A Century-long Look at the Southern Baptist Commissions on Ethics (Part 2)

In part one of this two-essay series, I gave a decade-by-decade breakdown from the 1900s to the 1960s on how various Southern Baptist ethics commissions sought to deal with social issues. In part two, I pick up that history in the  1970s and move to the present. These essays are primarily historical and descriptive, as they give context for how the Southern Baptist Convention has sought to address concerns in the public square for more than a century. They also highlight how the ERLC has at many times been at odds with the larger SBC convention. [Editor’s Note: For more on the tenuous relationship between the leaders of the ERLC and the SBC, see the Christ Over All podcast with Tom Nettles.]

The 1970s

The 1970’s saw the beginning and rapid intensification of controversy among Southern Baptists on the moral dilemma posed by feminist ideology in conjunction with abortion. The extended debate among Southern Baptists began with Norma McCorvey (1947–2017) who had twice given up her out-of-wedlock children to adoption. In 1969, she became pregnant a third time with her husband, but in this case she wanted an abortion. Texas law would not allow it, so she was referred to feminist lawyers who were looking for such a case to challenge state laws on abortion. Though McCorvey ended up having the baby (and for the third time surrendered it to adoption), a federal three-judge panel ruled that the Texas law concerning abortion was unconstitutional. The Texas attorney general, Henry Wade, appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also ruled in Roe v. Wade (1973) that the Texas law was unconstitutional, citing the fourteenth amendment of the U. S. Constitution.

In 1971, the Christian Life Commission pointed to its emphasis on human sexuality and education, pornography, overpopulation, and race relations. It cited Morality and Beyond by liberal theologian Paul Tillich as a model for “the imminence of the moral imperative.” Both culture and religion fall apart without such ultimate seriousness. The Christian Life Commission worked through the year to emphasize the imminence of this moral imperative.[1]

1. SBC 1971: 209. All references to the Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention will follow this pattern. The SBC Annual is a yearly book of reports from all of the SBC entities, and it is a valuable historical artifact.

Larry Maddox from Missouri presented a resolution on abortion. In spite of attempts to eliminate the final paragraph that came from the committee on resolutions, the resolution that passed ultimately stated:

Be it further Resolved, That we call upon Southern Baptists to work for legislation that will allow for the possibility of abortion under such cases as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.[2]

2. SBC 1971: 72.

The 1973 decision by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade argued that the fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution implicitly provides a fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose whether to have an abortion. The phrase “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” became the constitutional foundation for the extrapolation of the right to an abortion. Though some provisions were included to protect “pre-natal life,” the arbitrary division of pregnancy into three trimesters made early abortion purely the private judgment of the mother.

In 1973, the CLC emphasize applied Christianity in areas of family life, race relations, daily work and economics, Christian citizenship, peace, and special moral concerns such as alcohol and other drugs, gambling, and pornography. They emphasized eleven points of activity, none of which included abortion. In light of the Watergate scandal of 1972–1974, the convention adopted a resolution that included this: “We call for the just prosecution of persons from any political party who are found guilty of maligning justice.”[3] Also, the Convention pledged prayer for President Nixon during the time of political tension and commended him for his efforts for peace.

3. SBC 1973:85.

In 1974 the CLC concentrated on freedom for women, race relations, integrity in government, and economic life. Bob Holbrook (of Texas) moved “that this Convention instruct the Christian Life Commission to prepare and distribute to the churches and memberships updated materials on abortion,” with a proportionate balance of views both for and against abortion. He believed that the imbalance, lack of clarity, and conflict on this issue made such action necessary.[4] The chair referred this motion to the consideration of the Christian Life Commission.

