A motion from the floor of the Southern Baptist Convention to defund the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission will be ruled on prior to the ERLC’s Tuesday report. It will probably be ruled out of order for technical reasons. If so, the opportunity to debate the ERLC’s positions during the 2016 presidential election and in a high profile religious liberty case involving a New Jersey Islamic group will be over, for this year.
There have been no official statements about the ERLC by SBC leaders yet. And ERLC President Russell Moore indicated ruffled relationships have been smoothed. “The Southern Baptist convention leadership is unified, probably more unified than I have seen in a long time,” he said at a press conference for the Resolutions Committee Tuesday afternoon. “We love each other and we work together….This meeting isn’t just a business meeting. This very much is a family reunion of people who are working together for the advancement of the gospel.”
Moore did not comment on a Wall Street Journal report that characterized his relationship with both SBC leaders and the Trump administration as strained, while omitting the ERLC’s recent conciliatory efforts. Moore’s team hosted a dinner for Baptist newspaper editors, pledging greater availability to the press. At the same time, the ERLC team is attempting to spend more time with rank-and-file Southern Baptists.
Moore’s official report is the last item of business on Wednesday, leaving little time for follow-up questions.
–Eric Reed in Phoenix
iB2 News 
i am an ultra Conservative in most areas of my life. I must, however, say to my conservative brethren, say off Russell Moor and the ERLC. Remember, the RL stands for “RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.” Remember too, there is no Religious Liberty without our basic Liberty of “FREEDOM OF SPEECH.” These “Liberties” or intended for all of us more insignificant members of our SBC; not just a few from the so-called mega-churches who have means to control issues by the threat of withholding desperately needed mission funds. I certainly got that message when I heard the word “Escrow.”
It seems to me that there are those who appear on the scene from time to time who needing another cause so they take another poke at our ERLC and it’s leader. Russell Moore is a good man, doing a good job in a tough position. leave him alone. At least allow him the privilege of his own understanding of the issues at hand an the right of “Freedom of Speech. Then too, our Missions and Missionaries should not be used as weapons except against the devil.
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