The denominational swamp of the Southern Baptist Convention is as messy as anything in Washington, DC. Ken Barbic, the chairman of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention, is a lobbyist with an organization promoting comprehensive immigration reform. It sparks the question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchers?

Credit for the find of Barbic’s employment to a Facebook post from Dr. Rick Patrick. Patrick linked to the Western Grower’s Association bio page for Ken Barbic. Barbic is chairman of the ERLC trustees and a lobbyist for the Western Growers Association. It is a mostly conservative group for farmers in the Western US. However, the group promotes significant immigration liberalization reforms that stand in contrast to the policies advocated by most Southern Baptists.

The New York Times in 2014 pointed out how the group planned to use its money to punish Republicans who were against comprehensive immigration reform: “The tension is so high that the powerful Western Growers Association, a group based in Irvine, Calif., that represents hundreds of farmers in California and Arizona, says many of its members may withhold contributions from Republicans in congressional races because of the party’s stance against a comprehensive immigration overhaul.”

The group participated in the Reasons for Reform campaign that touted the benefits of immigration to the economy. (Link)

The group promotes more immigration. With tens of millions of illegal immigrants here already, it begs the question: How many immigrants are too many? A great question Tucker Carlson asked of Fox News posed just the other night.

When Mr. Barbic’s bills are paid by a pro-more immigration organization is it any wonder he doesn’t do a better job supervising Dr. Russell Moore? Dr. Moore has been one of the leading evangelical voices on immigration and is a member of the George Soros-funded Evangelical Immigration Table. It is hard to forget Dr. Moore’s promotion of pro-immigration amnesty candidates during the last election cycle and his utter refusal to even consider Southern Baptists like Mike Huckabee or Ted Cruz.

Dr. Patrick’s post on Facebook asked an important question regarding the possibilities of a lobbyist exerting influence over the ERLC producing a conflict of interest. Even if this were not the case, is it good policy for a person gaining financially from lobbying to be head of a board that advocates for Southern Baptists? Aren’t we commanded to abstain from all appearances of evil?

The trustee system of the Southern Baptist Convention produces a perverse result where insiders gain an advantage while little churches are left out in the cold. Fortunately, pastors like JT Taylor are speaking out and withholding their money to CP. We wrote about that issue and it is now being covered by the national press thanks to this article from the Religion News Service.

It is time to reform the trustee system. We can’t trust the watchers to watch responsibly when the appearance of a conflict of interests exist. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Indeed!

6 thoughts on “ERLC Trustee Chairman is lobbyist on immigration issues”

  1. So the prophet has strings like Pinocchio?

    A tisket a tasket, biblical ethics in a basket. Now you know why the amicus briefs make sense.

  2. How far does the corruption go? With the US federal govt, we find that there are no limits. Anyone with half a brain knows that bush and cheney helped plan and execute the 911 attacks on America. We have found out that hillary clinton and john podesta are satanist pedophiles. Many in the federal govt practice child rape and even child murder as part of their religion of satanism. Does any of this spill over into the SBC? It spills over into the Catholic church, why not the SBC?

  3. Most Evangelicals are against Illegal Immigration:

    http://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelicals-for-biblical-immigration-and-cultural-flourishing-134279/
    Evangelicals For Biblical Immigration and Cultural Flourishing

    “There are biblical and prudential reasons for opposing “comprehensive immigration reform,” but your otherwise thoughtful article did not acknowledge them.

    I concur with the statistical conclusion of Kellstedt and Hoover, that evangelicals, “white” and otherwise, largely oppose the kind of “comprehensive immigration reform” that President Obama is attempting to enforce despite the disapproval of Congress and most Americans.”

    http://www.christianpost.com/news/poll-9-in-10-evangelicals-say-bible-doesnt-influence-immigration-views-135584/
    Poll: 9 in 10 Evangelicals Say Bible Doesn’t Influence Immigration Views

    http://mashable.com/2014/07/09/the-evangelical-movement-against-immigration/

    1. In Russell Moore’s own words “stop calling him an evangelical”. He was so obsessed with POTUS Trump that he didn’t want to be identified any longer as an “evangelical” … at least not until press release time the following morning when he remembered upon which side his bread is buttered. You can’t speak on behalf of em if you can’t identify with em would be my guess.

  4. The U.S. currently has eleven non immigrant guest worker visa programs.
    http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/employment/temporary.html

    There is no cap on the number of workers allowed into the U.S. under the H-2A temporary agricultural guest worker visa program.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/263529-funding-deal-hits-backlash-over-increase-in-worker-visas
    “The provision could more than triple the number of H-2B visas for foreign workers seeking jobs at hotels, theme parks, ski resorts, golf courses, landscaping businesses, restaurants and bars. The move is intended to boost the supply of non-agricultural seasonal workers.”

    http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Resources%20for%20Congress/Congressional%20Reports/2011%20National%20Immigration%20%26%20Consular%20Conference%20Presentations/H-2A_and_H-2B_Visas.pdf

    Alabama had to bite the bullet and hire LEGAL Immigrants for its AG Industry:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-24/africans-relocate-to-alabama-to-fill-jobs-after-immigration-law
    Africans Relocate to Alabama to Fill Jobs After Immigration Law

    “East Coast began calling Atlanta refugee agencies several months ago looking for legal immigrants to come to Alabama for a year, said Mbanfu, refugee employment director for Lutheran Services in Atlanta. He said the company would have taken as many refugees as he could refer. The agency connected East Coast with refugees who had been in the country three to five years, he said.”

    http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2009-09-13-plants_N.htm
    Immigration raids yield jobs for legal workers

    ‘When federal agents descended on six meatpacking plants owned by Swift & Co. in December 2006, they rounded up nearly 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants that made up about 10% of the labor force at the plants.

    But the raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents did not cripple the company or the plants. In fact, they were back up and running at full staff within months by replacing those removed with a significant number of native-born Americans, according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

    “Whenever there’s an immigration raid, you find white, black and legal immigrant labor lining up to do those jobs that Americans will supposedly not do,” said Swain, who teaches law and political science.”

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