Southern Baptist leaders are calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to "consider the plight of Christians" and support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and three other pastors wrote to Johnson on Monday.
"The Russian government's decision to invade Ukraine and to target Baptists and other evangelical Christians in Ukraine has been a tragic hallmark of the war," the letter read.
Johnson, himself a Southern Baptist, has been overseeing a Republican conference that includes conservatives who want to withhold support of Ukraine until the Biden administration agrees to tougher southern border security.
The Senate passed a $95 billion aid package, with $60 billion earmarked for Ukraine, in February. Johnson, though, has yet to schedule a House vote on the funding measure.
"Speaker Johnson has a really difficult job right now, maybe the most difficult a speaker has ever had," Darling told Religion News Service. "I think he does in his heart want to support Ukraine."
The pastors wrote Johnson that God had helped put him in his current role "for such a time as this," Baptist Press reported.
Joining Darling in signing the letter were Richard Land, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC); Yaroslav Pyzh, president of Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary; and Valerii Antoniu, president of the Baptist Union of Ukraine.
They told Johnson that threats, torture and the removal of pastors have been used by Russians to erase "faithful Christians in occupied areas of Ukraine."
The letter said at least 270 houses of worship, religious educational institutions, and sacred sites were damaged or destroyed during the first five months of the war that began in February 2022.
The leaders asked Johnson to follow Baptists' lead and offer aid to Ukraine.
"Baptist organizations have been the largest contributors to relief in Ukraine since Russia's illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine," the letter read. "The Southern Baptist Convention's Send Relief ministry has poured millions of dollars into helping Ukrainian refugees in the surrounding countries and continues to assist Baptists in Ukraine.
"We desire peace. But more than that, we desire a peace that is based on the principles of justice. Our God is both perfectly just and the author of perfect peace."
Johnson is a former ERLC trustee, serving when Land was its president.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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