Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice is urging pastors to speak up ahead of the midterm elections, arguing that abortion, marriage, gender identity and immigration raise biblical questions Christian leaders have a responsibility to address.
“Should pastors engage in the political process? They absolutely should,” Rice told Fox News.
“I think the pastors need to step up,” he said. “I think throughout American history, pastors have had a strong voice at key moments in American political history.”
Rice argued that Christians have faced pressure from inside and outside the church to withdraw from politics. Leaders on the theological and political left, he said, continued engaging while other Christian voices fell silent.
That retreat, Rice argued, left a vacuum in public debate.
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He pointed to abortion, the definition of marriage and gender identity as questions rooted in the biblical account of creation that should inform how Christians vote.
“These issues are deeply, profoundly theological issues,” Rice said. “They go back to the creation; they go back to Genesis 1 and 2.”
Those questions, he said, concern what it means to be human and God’s purpose for humanity.
On immigration, Rice acknowledged that Christians face a challenge in balancing compassion for poor and oppressed people with the enforcement of American laws.
“But there is also the importance of the rule of law,” he said.
Rice rejected arguments that Christian compassion requires embracing open immigration or opposing enforcement, calling that reasoning “manipulative.” He said protecting people already living in the country also matters.
“No one would say that because you love people or care for people, you should leave the doors of your house unlocked, or you should open up the jail cells in your own community,” Rice said.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
