SBC mulls policy to seek U.S. pornography ban

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s policy arm filed a resolution on Thursday that, if approved, would have the denomination support a government ban on pornography. Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Brent Leatherwood told WORLD exclusively that he sees the language as casting a broader vision for Southern Baptists, as well as providing a roadmap to advocate for the defunding of the pornography industry. An excerpt from the resolution, viewed by WORLD, encourages churches and believers to support legislative and legal efforts to ban pornography.

What does this change? In 2000, Southern Baptists added a section to the denomination’s statement of faith to oppose all forms of sexual immorality, including pornography. A 2015 resolution added that Southern Baptists believe the sex industry to be exploitative and a contributing factor to sexual abuse. But the subject has never been a formal directive for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the main policy outlet for the convention. If adopted, the ERLC would add the issue to its portfolio of advocacy issues in Washington, including the sanctity of life, religious freedom, and family.

What can it do? If approved by the resolutions committee, the resolution will come up for a vote at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June. If adopted, it will be the first time the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has called for an outright pornography ban in the country. While eliminating all pornography would take time, Leatherwood said there are some immediate steps the ERLC could support, such as laws requiring online age verification in every state to access pornographic websites. Roughly 22% of practicing Christians report consuming pornography weekly or daily, according to a recent Barna study.

Dig deeper: Listen to Supreme Court justices weigh First Amendment arguments over online age verification laws on The World and Everything in It podcast.