(RNS) — The leader of the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics and public policy entity was fired Monday (July 22), a day after he praised President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election bid.
“In accordance with our bylaws, the executive committee has removed Brent Leatherwood as president,” the executive committee of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee said in a statement Monday. “Further details, as well as plans for the transition, will be provided at our September board meeting.”
No details were given about why Leatherwood, who was named ERLC president in September 2022, was removed from his position. It is not clear whether the ERLC’s full board of trustees was asked to review the decision before it was made or why Leatherwood was fired. Leatherwood did not respond to a request for comment.
In a story on Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, Baptist Press, an official SBC publication, quoted Leatherwood saying Biden had done the right thing in ending his campaign.
“We should all express our appreciation that President Biden has put the needs of the nation above his personal ambition,” Leatherwood said. “Despite what some partisans will say, to walk away from power is a selfless act — the kind that has become all too rare in our culture.”
The two-sentence quote, posted on X by the official account of the ERLC, led to an online dust-up in which Leatherwood’s critics, who included Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Coral Gables, Florida, called Leatherwood to account for a number of his recent positions. Ascol is known as a firebrand even in the staunchly conservative SBC. In June he asked the delegates to the SBC’s annual meeting, the denomination’s governing body, to shutter the ERLC. His motion failed.
Ascol and other critics said Leatherwood has been too soft on the issue of abortion, citing Leatherwood’s opposition to legislation that would have jailed women who have abortions.
Leatherwood also called for gun law reforms after a shooting in March 2023 at a Nashville Christian school where his children were students. He also criticized the GOP for dropping anti-abortion language from its platform.
Ascol praised the news that Leatherwood had been fired, mimicking Leatherwood’s praise for Biden.
“Not only is this a historic decision, it is the right decision for our convention,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Despite what some will say, for the trustees to remove Brent from this position of power is a righteous act — the kind that has become all too rare among trustees in our recent SBC culture.”
Russell Moore, a former ERLC president who is now editor-in-chief at Christianity Today magazine, said he was stunned by the news of Leatherwood’s firing.
“Brent Leatherwood is a good man and a good ERLC president,” he said. “He and his family are worthy of better than this. And so are Southern Baptists.”
Moore also said it was odd to see the announcement of Leatherwood’s firing coming from the ERLC’s executive committee rather than the entire board. He could only recall that happening once before at an SBC entity, when Paige Patterson was fired for allegedly lying to the board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas.
“This is disgraceful and shameful,” said Moore.
Leatherwood is the third consecutive ERLC president to leave office amid controversy. Russell Moore resigned in 2021, after years of antagonism largely arising from his criticism of Donald Trump and his support of survivors of sexual abuse. Moore’s predecessor, Richard Land, retired after a plagiarism scandal.