4. SBC 1974: 73.

An attempt to amend resolution 5 on abortion was ruled out of order “since it referred to a resolution adopted in 1971.” Bob Holbrook spoke again. He moved to amend the 1971 resolution “to express opposition to abortion in any case and to seek a Constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion.” His motion was defeated. Resolution five was then adopted which merely reaffirmed the 1971 resolution. It said that Southern Baptists had “reflected a middle ground between the extreme of abortion on demand and the opposite extreme of all abortion as murder,” and asserted that the resolution “dealt responsibly from a Christian perspective with complexities of abortion problems in contemporary society.”[5]

5. SBC 1975: 183.

On the matter referred to the Christian Life Commission from the previous year, the Commission responded that they had “given careful attention to the complex ethical issues related to abortion, and it will continue to do so.” They had distributed material on the issue and “will continue to point people toward the resources of the Christian faith as the best guide for dealing with abortion.”[6] In others words, “We change nothing in our position.”

6. SBC 1975: 201.

In 1976, Bob Holbrook again brought a resolution on abortion.[7] Attempts were made to amend the version brought forth by the resolutions committee to be stronger in its affirmation of fetal life and opposition to abortion. These included “Whereas, Every decision for an abortion, for whatever reason, must necessarily involve the decision to terminate the life of an innocent human being;” and “Be it further Resolved, that we reject, as contrary to Southern Baptist doctrine and tradition, any suggestion that Southern Baptists should become political activists in support of permissive abortion legislation.” These were rejected. The resolution included this language, that the “practice of abortion for selfish non-therapeutic reasons” cheapens “all human life, and necessarily involves the decision to terminate the life of an innocent human being.” It ended, “we reject any indiscriminate attitude toward abortion, as contrary to the biblical view,” and “we also affirm our conviction about the limited role of government in dealing with matters relating to abortion, and support the right of expectant mothers to the full range of medical services and personal counseling for the preservation of life and health.” It closed the statement with “we reject, as contrary to Southern Baptist doctrine and tradition, any suggestion that Southern Baptists should become political activists in support of permissive legislation,” omitting the suggested amendment “permissive abortion legislation.”[8] The “full range of medical services and personal counseling” implied a wide range of scenarios in which abortion could be justified.

In 1977, after several vigorous motions to strengthen the wording in opposition to abortion, the 1976 action was reaffirmed.

The 1980s

The Appointment of Larry Baker

In 1987, under the influence of growing dominance of conservative trustees at the Southern Baptist entities, Foy Valentine resigned as Executive Director of the Commission so that the still-moderate majority could elect a man more in keeping with the Conservative viewpoint. This move was prompted by a 1986 motion requesting the trustees of the Christian Life Commission “upon the next vacancy for the position of executive director to fill the position with a person whose record and confession demonstrated convictions concerning the sanctity of unborn life in accordance with sentiments expressed in the Convention’s 1980, 1982, and 1984 resolutions opposing abortion.” In a preemptive action, Larry Baker already was in the process of being elected. The explanation stated:

At that time the Christian Life Commission had already activated a Search Committee to nominate a new executive director. After many months of careful and prayerful searching, the Committee unanimously nominated and the Commission elected as the new executive director a mature, wise, experienced, proven, loyal, godly, Christian ethicist [Larry Baker] with a strong commitment to upholding among Southern Baptists the sanctity of all human life including fetal life. The new executive director possesses a deep concern for an ongoing, positive responsiveness both to the will of God and to Southern Baptists regarding all moral issues including the grave moral issue of abortion.[9]

9. SBC 1987: 201.

A Washington office opened that year for more immediate interaction with political personnel dealing with ethical issues affecting the nation.

In 1989, the Commission announced that the “Commission has undergone transition in leadership. N. Larry Baker resigned as the executive director of the Commission effective June 10, 1988, to become the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pineville, Louisiana.” Richard Land was elected as Executive Director effective October 24, 1988.[10]

10. SBC 1989: 182.

The 1990s

The Appointment of Richard Land

Land served for 25 years. The massive number of ethical issues that faced the nation were itemized, analyzed, and addressed in a scriptural light. Such issues as family life, citizenship, race relations, world hunger, prosecution of child pornography and obscenity, threats to religious liberty, partial birth abortion, as well as abortion on demand were described and addressed through preaching, speaking, teaching, writing, and sponsoring conferences and seminars. In 1990, the Commission purchased a permanent facility to house the Christian Life Commission office there. It was named Leland House in honor of John Leland, whose arguments for religious liberty contributed to the passage of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

