Catholics Get To Know Your Southern Baptist Ally & Friend Dr Russell Moore

There is some interesting differences on how the Southern Baptist Convention operates versus the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. 

In the USCCB there is a very important position called the executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. That person is very much involved in the public square work of the Catholic Church. That is currently held by Dr.  Jonathan J. Reyes . However besides for those in the weeds most Catholics don't know who that is. Cardinal Dolan on the other hand who is President of the USCCB  everyone know !! He is much more the public face.

In the Southern Baptist Church the situation seems reversed. Its seem we don't often see the President of the Southern Baptist Convention in the media and on the front lines on some issues as much as we would expect. However the person that heads the  President-elect of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission which had been held by Dr Richard Land is much more the public face of the Convention on political and related issues . Why this is so I don't know but it is. That position is now going to be held by Dr Russell Moore and many Catholics could not be more pleased .

Catholics need to get know  Dr Moore because in many ways we are going to have a lot riding on how successful he is . I really recommend this First Thoughts post from this morning Russell Moore: “I don’t like to think in terms of culture wars.”


Dr Moore is one of my most favorite Southern Baptist to read. It is really worth it to spend some time on his blog Moore to the Point  to get a sense of the man.

He also has a very productive personal and working relationship with Roman Catholics. This can be seen in his work with Robert George and other Catholics.

I suspect the media is not going to know what to do with Dr Moore. You can expect a different tone perhaps coming from this office  but he can also be tough as nails. He is I think very politically astute in a time when it's needed.

Dr Moore and his Catholic counterpart Dr Reyes are from a new generation that are the product of Evangelicals and that John Paul era working together. We have differences and we don't paint them over. But we also have a lot of common concerns and goals.

In the years ahead how Dr Moore does his job is going to have a huge effect on if Catholics can maintain such things as their religious liberty. I am tad more hopeful since he is in that position.