The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has a new president, but the same old corruption remains. Under newly minted head Evan Lenow, the compromise in Nashville isn’t slowing down. Instead, the legacy of Russell Moore, Brent Leatherwood, and Richard Land is being kept alive in the exact same way: defending false, pagan religions under the guise of “religious liberty.”
The latest failure came to light following a Supreme Court decision in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections. A 6-3 conservative majority blocked a lawsuit by a Rastafarian inmate, Damon Landor, who sought monetary damages from prison guards who shaved his dreadlocks.
While the conservative justices ruled on constitutional grounds regarding federal spending, the liberal branch of the court, along with the ERLC, was busy crying foul. Unsurprisingly, the ERLC did not just watch from the sidelines. They actively joined a coalition of dozens of leftist and religious groups to file an amicus brief on behalf of the Rastafarian plaintiff.
Defending False Gods
According to the ERLC’s own press release, the agency compared the case to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Lenow laments that the ruling “leaves a gap in religious liberty protections.”
“Whether it is burning a Christian’s family Bible, destroying a Jewish person’s yarmulke, or shaving a Rastafarian’s hair, our justice system should ensure there are appropriate methods of relief to right unjust wrongs,” Lenow told Baptist Press.
Notice the typical establishment trick here. Lenow equates the Holy Scriptures with a Jewish yarmulke and pagan, drug-fueled Rastafarian dreadlocks in the exact same sentence. This is the natural result of a department that treats the truth of Jesus Christ as just another “competing opinion” in the secular marketplace.
Rastafarianism is not a biblical religion. It is a syncretic, anti-Christian cult that worships Haile Selassie as God and uses marijuana as a sacrament. Yet, the ERLC is spending Southern Baptist tithe dollars to advocate for the “religious freedom” of Rastafari dreadlocks under the banner of a “biblical Nazirite vow.”
This is more than a legal oversight. It is a direct betrayal of Scripture.
The Scriptural Reality
Historically, Baptists have stood for freedom of conscience. But the liberals of the Southern Baptist Convention have weaponized this legacy to turn the ERLC into a lobbyist group for pagans and idolaters. Scripture does not command believers to defend the high places of Baal.
The Apostle Paul is clear in 2 Corinthians 6:14:
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
By pooling resources with pagan groups to demand that the state recognize and cater to the distinctives of false religions, the ERLC is actively violating this principle. They are validating false worship, telling a lost world that a Rastafarian’s dreadlocks are just as sacred as a Christian’s Bible.
This is theological malpractice.
A Legacy of Failure
For years, Southern Baptists have demanded that the ERLC be defunded, reformed, or outright abolished. Every time a new head is appointed, standard SBC apologists tell us that “things are changing.” We were told the agency would finally focus on Christian interests.
Emphasis on were told.
In reality, Evan Lenow is simply continuing the status quo. The ERLC punches right at concerned Southern Baptists who want their money to go to the Great Commission, while it coddles the left by lining up with liberal justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson in Supreme Court briefs.
When your “religious liberty” strategy requires you to defend hair-growing practices of a pagan weed cult in court, you have lost the plot. The ERLC has shown yet again that a change in leadership does not mean a change in direction. The compromise is baked into the very walls of the building.