In 1991, the name of the Commission was changed to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Again, its task was to assist “Southern Baptists in understanding the moral demands of the Christian faith and helping Southern Baptists apply Christian principles to moral and social problems.” The commission began publishing the newsletter Salt six times a year to inform the churches on policy issues in the government and to keep Southern Baptists informed on public policy that affected the ethical dimension of American life. [11]

11. SBC 1991: 230-233.

In 1995, frank discussions of lingering racism were addressed at the national convention meeting. Jerri Smith moved that “the label of black churches or black extension churches or any labels that refer to African Americans as black be called African Americans as all other ethnic churches are referred to by their ancestorial origin, not by color.”[12]

12. SBC 1995: 36. Item 43.

More extensively and clarifying was the resolution on racial reconciliation. Two of the many “Whereas” clauses stated, [SBC 1995 (80)] “Many of our Southern Baptist forbears defended the right to own slaves, and either participated in, supported, or acquiesced in the particularly inhumane nature of American slavery,” and “in later years Southern Baptists failed, in many cases, to support, and in some cases opposed, legitimate initiatives to secure the civil rights of African-Americans.” Two of the resolutions that followed stated, “we lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest, and we recognize that the racism which yet plagues our culture today is inextricably tied to the past” and then, “we apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously (Psalm 19:13) or unconsciously (Leviticus 4:27).” Forgiveness was asked and a pledge to “eradicate racism” from Southern Baptist life was made.[13]

13. SBC 1995: 80, 81

A Los Angeles Times article reported, “Richard Land, director of the denomination’s Christian Life Commission, whose biracial task force drafted the statement, said Tuesday that while he cannot repent for his great-great-great-grandfather, who was a slave owner, he is ‘eager to apologize and express remorse for that.’”

In 1996, a strongly-worded statement on abortion that included a reprimand of President Clinton was given. Clinton had vetoed a bill that would have eliminated partial-birth abortion on the premise that he had prayed about it and felt led to the veto. The commissions’ statement said that the mother’s health exception has been “completely discredited as a catchall loophole which has been demonstrated to include any reason the mother so desires.” Noting that God would never lead any person into an ethical position that contradicted his inerrant word, they expressed “disapproval of the President’s suggestion that God would reveal to him in prayer that any abortion method, particularly one so barbarous in technique and so cruel in effect, would ever have God’s approval.” They also admonished Clinton, a professing Southern Baptist U.S. President, “to reverse his action,” and called on congress to override the veto.[14] Neither happened.

14. SBC 1996: 87.

The 1998 Minutes used the title Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission for the first time. Land had been listed as “President” since 1996.

Again, in 1999, a decades-old theme was reiterated rejecting “any inherent conflict between the social and salvation aspects of the Gospel.” No dichotomy exists as Christians are called to be both salt and light. The one changes actions and the other changes attitudes. Jesus “has called us to be both salt and light … before a watching world.”[15]

15. SBC 1999: 291.

The 2000s

In the 2000 Annual, the Commission announced a live radio ministry of one-half hour called “For Faith & Family,” launched two years earlier on February 16, 1998.[16] Other radio programs, some longer, some shorter, were utilized for reaching the public. This ministry increased in audience and variety of audio platforms. In 2000, the ERLC encouraged Southern Baptists to boycott Disney in light of its promotion of a radical homosexual agenda. Also, President Bush appointed Land to an international commission on religious liberty. He served on this for five years.

16. SBC 2000: 269.

In 2004, Land expressed confidence that “America can be changed and that God is looking to Southern Baptists to take part in restoring our nation to its Judeo-Christian foundation.” He also affirmed that the ERLC’s vision is a “society that affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority” with the clear purpose and determination “to assist Bible-believing families in bringing this vision to fruition.”[17] In 2005, Land reported on the impact that the ERLC’s work had on “value voters” in the presidential election the November with their emphasis on the iVote Values website. Land called for “nothing less than active, principled involvement with society, including informed participation in our nation’s public policy process.” He again affirmed the fundamental commitment to “Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority.”[18] Land engaged in over 600 interviews during the year on a wide variety of difficult and challenging ethical issues. He also expressed disappointment with the IMB and NAMB at their discontinuing their partnership with the ERLC of promoting the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.

