{"id":2404519,"date":"2025-02-20T07:49:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rift-grows-in-sbc-over-support-for-leftist-immigration-policy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T07:51:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:51:52","slug":"rift-grows-in-sbc-over-support-for-leftist-immigration-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rift-grows-in-sbc-over-support-for-leftist-immigration-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rift Grows In SBC Over Support For Leftist Immigration Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frift-grows-in-sbc-over-support-for-leftist-immigration-policy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2404519&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In\u200b recent\u2064 years, a significant\u2064 divide \u2062has emerged within teh Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) regarding immigration policies,\u2063 particularly as leaders advocate for\u2063 more compassionate approaches toward migrants. Trevin Wax, an SBC vice president, recently\u200b defended the \u2063denomination&#8217;s involvement in refugee resettlement, countering criticisms from \u200dconservative factions within the SBC. This advocacy has included accepting federal funds \u200cfor refugee assistance and providing \u2064resources for migrants, raising \u2064concerns among some members \u200babout the prioritization of asylum seekers over \u200btraditional refugee status.<\/p>\n<p>The SBC&#8217;s leadership has shifted from \u2064a\u2063 stance advocating strict enforcement of immigration laws towards a more empathetic\u2064 positioning,\u2062 evident\u2063 in recent\u2062 resolutions that promote \u200dgovernment obligation \u200bfor migrant care and diversity within churches.\u2062 This \u200cchange is largely attributed \u2063to\u2064 former SBC Ethics and Religious\u200d Liberty Commission head \u200cRussell Moore,who influenced younger members \u200bto blend pro-immigration rhetoric\u2063 with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lets-take-this-battle-all-across-the-nation-new-york-governor-kathy-hochul-vows-to-protect-abortion-fight-oppression-of-pro-life-laws\/\" title=\"\u2018Let\u2019s Take This Battle All Across The Nation\u2019: New York Governor Kathy Hochul Vows To Protect Abortion, Fight \u2018Oppression\u2019 Of Pro-Life Laws\">pro-life agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As the SBC approaches its\u2064 annual \u2062meeting, tensions between conservative members who support Trump-era \u2063policies and progressive leaders advocating for migrant\u200b rights may deepen. A growing number of\u2062 SBC leaders view immigration as a moral issue \u200btied to \u200bChristian teachings, while skepticism remains among many members who \u2064resist what they \u2062perceive as a politically leftward shift in a \u200dtraditionally conservative denomination. The future of the SBC\u200d may hinge on whether it can reconcile thes differing viewpoints while maintaining its foundational faith teachings.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Over the past decade, a growing divide has emerged within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), as denominational leaders have <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">increasingly framed left-leaning border policies<\/a> as a Christian imperative.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Baptist Press, the official news service of the SBC, published <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baptistpress.com\/resource-library\/news\/first-person-public-resources-extend-amplify-baptists-compassion-ministry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an article<\/a> by Trevin Wax, a vice president at the SBC&rsquo;s North American Mission Board, in which he defended his denomination&rsquo;s participation in &ldquo;refugee resettlement&rdquo; against those he claimed have a &ldquo;deep misunderstanding of how disaster relief, foster care or refugee resettlement takes place.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>This comes on the heels of the Center for Baptist Leadership (a conservative element in the SBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/centerforbaptistleadership.org\/southern-baptist-ministry-received-biden-refugee-resettlement-grants\/\">discoveri<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/centerforbaptistleadership.org\/southern-baptist-ministry-received-biden-refugee-resettlement-grants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ng<\/a> that the SBC&rsquo;s Send Relief, in partnership with World Relief, &ldquo;took nearly $70,000 in Biden State Department funds&rdquo; for &ldquo;refugee resettlement.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The SBC&rsquo;s Send Network has offered churches <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sendrelief.org\/trips-search\/world-relief-interest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resources<\/a>, including grants, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrapsnet.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resettle<\/a> migrants, which, according to World Relief, includes things like <a href=\"https:\/\/worldrelief.org\/western-wa\/get-involved\/volunteer\/volunteer-resources\/cultural-companion-toolkit\/finances\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">teaching<\/a> them how to use credit cards, file taxes, and use their EBT card to access resources like food stamps. Though organizations like SEND and World Relief refer to these migrants as refugees, it should be pointed out that many are asylum seekers who may not ultimately be granted refugee status.