PLANO, Texas (BP) — Texas pastor and former Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Jack Graham says he believes the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) should be defunded. He made the comments on X the day after a 10 former SBC presidents released a letter expressing their support for the commission.

Saying he’d been asked multiple times, Graham posted on X, “[N]o I do not support the ERLC and believe the organization has been the single most divisive entity of the SBC since the days of Russell Moore. I believe it should be de funded. I’m sure this is the reason I was not asked to sign this letter. … I’ve been clear on this for a decade.”

Moore left the helm of the ERLC in May 2021.

Graham has led Prestonwood Baptist Church since 1989. Under his leadership the church has grown from 8,000 members to “more than 60,000,” according to the church’s website.

In 2017, Prestonwood conducted an internal study to evaluate Cooperative Program giving. In February of that year, the church said they would escrow Cooperative Program funds during the study citing “various significant positions taken by the leadership of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.”

Later that year, the church announced it would resume giving “without designation.”

A quote from a December 2016 Wall Street Journal article points to Graham’s frustration: “’There was a disrespectfulness towards Southern Baptists and other evangelical leaders, past and present,’ Baptist pastor Jack Graham said of Mr. Moore’s denunciations of Mr. Trump and some of his supporters. ‘It’s disheartening that this election has created this kind of divisiveness.’”

On May 20, 2025, Graham was announced as a member of the advisory board President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission.

In the letter released May 22, 10 other former SBC presidents said the ERLC “for decades” has “steadfastly defended our Southern Baptist commitment to religious liberty.” The letter also highlights the ERLC’s work in areas of importance to Southern Baptists, such as promoting life, marriage and family and opposing Roe v. Wade, pornography and transgender ideology.

The leaders acknowledged a diversity of opinion among the group but a common desire for the commission to continue.

“Our opinions about the past decade of work at the ERLC are as diverse as those of the broader body of Southern Baptists,” it says. “Some of us have been enthusiastic supporters of the ERLC. Some of us have been vocal critics. However, we remain unconvinced by the case for discontinuing the ERLC. And just as our diverse coalition can find unity in opposing the abolishment of the ERLC, we hope that the messenger body can unify to oppose any such motion, too.”

On an April 30 episode of the Baptist21 podcast, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said he “has grave doubts about the utility of the ERLC. And it’s not just about the current moment.”

The Southern Baptist Convention is set for June 11-12 in Dallas.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Brandon Porter serves as Vice President for Communications at the SBC Executive Committee.)