The next years saw the ERLC continuing its work in four areas it had been assigned by the Convention. In a fourfold ministry statement, the ERLC aimed to assist churches

1. In applying the moral and ethical teachings of the Bible to the Christian life.
2. Through the communication and advocacy of moral and ethical concerns in the public arena.
3. In their moral witness in local communities.
4. By promoting religious liberty (in the convention and among its entities).

The 2010s

In 2010, the ERLC again asserted its commitment “to God’s Word alone in advocating and communicating a response to the moral and ethical issues of the day” identifying itself as “ a tireless defender of and compassionate voice for the unborn and the women who are being victimized by those who promote abortion as means to dispose of that which is viewed as being too burdensome or too costly.”[19]

19. SBC 2010: 254.

The following year focused on the first amendment guarantee of the free exercise of religious conviction and the difficulties posed by “the increasing secularization of our culture, accompanied by a concerted effort by influential segments of our society to trivialize religious convictions and to drive them to the margins of our culture.”[20]

20. SBC 2011: 232.

In 2012, Land explained American “exceptionalism” as a gift of divine providence and continually dependent on “acknowledging the religious nature of a people who created an experiment in self-government unique on the face of earth.” The truth of this heritage must be promoted in families.[21]

21. SBC 2012: 218.

In 2012, a report on ministry to homosexuals, jointly sponsored by Lifeway and the ERLC, pointed to two highly complicating factors. One was the increasing normalization of homosexuality as a lifestyle. A second was the increasingly complex movement toward the classification of any anti-homosexual expressions as “hate speech.” This also presents a challenge to how biblical convictions impact religious freedom.

The SBC Annual for 2013 carried Richard Land’s last report. On April 29, 2013, Land announced plans to retire from his position.[22] He had run afoul of some trustees of the Commission, who, ironically, reprimanded him for “hurtful, irresponsible and racially charged words.” They also accused him of plagiarism on one of his weekly radio programs.

22. SBC 2013: 224, 225.

The Appointment of Russell Moore

Trustees already had named Land’s successor: Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Moore took office as new ERLC president June 1, 2013, and served for eight years through June 1, 2021.

Land’s last report made no mention of the fait accompli resignation but drew attention to the challenge and complexity of the moral issues facing families and challenging the stability and ethical rightness of culture. Land, during his almost quarter of a century of tenure, had witnessed “society’s indifference and hostility to biblical teaching grow at a frightening pace.” He reminded the Convention of the certainty of God’s purpose in the world and the joy and surety of implementing God’s way in individuals and families. Family integrity, biblical sexuality, no-fault divorce, abortion, gambling, and oppressive business practices all made interaction with the culture a deep challenge. The response of pro-life counselors, adoption agencies, and the ERLC’s Psalm 139 Project helped Christ-followers cope with the increasing moral corruption and chaos. The ERLC had advocated for the Religious Freedom Act Amendments of 2011 and against the Obama Administration’s Contraceptives Mandate.[23]

23. SBC 2013: 224, 225.

Russell Moore’s first report included a doctrinal affirmation of the fallenness of the world, the sinister designs of Satan, the opposition of the flesh to personal holiness. He described his foundation for ethical interaction as an identification with “our Baptist forebears,” who worked for “religious liberty for all people, for the dignity of every human being as made in the image of God, for the stability of the family, and for a society rooted in justice and human flourishing.” Preeminently, he wanted all discussion of ethics to connect “to the mission of Christ, that we may be ambassadors of reconciliation, pointing a lost world to the God of both justice and justification.”[24]

24. SBC 2014: 231.

Moore was busy writing letters on cultural and political issues and forming coalitions for joint efforts on national and worldwide matters of human dignity and flourishing. On some issues, he included faith traditions of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church of Scientology, and to the National Association of Evangelicals. He accepted an invitation from Pope Francis to attend a Colloquium on Marriage at the Vatican, where he spoke on 18 November 2014.