<\/p>\n<p>The fault lines emerging over this issue are not new, and they are likely to grow as members of America&rsquo;s largest Protestant denomination prepare for their annual meeting in June. Southern Baptist voters tend to be politically conservative and were part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-elections\/exit-polls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">82 percent<\/a> of evangelicals who favored Donald Trump for president in 2024. However, the denomination&rsquo;s leadership class has made immigrant assistance a test of Christian love and thus driven the denomination into opposing conservative border policies.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift away from charity alone and toward politically advocating for asylum seekers. The SBC&rsquo;s 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbc.net\/resource-library\/resolutions\/on-wisely-engaging-immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resolution<\/a> &ldquo;On Wisely Engaging Immigration&rdquo; is much different from a similar resolution from 2006 in that it gives the government the responsibility to &ldquo;care for migrants&rdquo; and promotes using immigration to diversify churches. Gone is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbc.net\/resource-library\/resolutions\/on-the-crisis-of-illegal-immigration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">term<\/a> &ldquo;illegal,&rdquo; as well as calls to&nbsp; punish &ldquo;employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.&rdquo; In 2006, the Southern Baptists who attended annual meetings wanted the federal government to enforce existing laws, but today they want the creation of new, more &ldquo;compassionate&rdquo; ones.<\/p>\n<p>This shift was largely engineered by the now-former president of the SBC&rsquo;s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), Russell Moore, and is carried on today by his successor Brent Leatherwood. In a USA Today <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2013\/07\/16\/southern-baptist-ethicist-stays-busy\/2520041\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview<\/a>, Moore compared people who used terms like &ldquo;illegal aliens and anchor babies&rdquo; to those who dehumanized &ldquo;unborn children by calling them embryos and fetuses.&rdquo; Moore, who is now the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, influenced a generation of Southern Baptist millennials to include leftist approaches to immigration under the &ldquo;pro-life&rdquo; banner and taught them to invoke general &ldquo;image of God&rdquo; or &ldquo;gospel&rdquo; language to justify policy approaches.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/capstonereport.com\/2020\/11\/12\/documents-link-democrat-billionaires-to-southern-baptist-erlc-russell-moore\/35181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Capstone Report<\/a>, Moore received grant money from the National Immigration Forum for participating in an &ldquo;immigration reform campaign&rdquo; in 2015. That same year, the Open Societies Foundation identified Southern Baptists as recipients of funding for &ldquo;refugee advocacy.&rdquo; In 2017, President Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2017\/09\/05\/546423550\/trump-signals-end-to-daca-calls-on-congress-to-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rescinded<\/a> President Obama&rsquo;s DACA executive order that allowed certain migrants brought to the United States by their parents to remain. Moore then brought together 50 evangelical leaders, including four former SBC presidents, to <a href=\"https:\/\/erlc.com\/resource-library\/statements\/evangelical-leader-statement-of-principles-on-dreamers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">endorse<\/a> &ldquo;the underlying policy aim&rdquo; of DACA and urge Congress to &ldquo;provide a pathway to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aclu-negotiating-with-biden-administration-to-give-deported-illegal-immigrants-permanent-status-compensation-and-social-services\/\" title=\"ACLU Negotiating With Biden Administration To Give Deported ... Im... Permanent Status, \u2018Compensation and Social Services\u2019\">permanent legal status<\/a> and\/or citizenship.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That same year, Southern Baptist leaders Ed Stetzer and Danny Akin joined other evangelical leaders to &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net\/worldrelief\/pages\/18\/attachments\/original\/1486673273\/Washington_Post_Letter_8.5x11.pdf?1486673273\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">call on President Trump &hellip; to support refugees<\/a>&rdquo; in an ad sponsored by World Relief and published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/acts-of-faith\/wp\/2017\/02\/08\/conservative-evangelicals-join-letter-denouncing-trumps-order-on-refugees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a>. The message was simple. President Trump&rsquo;s temporary moratorium on asylum seekers, pending a proper vetting process, was inconsistent with Christ&rsquo;s compassion, and Christians who &ldquo;desire[d] to receive many thousands more people&rdquo; should oppose it. World Relief again sponsored <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20201124193212\/https:\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/569ed9b3a976af229c5ff3cd\/t\/5a7a3c7308522979259e09ab\/1517960308752\/Washington+Post+Letter_full_page_02062018_finalprint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a message<\/a> to President Trump urging him to renew DACA and allow 700,000 illegal migrant &ldquo;dreamers&rdquo; to stay in the country. More Southern Baptists signed.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/immigrationforum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/112917-Evangelical-leaders-Dreamers-press-call-recording.