The head of the policy department of the Southern Baptist Congress resigned from nearly four years of domination and led a firm conservative agency that has boycotted critics within the country’s largest Protestant denomination in recent years in an attempt to push it to the right.
The agency confirmed that the Commission on Moral and Religious Freedom accepted the resignation of its President Brent Letwood on Thursday.
The ERLC advocates for anti-abortion and trans rights, while promoting a strong Israeli position, long-standing evangelical priorities, and a broad view of religious freedom in public squares similar to the way it is defined in recent U.S. Supreme Court cases.
The church representatives at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting voted decisively to retain the committee, which was in fact a vote of confidence in the efforts to abolish the committee. Some critics in the convention hope it takes a tougher stance on immigration and endorse criminal penalties for women seeking abortion.
“In all our advocacy efforts, we try to balance the balance of faith and goodness, which is biblical and reflects our Baptist faith,” Levowood said in a statement. “This means representing the truth, without ambiguity, but never respecting the God-given dignity that everyone has.”
Scott Foshie, chairman of the Commission’s Trustee, was honored to show “the courage of love” in the face of America’s division and increasingly polarized culture.
Miles Mullin, vice president of the committee, was appointed acting president.
Leatherwood led the agency for four years, first as acting president and then as president.
The agency’s dismissal of Leatherwood was embarrassing after the agency praised then-President Joe Biden (deeply unpopular among conservatives) for ending his reelection a year ago.
It turns out that the chairman of the board of directors announced the sacking of Wrightwood did not make a request from the executive committee of the board. The committee’s board then gave Traywood a vote of confidence, but warned against unnecessary controversy.
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