The Obergefell decision in 2015, (a Supreme Court ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages) prompted Moore to host a discussion on its implications for Christian stances on marriage. Later that year, the ERLC hosted Capitol Conversations on the Planned Parenthood undercover video controversy. The relation of biblical truth to culture issues was the burden of the “Canon & Culture” initiative.[25]

25. SBC 2015: 260-264.

In 2016, Moore visited that constant theme involved in this ministry in a major book entitled Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel. Realizing the sinister threats arising in the political tensions in America and worldwide, he wrote: “We want to speak up with a word of witness in the public square and we want to equip churches to have a word to witness about. In short, I want to keep our people out of jail—and to help make them willing to go.”[26] He ardently opposed Donald Trump as president pointing to a variety of moral and personality reasons for his opposition.

26. SBC 2016: 236.

A number of projects involving writing, conferences, and multi-media communication punctuated the 2018 report. Accessing the example of Martin Luther, Moore wrote that “we must know how to nail theses to the wall of the world around us, not merely in protest but as ambassadors of reconciliation.” This included dealing with issues raised by Planned Parenthood (dissenting “from a watching world that would tell us that children are only valuable if they are ‘planned’”), the crisis in gender identity, continuing issues of religious freedom, and taking into account “the rights of the unborn and the vulnerable when confirming judicial nominees.”[27]

27. SBC 2018: 244, 245 ff.

In 2018, the ERLC cosponsored with the Gospel Coalition a conference named MLK 50, held on the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The conference generated some controversy as to whether it was as true to “canon” (by way of historic orthodoxy) as it was to “culture” (in its advocacy of King’s confrontation with racial injustice). Russell Moore spoke at the event, challenging southern evangelicals with the possibility that they are included with the warnings to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:29–36.

In 2019, Moore noted the great loss to the Christian world (as to the world of lost humanity) in the death of Billy Graham. Moore likened the ERLC’s advocacy of biblical ethics like Graham’s unswerving insistence on the gospel. “We point them to an old, old story,” Moore wrote. That message “continues to speak truth to the issues of today, but does so by speaking of bloody crosses and empty tombs and the power of God to save.” After a listing of the many issues to which the ERLC continued to speak, Moore wrote, “Southern Baptists are faithful to the same thing Billy Graham was: we must be the people who believe in the inerrancy of Scripture so much that we do what it says. We must be the people who sing, ‘Jesus Loves Me,’ and who work to protect all of those he loves.”[28]

28. SBC 2019: 257, 258.

Among the public issues involved in such a goal was the ERLC’s advocacy for Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. They also worked for the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the 7th Circuit court of appeals.[29] Rising Anti-Semitism also was a target of the ERLC’s cultural critique. Intense attention also was given to the rising problem of accusations of sexual abuse in the churches.[30]

The 2020s

Daniel Patterson presented the report for the ERLC in 2021, although it was written by Russell Moore, because Moore had submitted it before his resignation on May 18, 2021. It pointed to “strange and tumultuous times” characterized by a “lack of trust in institutions throughout the public square.” Polarization and hostility, some of it fomented by confusion over the Covid19 pandemic, shows “just how desperately the Gospel is needed for a world in chaos and groaning for redemption.”[31]

31. SBC 2021: 314.

This report, listing all the ways that the ERLC had sought to minister during this time of sickness, death, economic crisis, and cancellations of church, weddings, and other parts of normal life, was perhaps neutralized by the parting shot at Southern Baptists Moore issued in his open letter to J. D. Greear.

Moore wrote, in referring to a “crisis” in the Southern Baptist Convention, “The crisis is multi-pronged as you and I have discussed, as seen in the blatant, gutter-level racism that has been expressed to me behind closed doors along with the reprehensible treatment of my African-American employees and our African-American seminary professors by figures within the Southern Baptist ecosystem. In this letter, though, I refer specially to the crisis of sexual abuse as it relates to the SBC Executive Committee.” Moore wrote of “hallway threats of retribution and intimidation.” He stated,

What I know, but Southern Baptists do not, is the bullying and intimidation of at least one sexual abuse victim by the SBC Executive Committee and the attempted intimidation of at least one SBC entity president. If Southern Baptists decide that these are the sorts of tactics they want employed, and that the primary problem for them is not sexual predators but those who call for justice against sexual predators, then that is certainly their right. Autonomous churches and the people in them can then decide if that’s what they wish to support. But it is not right for Southern Baptists to vote over and over and over again in their annual meetings for sane, reasonable approaches to this, and other crises, only to see such things frustrated by mafia-level intimidation tactics between meetings.

