Indianapolis | With considerable debate from the floor, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis June 11-12 turned away efforts to censure three key leaders, a motion to abolish the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), and approved a resolution in opposition to in vitro fertilization (IVF) that aligns with the Catholic view on the controversial procedure.
The actions, in a very busy convention, came in addition to the election of a president in a rare six-man race, consideration of the constitutional amendment on women as pastors, and votes on recommendations from three study groups.
Given additional time for participation from the floor, messengers brought 50 motions.
Among them was a motion to abolish the ERLC. The SBC’s voice in the public square has come under criticism for political actions, especially in the previous administration under Russell Moore.
Florida pastor Tom Ascol, previously a candidate for SBC president, brought the motion, which would have required a two-thirds majority in two consecutive annual meetings. “A positive vote will give them one full year to make a course correction,” Ascol said.
Current ERLC President Brent Leatherwood came to a floor mic to defend the entity. He characterized a 2018 example cited by Ascol of an ERLC-produced video supporting animal rights as irrelevant, as it was removed from the ERLC website soon after complaints were raised, and it occurred under Moore’s tenure.
Leatherwood defended ERLC’s work in Washington D.C. as vital to Southern Baptists’ interests. “This commission speaks truth with a capital T. And the grace that it also speaks with is exactly what is needed now,” he said. Of the continued lobbying to end ERLC, Leatherwood said, “Send a signal to the political tactics that are being used in this room are not for us.”
Messengers agreed, with only about one-fourth supporting the motion by raised ballots.
Legal matters
A motion to censure three leaders for signing on to an amicus brief involving the statute of limitations in a Kentucky abuse suit failed after some debate. The motion would have censured Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler, Lifeway Christian Resources President Ben Mandrell and then-SBC President Bart Barber.
As one messenger from the floor pointed out, Barber apologized for his participation. Barber received a standing ovation.
Mandrell and Mohler both pointed to legal advice to join the suit that they received at the time. “The presidents of your Southern Baptist institutions are not the lawyers for your institutions and for good reason,” Mohler said. “We believe that justice and righteousness will come by the application of the rule of law.”
Messengers ultimately ruled the motion out of order.
In vitro fertilization criticized
A resolution that calls on Southern Baptists to support only those reproductive technologies that affirm the “unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage” criticizes in vitro fertilization, which often leads to destruction of embryos that are not implanted.
The resolution was written by Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler and Illinois native Andrew Walker, a professor at Southern. It came after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos are legally considered children.
Support for the measure was not unanimous on the convention floor.
Michigan messenger Daniel Taylor told the story of friends who used IVF to have children. “This resolution would castigate and condemn the entirely moral and ethical actions of these two friends of mine calling their faithful sacrifice, struggle and blessing a wicked thing,” Taylor said. “It would also unnecessarily make it more difficult for all of us to reach those who have gone through IVF as parents or children.”
A Kentucky messenger who had abandoned embryos implanted in an unsuccessful effort to save them spoke for the resolution. “There is no way to describe the treatment of embryos at any point in the IVF process as ethical or dignified,” said Monica Hall. “Nothing in the process of IVF upholds the sanctity of life.”
Adoption of the SBC’s pro-life resolution may spark additional criticism of IVF in response of the Alabama case. USA Today reported approximately 2% of births involve in vitro fertilization.