Tithes, Taxes, and Southern Baptist Convention’s Support of President Biden’s $60 Billion Ukraine Aid Package—Note to the SBC: Stick to the Gospel!
“War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.” Carl von Clausewitz
The House of Representatives reconvened to potentially vote on a $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine. The Democrat-controlled Senate approved this foreign aid package, which includes $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, in February. However, the bill has been stalled in the lower house of Congress for the last several months despite pressure from the mainstream media and defense industry lobbyists on Speaker Mike Johnson to approve the measure.
Johnson indicated before the March recess that the House would vote on the foreign aid package proposal soon. Still, he faced resistance from conservatives and middle-class Americans who were deeply concerned about the implications of further funding the Ukraine War.
The Biden administration received an unexpected boost this week as three leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention penned a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson. The letter stated that they believed “God” had put Speaker Johnson in his position "for such a time as this." The letter also referred to the stalled Ukrainian Aid Package and urged Speaker Johnson to bring the bill to a vote and support the bill.
The letter was signed by Daniel Darling, the Director of the Southwest Baptist Seminary’s Land Center for Cultural Engagement; Richard Land, the center's namesake and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Yaroslav Pyzh, the president of Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary; and Valerii Antoniu, the president of the Baptist Union of Ukraine.
While I overwhelmingly support calling out the brutal Russian atrocities and fully acknowledge that Putin is a terrorist thug, and yes, what has happened to our Missionaries in the warzone of Ukraine is horrific. Nonetheless, you can argue that it is similar for many countries and war zones worldwide.
Further, make no mistake, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is no youth leader from Southern Baptist Summer Camps. While Zelenskyy is the toast of the town on K Street in D.C. and a hero in the pubs of Foggy Bottoms, like many U.S. puppets from years past, he has his warts—lots of them. The New York Times reported in December of 2022 that Zelenskyy called for lawmakers to prevent the branch of Orthodox Christianity that answers to Moscow from operating in Ukraine.
Many Americans, including Southern Baptists, fail to understand the complex dynamics at play in Ukraine. Orthodox Russian Christians have been living in Ukrainian territory for many years, and like the SBC Missionaries, they are often the ones who suffer the most during times of war. Whether you are a Baptist missionary or a Russian Orthodox Christian in Ukraine, the experience is far from pleasant. Orthodox Christians are taking sides depending on what government you support.
Newsweek would report:
“Yet a closer look at life in Zelensky's Ukraine reveals that it is not the paragon of democracy and Western values that everyone seems to think it is. Ukraine is a deeply corrupt country with wealthy oligarchs playing the same role there as they do in Putin's Russia. Using the war as an excuse, Zelensky has banned his political opposition and shut down all media not controlled by his regime.”
Zelenskyy starting to look more like Saddam Hussein or Fidel Castro than the Freedom Fighter of Foggy Bottom. The question is not the SBC humanitarian argument to support Biden’s $60 Billion Aid Package; it is a geopolitical argument, and it always seems to come at the most expedient times from the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Seminary.
The issue at hand is that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is utilizing its entities and seminaries, which receive tithes from SBC churches, to make political statements and put pressure on lawmakers to support bills and taxpayer funds that many Southern Baptists disagree with.
Using the full weight of the 14.1 million members of the SBC to lobby the Speaker of the House on a geopolitical matter that most members do not support is irresponsible and wrong. While it's acceptable to provide financial support via Church tithes and prayers for the SBC's missionaries in Ukraine, acting as a lobbying arm to make political statements with Church tithes on behalf of the SBC is inappropriate for the churches that faithfully give.
Indeed, the Biden Administration needs a lifeline in Ukraine, not because of a dearth of money or a lack of military hardware but because of a total lack of strategic sophistication. The absence of a coherent energy policy has enabled Putin to rack up strategic wins in Europe. The United States has already spent over $100 Billion dollars on Ukraine.
I fully acknowledge that early in the war, the Ukrainian Army had some tactical success and mounted severe Russian casualties, including the loss of several high-ranking Generals. However, despite tactical setbacks and the everyday abysmal use of logistics, which typically plaque the Russian Army—Russia has been winning at the operational and strategic levels of war. Look no further than the economies in Europe with energy prices and inflation, and a majority of the population in the U.S. has no desire to continue funding the war effort in Ukraine.
Strategically, the American people get it and understand that the United States is not in a favorable position to continue funding the war both economically and militarily. The country's debt is over $30 trillion, and the military is still recuperating from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Moreover, there is a shortage of around 60,000 Soldiers to meet the recruitment goals.
Operationally, Russia controls the Donbas Region, hence the coal and steel-producing areas. Russia controls the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which extend from outside Mariupol in the south to the northern border with Russia. They have controlled Crimea since 2014 and the strategic ports that go along with it. Yes, recently, Ukraine has had some very successful drone attacks against oil refineries and attacks on the Kerch Bridge, including a drone factory in the industrial region of Tatarstan. However, the Russian Army and Navy still maintain operational control.
Even if the U.S. augmented the Ukrainian Army with three U.S. divisions, this would be extremely tough ground to take back. It doesn’t take the brains of an Archbishop or the genius of Carl Clausewitz to figure out that Ukraine does not have the tactical combat prowess to win against the Russian Army. The fight inside Ukraine is more akin to a World War I stalemate than a 21st-century multidomain operation.
While Zelenskyy recently stated that the Ukrainian Army has only sustained 31,000 casualties, any serious military analyst would disagree with that assessment. A recent analysis by the Asia Times believes a conservative estimate would place Ukrainian casualties at 100,000+ KIA and 350,000+ WIA. While we don’t know for sure, my estimate would be closer to 150,000+ KIAs.
Southern Baptist lobbying for Ukraine funding is not limited to the recent letter-writing campaign. In March, Richard Land, a co-signatory of the Johnson letter and former President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), penned an article in the Christian Post calling for increased U.S. defense spending in Ukraine and pleading support for Ukraine using the classic Thucydides fear, honor, and interest argument. Land maintains:
“The Ukrainians are not asking us to risk American lives to defend their freedom. They are only asking for the military equipment with which to defend themselves and their freedom. For those who say we cannot afford more aid, it should be remembered that most of this money is spent in the US, paying US manufacturers to produce weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainians to use to defend themselves.”
It's not like the U.S. is not funding Ukraine. We have already spent over $100 Billion. Land's argument sounds more like a defense contractor lobbying Congress than a Southern Baptist Seminary professor's plight to help missionaries.
Yes, as Land asserts, the U.S. Defense manufacturers would benefit. Most of the new technologies developed by our Defense Industrial base would go to the U.S. Military, and we would, in turn, provide the used equipment to the Ukrainian Army. However, even under the best scenarios, it may take up to one or two years to get M1 Tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and Paladin Howitzers in the fight. Additionally, it would take at least a year to get a trained functioning Maneuver Task Force, a battalion-size element, with enablers in the field.
You see the world from where you sit! "As a Pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention, I understand that there may be those who hold different views from me, especially when supporting President Biden's Ukraine policy and allocating additional billions of tax dollars. While I you have every right to your opinion, don’t use the influence, resources, and tithes of the Southern Baptist Convention to push your political views. This is not a matter concerning missionaries but rather politics. Yes, ole Carl got this right… "War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means."
Our Southern Baptist Seminaries and Entities must stick to the Gospel and not become a political lobbying arm.