When he wrote “Now, as I said to my trustee officers last year, through all of this I have tried to smile and pretend that everything is alright with me personally and to refrain from revealing the horrific actions you and I have experienced behind the scenes,” he verified in his parting words of his pre-written report for 2021.

The past year has been a year of chaos and a year of revelation. The ERLC has endeavored to represent Southern Baptists in the public square with the truth of the Gospel courageously, and the kindness that is our weapon of war against the forces of hatred and division. But this year also served as a reminder of God’s abundant kindness and the great work that churches are doing daily. As we look ahead to the next year, I am encouraged by the thought of thousands of Southern Baptist congregations continuing to carry the message of the gospel to a world sorely in need of its hope, its stability, and its grace.

For the Gospel, Russell Moore

That “next year” toward which he reported that he anticipated with encouragement by “thousands of Southern Baptist congregations continuing to carry the message of the gospel” did not come in the form of his publicly stated anticipation, but in the privately communicated, publicly-leaked narrative in the outrage and presentation of an Old Testament minor prophet. Not only did the President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention leave his position as President, he left the Southern Baptist Convention as well soon afterward, joining Immanuel Nashville, an independent congregation that is part of the Acts 29 Network with many connections to the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA).

The Appointment of Brent Leatherwood

Brent Leatherwood, who had been hired previously by Moore, presented the 2022 ERLC report as the “Acting President,” of the Commission. He called the past year “a consequential 12 months in the history of this entity.” Such a raucous and loud departure had provided “its own unique challenges for our work.” Having spoken of that departure in other available forums, he wanted to focus on the “remarkable consistency this Commission has displayed despite the upheaval of the last year.” He was particularly invested in the part that the ERLC played in a program called “Road to Roe50.” The ERLC team was present on the steps of the Supreme Court during the oral arguments in the Dobbs case, which would later return abortion to the states. “That sort of consistent voice and witness on such an integral issue has become a hallmark of the Commission,” Leatherwood claimed. He saw this as a “line of conviction that spans the respective administrations of multiple presidents.”[32]

32. SBC 2022: 271, 272.

In 2022, however, Leatherwood signed a letter that forcefully resisted any legislation at the state level that would make women culpable for their abortions. It said, “As national and state pro-life organizations, representing tens of millions of pro-life men, women, and children across the country, let us be clear: We state unequivocally that we do not support any measure seeking to criminalize or punish women and we stand firmly opposed to include such penalties in legislation.”[33] Given the biblical certainty that life begins at conception, one wonders how a commission responsible for developing an ethical program based on biblical theology and views of life could pre-emptively acquit the primary perpetrator of the purposeful taking of innocent, non-aggressive human life.

Conclusion

33. National Right to Life, “An Open Letter to State Lawmakers from America’s Leading Pro-Life Organizations,” May 12, 2022.

The ERLC has had many names, leaders, and areas of purview in the past century ranging from prohibition to fighting abortion to religious freedom. As the broader culture has become more secular, so has the ERLC’s focus shifted through the decades. The ERLC and its forbearers were charged with a difficult task: representing a convention of churches that does not have a single opinion on many key issues. Today, The ERLC’s mission is made more challenging by the fact that the SBC is still reeling from the fallout of Russell Moore’s undocumented allegations as he left SBC life. There is a trust vacuum at the top levels of ERLC leadership that has only been exacerbated by Leatherwood’s 2022 lobbying against holding women accountable for abortion. These challenges present an uncertain future for the ERLC. One thing, however, is certain: there is an increasing need for Christians to advocate in the public square as the West becomes more hostile to Christ. In the next decade, will the ERLC have the clarity and the boldness to faithfully fulfill its task?