Documents show financial ties between ERLC & left-wing George Soros Open Society Foundations, Pierre Omidyar of the Democracy Fund, and Paul Singer of the American Unity Fund.
A report from Enemies within the Church, printed below, contains documents obtained by the filmmakers that link grants and funding from leftist billionaires to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention and its head Russell Moore. The documents include grant data showing the Democracy Fund provided $50,000 to the controversial ERLC’s and The Gospel Coalition’s MLK50 Conference.
Other documents in the report include Dr. Moore’s name in the Podesta emails published in 2016 by Wikileaks.
Special to the Capstone Report
by Henry Anderson of Enemies Within The Church
On Friday, November 6, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission (ERLC) posted a statement on its website:
“Currently, there has been no evidence that voter fraud has been occurring…
“There are numerous reasons why widespread election fraud is difficult, if not impossible, to pull off at the presidential level… Extensive research has shown that voter fraud is exceeding rare, that voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and that many instances of alleged fraud are merely mistakes by voters or election administrators.”
The article is attributed to the “ERLC Staff,” and the statement is date-stamped November 6, 2020, at which point a number of states had not fully resolved allegations of balloting improprieties: most notably Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. It is difficult not to assume that the ERLC (Ethics and Religious Leadership Council) is purposefully seeking to influence the election outcome for primarily two reasons: (1) Dr. Russell Moore, the president of the ERLC, has consistently and publicly opposed Donald Trump and actively sought to undermine his evangelical reach, and (2) the ERLC seems to have financial ties to at least three progressive billionaire activists: left-wing George Soros of Open Society Foundations, Pierre Omidyar of the Democracy Fund, and Paul Singer of the American Unity Fund.
Who are these donors? Are they influencing the ERLC?
Behind Billionaire Door #1: George Soros
Dr. Moore’s ties to George Soros have been the subject of heated debate. At various times, those sympathetic to Dr. Moore have denied that he receives funds from Soros. Denials have hinged on arguments about whether the National Immigration Forum (NIF) and the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) – both progressive organizations – are actually the same thing. EWTC was able to obtain what appear to be authentic internal documents from a 2015 meeting in New York of the Open Society U.S. Programs Board;
These should put debate to rest.
George Soros’ Open Society Foundations have been clear that they hope to infuse left-wing ideology into every community of discourse that exists. To broaden the influence of his radical agenda, he has made a point to fund “rent-an-evangelical” schemes like the kind underscored in a cautionary article by Stream writer John Zmirak four years ago:
Joining “faith” fronts, Soros also funds thousands of … collaborators and projects that suggest his goal is to demoralize America (and Europe)… In the ironic rhetoric of compassion, Soros and friends also fund mass immigration followed by voting “rights” and redistricting schemes, while financing the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. (Soros is a major donor to the Democratic Party and co-chairman of Ready for Hillary PAC.)
Earlier this year, Baptist Standard ran an article disputing “rumors” that Russell Moore received funding from Soros’ foundations. Dr. Moore and the ERLC have found themselves in the crosshairs of Soros-related debates because of Moore’s active involvement with the EIT. A document from November 13, 2012, addressed to President Obama clearly lists the ERLC alongside nine other groups as the groups comprising the EIT: World Relief Corporation, Sojourners, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Bread for the World, Liberty Counsel, National Association of Evangelicals, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, World Vision, and G92.
In 2013, spokespeople for the EIT had already admitted to Breitbart News that their group “does not exist as its own non-profit” and “sought a neutral third-party institution, the NIF, to help facilitate our work.” Despite the strenuous denials that Mr. Soros’ money was involved, it is clear that the “facilitation” of the EIT depends on a structure financed by Mr. Soros, the NIF. Any doubt of separation between the initiatives now hold no weight since Dr. Moore is prominently listed as a speaker for the 2020 convention of the NIF and has his own webpage on the NIF website.
EWTC obtained meeting notes from “OPEN SOCIETY US PROGRAMS BOARD MEETING,” hosted by Open Society Foundations in New York City on October 1-2, 2015. One section of the meeting notes states the following:
“In part, our active role reflects our observation that the refugee advocacy community while long-standing and sophisticated in the inner workings of refugee policy, does not have a strong advocacy capacity or deep grassroots ties. In the course of our work, we were able to generate engagement by a group of mayors through Emma Lazarus II Fund grantee Cities United for Immigration Action… and some conservative voices such as evangelical Christians and Southern Baptists through grantee NIF. In the face of this pressure, the Obama administration announced Sept. 20 that by 2017, it would raise to 100,000 the total number of refugees the US takes worldwide each year. “
The bolded section above makes clear that the Open Society Foundations earmarked a grant to the NIF, specifically so funds could be channeled to the Southern Baptist Convention in exchange for the SBC’s help in putting “pressure” on officials to raise the number of refugees the US could take in.