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview<\/a> for the National Immigration Forum, Walter Strickland from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), Travis Wussow from the ERLC, and Jose Ocampo, a DACA recipient on staff at Hickory Grove Baptist Church, discussed their support for DACA. Strickland stated that &ldquo;standing on the side of dreamers is the job of Christians.&rdquo; Ocampo highlighted the robust support he received from both his church and, apparently, from Clint Pressley, the current president of the SBC. (Pressley also <a href=\"https:\/\/capstonereport.com\/2023\/11\/07\/clint-pressley-hired-illegal-immigrant-at-his-church-promoted-open-borders\/42352\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> supported a pathway for residency and\/or citizenship.) Meanwhile, Sen. James Lankford, a Southern Baptist, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankford.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/doc\/SUCCEED_Act_Two_Pager.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposed<\/a> a bill to provide illegal migrants who qualified for DACA to gain permanent residency.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, denomination leaders like Leatherwood and Dean Inserra signed an <a href=\"https:\/\/evangelicalimmigrationtable.com\/restitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Evangelical Call for Restitution-Based Immigration Reform<\/a> published by the Evangelical Immigration Table. The statement portrayed deportation as unjust, insinuated the United States government was to blame for separating families, and supported a restitution-based &ldquo;pathway to Legal Permanent Residency&rdquo; for illegal migrants.<\/p>\n<p>For the next four years, during Joe Biden&rsquo;s presidency, the SBC took hardly any action on immigration issues despite the fact that illegal migrants poured across the border at record numbers. Then suddenly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XoeB4XAVklk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Leatherwood<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/erlc.com\/resource\/explainer-bipartisan-border-proposal-surfaces-in-u-s-senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ERLC<\/a> took a strong stand in February 2024 to support Lankford&rsquo;s &ldquo;Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act,&rdquo; which prohibited Homeland Security from continuing to exercise emergency authority to respond to the border crisis if the weekly crossings were under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.appropriations.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/emergency_national_security_supplemental_section-by-section.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">21,000 encounters per week<\/a>. Since Trump became president again, the ERLC signed on to the Evangelical Immigration Table&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/evangelicalimmigrationtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/religious-freedom-letter-january-2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> urging Trump to reinstate &ldquo;sensitive locations&rdquo; policies that would prohibit ICE from entering churches. Leatherwood also signed onto World Relief&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/worldrelief.org\/christianstatement\/#why\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> to &ldquo;Sustain the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, a rift is emerging in the SBC between Trump-supporting members and leaders opposing his policies. The USAID incentive has been turned off by the Trump administration, but groups that benefitted from government gravy will try to reestablish a connection. The question is whether conservative members will keep funding groups like the ERLC and electing presidents who fail to hold groups like Send accountable. <\/p>\n<p>Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary, once <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jonharris1989\/status\/1891974507633541562\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a> immigration a &ldquo;gospel issue,&rdquo; suggesting a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aoc-says-she-hasnt-ruled-out-primarying-chuck-schumer-in-2022\/\" title=\"AOC Says She Hasn\u2019t Ruled Out Primarying Chuck Schumer In 2022\">left-wing stance<\/a> is required to be a faithful Christian. Yet many Southern Baptists believe the gospel hinges on Jesus&rsquo; redemptive work, not leftist politics, and are increasingly resistant to what they see as manipulative leadership.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Jon Harris is an author, producer, and cultural commentator. He hosts the &#8220;Conversations That Matter&#8221; podcast.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A divide has grown in the SBC over left-leaning border policies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3563,"featured_media":2404521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Copy-of-Untitled-2025-02-18T165145.567.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[50410,36382,4717,14654,26565],"class_list":["post-2404519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-controversy-2","tag-immigration-policy","tag-leftist","tag-rift","tag-sbc"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Copy-of-Untitled-2025-02-18T165145.567.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3563"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2404519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2404523,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404519\/revisions\/2404523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2404521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2404519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2404519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2404519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}