Head of denomination’s public-policy arm triggered a backlash by criticizing the candidate’s supporters; no access to White House
Mr. Moore, 45 years old, is at the center of a generational struggle over the denomination’s future. The outcome could determine whether Southern Baptists continue to be a leading conservative voice in cultural disputes over abortion and gay rights—and whether evangelical Christians remain a reliably Republican voting bloc.
.. His approach won him support among a younger, more racially diverse generation of evangelicals who are more suspicious than their parents of political parties.
It also
led to a backlash from Southern Baptists who helped build the denomination into a political force within the Republican Party. Many of them saw Mr. Trump, despite his three marriages and ties to the casino industry, as the only realistic hope for the socially conservative agenda they have been pushing for decades.
.. But Mr. Moore has no access to Mr. Trump, fueling questions about how effectively he can do his job.
.. Mr. Moore’s predecessor, Richard Land, played a leading role in that denominational battle. As head of the public-policy arm, Mr. Land had turned the Southern Baptist Convention into a conservative political juggernaut. He helped push the Republican Party to the right on issues such as abortion and became a regular in the George W. Bush White House.
.. “The fact that he was targeted was very chilling,” Mr. McKissic said. “It sends the signal that anybody who speaks a word that is not in line with traditional Southern Baptist, Republican thought will face opposition, to the extent that their jobs will be threatened.”
.. In a denomination that likes to settle disputes quietly, some were rankled that he criticized Trump supporters on national television and didn’t speak to them directly.
.. “I’d have gone to a Jack Graham” before publicly criticizing Trump supporters like him, said Jay Strack, president of Student Leadership University and member of Mr. Trump’s evangelical advisory board