Russell Moore, Baptist Leader Who Shunned Trump, Splits the Faithful

Head of denomination’s public-policy arm triggered a backlash by criticizing the candidate’s supporters; no access to White House

By Ian Lovett

https://twitter.com/iglovett

June 9, 2017 11:30 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—When President Donald Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty last month, he was surrounded in the White House Rose Garden by religious figures—Catholics, orthodox Jews, Sikhs and a host of evangelical Christians.

One prominent evangelical was conspicuously missing: Russell Moore, the public face and chief lobbyist of the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination.

Mr. Moore’s absence was a sign of the rift between him and the new administration, and hinted at a rupture within the Southern Baptist Convention itself that is challenging Mr. Moore’s leadership and potentially pushing the powerful, conservative institution off the political course he set.

As Southern Baptists head into their annual meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Moore, 45 years old, is at the center of a generational struggle over the denomination’s future. The outcome could determine whether Southern Baptists continue to be a leading conservative voice in cultural disputes over abortion and gay rights—and whether evangelical Christians remain a reliably Republican voting bloc.
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—Louise Radnofsky contributed to this article.

Write to Ian Lovett at Ian.Lovett@wsj.com

Appeared in the June 10, 2017, print edition as 'For a Baptist Leader, Politics Turn Perilous.'