The Southern Baptist Convention's Dilemma: King or Country?

Scrutiny of Russell Moore (pictured) raises questions on where values lie

The Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant Christian denomination, is bringing Dr. Russell Moore, president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, as well as the ERLC itself under scrutiny to determine whether they deserve funding from the church’s Cooperative Program fund.
As first reported in the Baptist Press, the church’s official news outlet, the ERLC, the public policy division of the SBC, is being investigated for whether or not it deserves funds from the Cooperative Program, which is the church’s main source of funding for its various programs.
Dr Moore, the ERLC’s president, has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump since the 2016 election season, calling him an "arrogant huckster" in 2016.
Speculation has risen that churches have withheld funding for the Cooperative Program due to Moore’s criticism of the president, and that this is an attempt to remove him from his office in order keep Cooperative Program funding secure, however, according to the Baptist Press, Mike Stone, chairman of the task force investigating the ERLC, says this is not the case.
"This is not an attempt to remove Dr. Moore," Stone said. "It wasn't in 2017, and it certainly is not now. What we want to do is look at the facts. Dr. Moore's presidency was and is a matter for the [ERLC] board of trustees."
Moore indeed did come under similar scrutiny in 2017, which was speculated to be in part due to his criticism of President Trump, but peace was made in that situation.
While the Southern Baptist church denies this is an attempt to remove Moore to Secure Cooperative program funding, it cannot he ignored that President Trump’s base is largely white, Southern, and Evangelical, which is largely the makeup of the Southern Baptist Church.
Robert Jeffress, a vocal proponent of Trump, even stated that his church, First Baptist Dallas, would be withholding funding from the ERLC, though he did not claim in was in support of President Trump.
Trump recently held an “Evangelicals for Trump” rally in Florida after a now-infamous Christianity Today article was released calling for his removal from office. The event was attended by Trump’s coalition of both Southern Baptists and Pentecostals/Charismatics, which is strangely the only way these two theological groups will come into unity.
Situations such as these call into question the true priority of evangelical churches in the U.S., and one can only wonder if The Southern Baptists are showing their true colors.

SOURCES:
THE BAPTIST PRESS 
RELEVANT MAGAZINE
CAPSTONE REPORT
THE TENNESSEE STAR

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