I’m not sure why I got the invitation; perhaps because I served on the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions’ Christian Life Commission for a number of years and have always been interested in the intersection of faith and government.
Nevertheless, I was happy to accept and spend several days at the D.C. office of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Our mission was to lobby Congress to withhold tax dollars from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion provider. ERLC President Brent Leatherwood traveled from his Nashville office and served as host.
The D.C. office is about one mile from the Capitol where we spent two days. In fact, the standing joke with the office staff was “it’s only a short walk.” We also braved the heat and humidity in coats and ties.
‘Amazed’ at the access
I was amazed at the access the ERLC team had to the halls of power. Our group met with Alabama representatives Robert Aderholt and Barry Moore, Rep. Scott Franklin (Florida), Rep. Dusty Johnson (South Dakota), Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi). Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed to a meeting but couldn’t leave the Senate floor that afternoon, so he sent his chief-of-staff to hear our concerns.
In every meeting Brent outlined Southern Baptists’ commitment to life and our objection to tax-payer-funded abortions.
The budget the U.S. House approved and sent to the Senate on May 22 omitted this funding.
White House Faith Office
We also met with Paula White, director of the White House Faith Office, a new initiative of President Trump. White provided a White House tour. I think had the president not been in the Mideast we might’ve been invited to an Oval Office meeting.
Brent’s predecessor, who left in 2021, made a number of public statements adjudged as anti-Trump. What I saw was ERLC working to influence the Trump administration in the area of life and other moral issues.
Leatherwood in his parent role
I also noticed Brent wore two beaded bracelets, obviously made by children. At a break one day I sat with him and read the inscription on one: “I Love Covenant School.” We talked about that terrible day two years ago when three teachers and three children died at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Brent’s three children are part of that school and were there but unharmed.
Brent later drew some national attention when he opposed the leaking of the shooter’s diary, believing it gave this person more attention and caused more hurt to the families. He further urged the state of Tennessee to affirm Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed “extreme risk.” This had nothing to do with the Second Amendment since Brent is a gun-owner. He spoke as an aggrieved parent. Nevertheless, the Tennessee legislature failed to act on this proposal.
I cannot conceive the horror of that day.
Leatherwood the ‘policy guy’
Brent is not a pastor, but a deacon in his church. He told us he was a “policy guy” who wants Southern Baptists to influence our government for good. I saw firsthand how he is known, respected and received in the Capitol, and how, at least on the U.S. House side, he, and we, were heard.
He explained that only two denominational-type lobbying groups remain in the capital: Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists. Our denomination needs ERLC to speak moral truth to power.
The 60s group, The Monkees, sang, “Now I’m A Believer.”
I’m a believer in ERLC, because I saw it for myself.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Michael J. Brooks is pastor of Siluria Baptist Church in Alabaster and serves on the board of directors for Alabama Citizens Action Program and as a correspondent for The Alabama Baptist.
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