A year before quitting Southern Baptists, Russell Moore privately slammed SBC leaders over sex abuse, racism, psychological 'terrorism'

President Trump and Russell Moore
(Image credit: Illustrated | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, Shacil/iStock)

Theologian Russell Moore resigned in May as head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), and now he appears to have left the SBC, too. T.J. Tims, lead pastor of Immanuel Nashville, announced Tuesday that Russell has joined his conservative evangelical church as minister in residence. Immanuel Nashville, part of the Acts 29 network of churches, is not a Southern Baptist congregation.

Moore's departure from the SBC, like the exit earlier this year of popular Bible teacher Beth Moore (no relation), is a high-profile manifestation of growing schisms within the country's largest Protestant denomination. Both Moores criticized former President Donald Trump, earning them grief from Southern Baptist leadership, but Russell Moore told ERLC colleagues in February 2020 that it would be "a lazy journalistic assessment" to make this friction about Trump.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.