NASHVILLE (BP) – The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has sent a letter urging Congress to consider the priorities of Southern Baptists as funding negotiations for the 2025 fiscal year continue.
The letter, released Monday (Sept. 9), highlights several of the entity’s priorities for the upcoming 2025 appropriations bills (the 12 bills which annually fund the government). Some of the priorities highlighted by the ERLC in the letter include pro-life issues, religious liberty concerns and opposing taxpayer funding for harmful “gender transition” surgeries.
“As a nation, our values and priorities are most clearly displayed through the allocation of our resources,” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood said in the letter. “It is our desire for those resources to be used in a way that promotes life, religious liberty and the flourishing of all our neighbors. It is in light of these core principles that we highlight the areas of concern and support below.”
Draft text for nearly all 12 appropriations bills has been released in both chambers, and the bills have passed through both the House and Senate appropriations committees. The deadline for the government to pass the required 12 appropriations bills for the 2025 fiscal year is Sept. 30, but Congress is expected to pass a continuing resolution to extend that deadline at the current funding levels.
Following the entity’s letter is a document outlining areas of concern and areas of support for each of the 12 appropriations in response to the released draft text.
The letter, along with the attached document, was sent to the following appropriators:
- Tom Cole, chairman, House Appropriations Committee
- Rosa DeLauro, ranking member, House Appropriations Committee
- Patty Murray, chairwoman, Senate Appropriations Committee
- Susan Collins, vice chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
“Government funding remains one of the primary tasks of Congress each year, while also remaining one of the primary ways taxpayers can be unknowingly complicit in policies that violate their beliefs,” said Allison Cantrell, ERLC senior policy associate.
“We urge Congress to consider the topline policies Southern Baptists have continually supported: preventing the misuse of government funding to subsidize the harmful abortion industry, ensuring government funding does not support ‘gender transitions,’ and warning Congress against heedless expansion of assisted reproductive technologies without due consideration for the numerous ethical factors at play.
“As negotiators continue discussions on a variety of important topics, we are thankful for their work for the American people and encourage them to push forward these vital policies.”
In the letter, Leatherwood spoke to the importance of the priorities outlined in the document, including the ERLC’s previously highlighted pro-life concerns.
“For over 40 years, Southern Baptists have been outspoken about the reality that abortion is an injustice against both innocent preborn children and vulnerable women in crisis,” Leatherwood said.
“This issue remains of the highest importance to Southern Baptists, as we desire to see meaningful policies enacted that recognize and prioritize the dignity and value of preborn children.”
He continued on to voice the entity’s opposition to taxpayer money going toward gender transition services, and its desire for the continued inclusion of conscience protections for healthcare workers.
“As stated in the 2023 SBC Resolution On Opposing Gender Transitions, we are fundamentally opposed to ‘gender transition’ surgeries and procedures and regard them as a futile quest to change one’s sex, directly assaulting God’s good design for gender and sexuality,” Leatherwood said. “It is unconscionable that government funding would be used to perpetrate this harm against our neighbors.
“The ERLC is committed to conscience protection policies because they uphold two of our most deeply held convictions. First, we work to protect the consciences of our neighbors because religious freedom is an inalienable human right secured as the first freedom in the Bill of Rights. Second, our pro-life ethic compels us to protect healthcare workers from the coercive power of the profit-seeking, on-demand abortion industry. Conscience protection policies in appropriations are essential for the protection of millions of American taxpayers.”
Leatherwood closed out the letter with a word of thanks and support appropriators.
“As always, we are committed to praying for each of you as you navigate these complex budgetary matters and ask God to give you wisdom and discernment as you continue your work. Thank you for your attention to these important issues,” he said.
The letter and full document can be found here.
