Top Southern Baptist official who criticized Trump resigns

A top-ranking Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) official who is a prominent critic of former President Trump announced on Monday he was resigning from his position after eight years.

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) for the SBC, announced his resignation on his website and said he would be joining Christianity Today magazine to be the director of its Public Theology Project.

“I’ve struggled with this decision, because my gratitude for the honor of serving the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is so deep. As I conclude my time serving Southern Baptists as ERLC president, I am filled with gratitude as well as excitement for the future,” Moore said.

As president of the ERLC, the SBC’s public policy arm, Moore carried a great deal of influence in the U.S. evangelical community and its sway over politics.

Some personal news. https://t.co/9jHUO77QCI

— Russell Moore (@drmoore) May 19, 2021

“On behalf of the ERLC board of trustees and Southern Baptists everywhere, I want to extend our deepest gratitude to Russell Moore for his eight years of principled, energetic and prophetic ministry,” ERLC board Chairman David Prince said in a statement.

Moore’s last day will be June 1.

As The Wall Street Journal reported, Moore garnered widespread attention in 2016 when he came out against Trump’s candidacy. Moore lambasted Trump as being unfit for office and criticized evangelicals who supported him.

Many Southern Baptist pastors withdrew their funding from the SBC in protest of Moore’s criticisms, leading to Moore apologizing “for failing to distinguish” between those who voted for Trump and “those who put politics” over the Gospel, the Journal reports. The outlet notes that in February of this year some churches were found to still be withholding donations.