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.
FILE - Covenant School parent Brent Leatherwood attends a hearing, April 16, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. 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.
“After multiple conversations with Executive Committee members of the ERLC, I was convinced in my mind that we had a consensus to remove Brent Leatherwood as the president of the ERLC,” Smith’s statement said. “It is a delicate matter and, in an effort to deal with it expeditiously, I acted in good faith but without a formal vote of the Executive Committee. This was an error on my part, and I accept full responsibility.
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. Leatherwood also denounced the publication in some news media of documents attributed to the killer, saying that it only worsened the trauma to families of the schoolchildren. He was the driving force behind a group of Covenant parents who went to court to keep the shooter’s writings from being released to media and other groups that had filed public records requests. A judge recently blocked the release of the writings.
While Leatherwood maintained his position in office, the effort to oust him reflects “the MAGA-ness of the SBC in much of its leadership,” said Baptist historian Bill Leonard, referring to Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.
Southern Baptist SBC’S Ethics And Religious Liberty Commission Biden Withdraws Reelection Bid Religion Politics Kevin Smith Executive Committee Protestant
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