There are two primary engines driving the popularity of Social Justice into the heart of quasi-conservative evangelicalism. Once bulwarks for a solid Biblical worldview and stalwart defenders of the Gospel, both organizations have experienced serious mission drift in recent years. Both organizations have developed a penchant for terminology from the social progressive lexicon, like “racial justice.” Both use the term social justice in a positive, rather than negative, way. The two organizations share board members. The two organizations share regular contributors to their websites. While the ERLC’s president, Russell Moore, was daily attacking Donald Trump, The Gospel Coalition’s Thabiti Anyabwile was endorsing Hillary Clinton in a brilliant and cooperative one-two punch. And now, they will share a conference. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Southern Baptist’s ERLC and the cool kids at The Gospel Coalition are becoming nearly indistinguishable.
The ERLC is now hosting The Gospel Coalition’s Pre-Conference on April 3. The theme of the pre-conference is,”Relentless: Gospel Courage in a Complex Culture,” and is right up the alley of trajectory for both organizations, which have shirked their prospective missions (ethics and religious liberty for the ERLC, promotion of the Gospel for TGC) to become cultural commentators. Their theme is typical and predictable, because it’s the mantra they’ve been repeating for years; courage (or boldness or a “prophetic voice,” you get the point) in culture, which typically means having the courage to repeatedly side with social progressives, race-baiters and Marxists and to treat conservative evangelicals like the enemy of all that is good and pure.
Russell Moore is the president of the ERLC, and serves on the board of directors for The Gospel Coalition.
Joe Carter, who is the editor for The Gospel Coalition, is the “Communications Specialist” for the ERLC.
Karen Swallow Prior, the gay-friendly animal rights activist, and feminist is a research fellow for the ERLC and a contributor The Gospel Coalition.
Samuel James, a nepotistic, sycophantic hire at the ERLC, is now a contributor at The Gospel Coalition.
Daniel Patterson, the “chief of staff” at the ERLC is a contributor for The Gospel Coalition.
There are many more examples…Are you seeing a theme, here? While The Gospel Coalition is a parachurch ministry that’s not really accountable to any local churches, the ERLC is accountable to local churches (in theory, not in reality) because it is a Southern Baptist entity. Do Southern Baptists care if their entity is quickly merging with an organization that allowed an explicit endorsement for Hillary Clinton on their website? Should Southern Baptists be concerned that a parachurch ministry seemingly has so much influence and control over their entity?
One wonders if Southern Baptists are giving 4 million dollars to the ERLC annually so they can help a non-denominational parachurch ministry throw a party.
