In under 48 hours, the head of the staunchly conservative public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention rankled fellow Baptists by applauding President Joe Biden’s “selfless act” of withdrawing his candidacy for re-election. Then, his agency reported he was fired — and now they have reaffirmed his leadership.
The head-spinning series of events started Sunday, but by Tuesday morning, the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission announced that no, leader Brent Leatherwood wasn’t fired. Rather, he has the full support of his top board members — though its chairman resigned amid the agency’s retraction.
On Monday, the commission issued a statement that the ERLC’s executive committee had removed Leatherwood in accordance with its bylaws.
But on Tuesday, it said, “There was not an authorized meeting, vote, or action taken by the Executive Committee. Kevin Smith has resigned as Chair of the Executive Committee.”
Leatherwood “has our support moving forward,” the executive committee statement said.
Leatherwood had led the embattled agency through three years as the policy spokesman for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, but he had not joined in the increasingly public support among many Southern Baptists for former President Donald Trump.
After Biden’s announcement Sunday that he would not seek re-election, Leatherwood called it a “selfless act.”
“We should all express our appreciation that President Biden has put the needs of the nation above his personal ambition,” Leatherwood said.
Leatherwood’s statement prompted fierce blowback on social media from some within the denomination who had already targeted his agency for criticism amid a larger battle to pull the already-conservative denomination even further to the right.
Clint Pressley, the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, joined in the criticism.
“Sounds right,” Pressley posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to a criticism of Leatherwood by a Southern Baptist professor. That professor, Andrew Walker, said Biden’s withdrawal was not an “act of valor” but rather a case of “ultra-powerful” Democrats forcing him out.
Leatherwood and his agency had advocated staunchly conservative stances in areas such as opposing abortion, in keeping with official Southern Baptist stances, though he resisted calls by some to advocate legal penalties for women who seek abortions.
At this year’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, hundreds attended an unofficial event featuring a video-recorded address by Trump.
But Leatherwood hosted a separate event, also attended by hundreds, in which he interviewed former Vice President Mike Pence, another staunch conservative who received the wrath of Trump and many of the former president’s followers after he refused to use his role to block certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
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Peter Smith, The Associated Press
