open Society Foundations board book notes explicitly that funding from Soros’ organization was sent to the NIF action fund for the purpose of “muster[ing] evangelical support”.
[…][T]he ERLC continues to actively participate in the Evangelical Immigration Table as one of the leadership organizations.
[…]Not only does the ERLC serve as one of the leadership organizations of the Evangelical Immigration Table, but the ties between the ERLC, the National Immigration Forum, and the other leadership organizations of the Evangelical Immigration Table seem unusually interconnected.
Consider this: the ERLC’s former Director of Public Policy was hired directly from the National Immigration Forum. This alone should raise alarms: an employee of a Soros-funded organization that explicitly targeted evangelicals for ideological reformation was hired by the ERLC to represent Southern Baptists on matters of public policy. When she left the ERLC, she moved on to another EIT leadership organization. And she’s not alone.
Megan Basham authored a recent article with Christ Over All, where she talked about the current leader of the ERLC, Brent Leatherwood.
She wrote:
Though Leatherwood told The Baptist Press the ERLC supported a law to ban transgender treatments on children “as it made its way through the Tennessee legislature,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth, who was a principal architect and co-sponsor of the bill, couldn’t remember receiving that support. He did not recall any involvement from the ERLC.
[…]One issue that did not find the ERLC so motivated was protecting women’s private spaces. Lamberth’s colleague, Tennessee Representative Monty Fritts, told me the ERLC was similarly MIA on a bill he sponsored to keep men out of women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and prisons. Again, this is an issue the ERLC regularly highlights in its appeals to Southern Baptists for support. Fritts also said that while many ministries and faith groups in Tennessee backed his proposal to officially name July a month of prayer and fasting, the ERLC was not one of them.
How should the ERLC respond to the charges of conservatives? Well, they can differentiate themselves from the Democrat party, and show the conservatives that they understand what the Bible teaches that affects policy and apologetics. Where is the evidence for their advocacy for socially conservative policies? Do any of them even know how to make a case from the Bible for conservative positions like pro-life or natural marriage? What about defending the existence of God, or the resurrection of Jesus? Does anyone at the ERLC know how to use reason and evidence to make a case to non-Christians about the reasonableness of basic Christian beliefs? Where’s the evidence that this is a priority for them?
