MESQUITE, Nev. — President Biden’s abrupt withdrawal from the presidential race sparked 24 hours of controversy in an unexpected place: the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination and often a key voting bloc in close elections.
The Rev. Kevin Smith, chairman of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Washington-focused public policy arm of the 13 million-member group, announced Monday that he had fired the commission’s chairman, Brent Leatherwood, after praising Biden’s resignation as “selfless.”
A cryptic statement Monday afternoon said details would be announced in mid-September when the ERLC board meets in Nashville: “In accordance with our bylaws, the Executive Committee has relieved Brent Leatherwood of his duties as chairman.”
Leatherwood, a former executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party, had sparked speculation that he was fired after publishing columns in the party’s news service and elsewhere praising Biden’s choices.
Leatherwood said Biden “made the right decision for the country” and that his withdrawal “acknowledged both his limitations and political realities.” At the same time, the Baptist leader said a Kamala Harris-led candidacy “will raise great concerns among pro-lifers and those who believe in the biblical definition of marriage.”
Leatherwood has three children who attended Covenant School in Nashville in 2023 when a former student who identified as transgender shot and killed three children and three adults. He subsequently supported a Tennessee bill that would take away firearms from people who pose a threat to themselves or others.
On Tuesday morning, the ERLC issued a news release saying Smith’s actions were invalid because they were taken without a board vote and that Leatherwood would continue as head of the ERLC.
Meanwhile, Smith told the denomination’s news agency: “I was confident we had agreed to remove Brent Leatherwood as ERLC president. This was a sensitive issue, and in an effort to address it quickly, I acted in good faith but did not take a formal Executive Committee vote. This was a mistake on my part, and I take full responsibility.”
An online apology tweeted by Smith on Tuesday morning has since been deleted.
Meanwhile, Leatherwood expressed his gratitude on social media on Tuesday, writing: “I’m extremely grateful to everyone who reached out, especially the board members who were utterly bewildered by what happened yesterday and jumped in to set the record straight.”
An ERLC spokesperson told The Post that Leatherwood was in an outside meeting Tuesday and was unavailable for comment.
While the internal machinations of church public policy committees typically attract little public attention, Southern Baptists remain an influential voice in American Protestantism, despite having lost 3.3 million members since 2006, when membership peaked at 16.3 million.
In the battleground state of Georgia, 15% of adults identify as Southern Baptist and 64% of adults say religion is “very important” in their lives, according to the Pew Research Center.
