The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention is the political lobbying arm for Southern Baptists. After spending 2023 lobbying for gun control in Tennessee and the concealment of the Nashville Tranifesto, Brent Leatherwood and Big Eva have made supporting Ukraine a priority in 2024.
As Richard Land of the Christian Post and the Land Center have led Big Eva in calling for more US aid to Ukraine, Brent Leatherwood is leading the Southern Baptist Convention to follow suit. In fact, they are even cited in Leatherwood’s letter to Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries.
Southern Baptists have long held that authoritarian regimes directly undermine human flourishing and undermine religious liberty.
The fight for democracy is ultimately what the Southern Baptist Convention is aiming for, despite the Ukrainian regime’s totalitarian actions, conscriptions, and suppression of Christianity.
In summary, due to both our long-held beliefs and our experience serving those most impacted by these conflicts, we support the work of Congress in providing additional support to Ukraine and welcome Congress to take action to prevent further loss of life. In addition, we support members working across the aisle to pass meaningful legislation that undergirds our strong commitment to democratic states, including maintaining support for Israel and Taiwan, who themselves face regional conflicts, or threat of such, similar in geopolitical nature to that of Ukraine.
In each of these conflicts, we have witnessed annihilation of innocent lives as autocrats and terrorists seek conquest. As more lives are lost with each destructive blow, we should yearn for a day when the bombs, rockets, and artillery would fall silent. At this time, our nation’s support for these allies is what is required to make that a reality. We urge you to act swiftly in passing such a package as we “do all in (our) power to end war” and save innocent lives.
But if human life was ultimately the concern and self-determination as the letter maintains, the Southern Baptist Convention would not lobby for the United States to fund Ukraine. Prolonging an unwinnable war so that a Ukrainian regime would rule ethnic Russians is quite the opposite of supporting self-determination and human life.
But this is just one of many leftwing causes supported with Southern Baptist tithe dollars which have also been used to support gun control, illegal immigration, and suppress pro-life legislation.
