Former SBC President Ronnie Floyd on Trump's Religious Advisory Board: 'Not an Endorsement'
Former Southern Baptist Convention President Dr. Ronnie Floyd is not endorsing any candidate for president despite agreeing to be on Donald Trump's religious advisory board.
Earlier this week the Trump campaign sent an email out to supporters announcing the creation of an evangelical executive advisory board. Dr. Floyd was among the names listed as being part of the advisory board.
A spokesperson for Floyd provided The Christian Post with a statement regarding the former SBC president's decision to join the board.
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"My participation on this advisory board should not be seen as an endorsement, but as an avenue to voice what matters to evangelicals. I have written and stated numerous times; I have not and will not endorse a presidential candidate," stated Floyd.
"I welcome the opportunity to advise any candidate for the Office of President of the United States on important evangelical issues regardless of their political party."
Floyd noted that he felt "it is incumbent on me to serve in this advisory capacity" given the "evangelical concerns of Supreme Court appointments, the sanctity and dignity of human life from the womb to the tomb, religious liberty at home and abroad, Israel and the Middle East, poverty, crime, violence, lack of opportunity in urban areas, and racial tension …"
As part of the effort to reach out to evangelicals, which included a meeting in New York City with hundreds of evangelical leaders, the Trump campaign announced Tuesday that they were creating a religious advisory board.
"The executive board will also lead a much larger Faith and Cultural Advisory Committee to be announced later this month," stated the campaign.
"The executive board members will convene on a regular basis. Certain members of the advisory board are solely responsible for managing Mr. Trump's private meeting with hundreds of Christian leaders scheduled today in New York City."
In addition to Floyd, other listed board members include former Focus on the Family president Dr. James Dobson, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., Bishop Harry Jackson, First Baptist Church of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, and Dr. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and executive editor of The Christian Post.
In an exclusive column for CP, Dr. Land echoed Floyd's comments about being on the advisory board without endorsing Trump for president.
"Mr. Trump and his advisors asked us to join the advisory board (no endorsement required) in order to give Mr. Trump spiritual counsel and advice on moral and ethical issues arising during the campaign," wrote Land.
"I ask yet again what would our critics have us do? Would they really have us spurn the opportunity to give spiritual counsel and advice to Mr. Trump and his team? How would that be obedience to our Saviour's command to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world?"
