ERLC President Brent Leatherwood Fired With No Explanation

The announcement came a day after he faced online backlash for commending President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out.

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), Brent Leatherwood, suddenly lost his job Monday in a historic and unprecedented move by trustee leadership.

A brief statement from ERLC gave no reasoning for Leatherwood’s termination, which came a day after he issued remarks applauding president Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

Leatherwood had been on staff with ERLC—the public policy and advocacy arm for Southern Baptists—for the past seven years and president of the entity since 2021. Just a few hours before his termination was announced Monday evening, Leatherwood was still working and sharing ERLC resources on social media.

An increasingly vocal minority of Southern Baptists have called for the defunding of the ERLC year after year. Some of their ire was directed at Leatherwood, his unwillingness to endorse an abolitionist pro-life stance that would criminalize mothers who abort, and his calls for gun reform after his children survived the 2023 shooting at Covenant School in Nashville.

Yet Leatherwood also had a reputation as an effective and respected leader for Southern Baptists in Washington, DC. At an ERLC luncheon last month, former vice president Mike Pence had recognized Leatherwood in particular, saying it was only with his advocacy and partnership that the previous Trump administration was able to advance certain pro-life and religious liberty measures.

In a brief statement issued Monday evening in a press release and in Baptist Press, the SBC’s news service, the ERLC said Leatherwood had been removed by the executive committee of the board of trustees, “in accordance ...

Continue reading...