CHICAGO (BP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has been light on specifics regarding her personal policy agenda, but the party platform set to go before the Democratic National Convention (DNC) next week in Chicago draws mixed reviews when compared with Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resolutions.
It’s unclear to what extent the 80-page platform reflects Harris’ views. It was drafted over the course of a year, with a draft released in July before President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris as the Democrats’ standard bearer. The platform names Biden as the party’s presidential candidate, and the platform committee is not scheduled to meet to update the document before the DNC begins Aug. 19, according to the Associated Press. The platform will become official when DNC delegates vote to approve it.
The draft platform agrees with SBC views on several issues, including racism, the treatment of Native Americans, combating the opioid epidemic and fighting sexual abuse. SBC resolutions disagree with the Democratic platform on abortion, the LGBTQ agenda and marijuana among other issues.
Democrats and the SBC share partial agreement on such issues as religious freedom, the environment and Israel.
POINTS OF AGREEMENT
Native Americans
Democrats lament that “Native peoples’ cultures, identities, and governments were not always seen as a part of this Nation but as a threat to it, and they faced violence and devastation that cost countless lives, tore families apart, and caused lasting damage to Tribal communities and institutions.”
That aligns with a 2022 SBC resolution “on religious liberty, forced conversion, and the federal Indian boarding school initiative investigative report.” The resolution cited a report by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which found that the U.S. “maliciously targeted” Native peoples “as part of a diabolical plan to dispossess these people groups from their native lands by forced assimilation through the establishment of mandatory boarding schools.” The resolution “condemn[ed] any federal government’s policy” to replace tribal culture or “separate tribes from their territories.”
Immigration
The Democratic platform advocates securing the border, fighting human trafficking, keeping immigrant families together and creating pathways to citizenship for immigrants. A 2023 SBC resolution likewise called for “securing our border,” preventing “the exploitation of unaccompanied immigrant children,” “prioritizing the unity of families” and “creating legal pathways to permanent status for immigrants who are in our communities by no fault of their own.”
Previous SBC resolutions on immigration have contained less alignment with Democratic platforms. For example, a 2011 resolution stated, “This resolution is not to be construed as support for amnesty for any undocumented immigrant.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI “holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril,” according to the DNC platform. “We need to act now and act fast to realize the promise of AI and manage its risks to ensure that AI serves the public interest” and does not impinge “Americans’ rights, safety and security.”
The SBC struck a similar tone in a 2023 resolution “on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.” Messengers “acknowledge[d] the powerful nature of AI” and “call[ed] upon civic, industry, and government leaders to develop, maintain, regulate, and use these technologies with the utmost care and discernment, upholding the unique nature of humanity as the crowning achievement of God’s creation.”
Sexual abuse
Combating sexual abuse draws Democrats’ attention in multiple sections of their platform, including promises to fight human trafficking along America’s southern border and battle online child sexual exploitation.
The SBC has denounced sexual abuse several times in recent years. Among those denunciations, a 2019 resolution “condemn[ed] all forms of sexual abuse and repudiate[d] with a unified voice all sexually abusive behavior as unquestionably sinful and under the just condemnation of our Holy God.”
Ukraine
The Democratic platform calls Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “reckless war of aggression.” Among the Biden administration’s goals for resolving the conflict are to “help Ukraine defend its sovereignty” and “prevent escalation into direct conflict with Russia.”
In 2022, an SBC resolution “strongly condemn[ed] the actions of the Russian Federation in her declaration and acts of war against the sovereign nation of Ukraine.”
Opioid crisis
“The scourge of opioids,” according to the Democratic platform, “has torn through our communities, ripping apart families and shattering lives.” The government must continue “strengthening prevention, investing in treatment, and expanding recovery support services.”
A 2018 SBC resolution urged believers “to be aware of the dangers of opioids, advocate for solutions to abuse, and serve those affected by addiction.” The statement “encourage[d] our city, state, and national governments to work together to address the crisis.”
Mental health
America “must address the shortage of mental and behavioral health providers,” the Democratic platform states, “by recruiting and training more providers, ensuring culturally competent care, and extending workforce development and incentive programs.”
SBC messengers in 2013 “commit[ted] to affirm, support, and share God’s love and redemption with those with mental health concerns.” The SBC resolution “support[ed] the wise use of medical intervention for mental health concerns when appropriate.”
POINTS OF DISAGREEMENT
Abortion
The Democratic platform laments the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, claiming the decision “has already had devastating consequences nationwide.” Restrictions on abortion are “extreme and dangerous” and “put the health and lives of women in jeopardy.”
SBC resolutions repeatedly have affirmed the sanctity of unborn human life and stood against abortion. A 2021 resolution “on abolishing abortion” “state[d] unequivocally that abortion is murder” and “reject[ed] any position that … compromises God’s holy standard of justice.” The following year, another resolution “encourage[d] all Southern Baptists to pray for the overturning of the disastrous precedent set in Roe v. Wade.”
LGBTQ agenda
The platform states that “Democrats are committed to defending LGBTQI+ rights,” including same-sex marriage, the right of transgender individuals to serve in the military and defining sex discrimination in schools to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Democrats oppose efforts to help adolescents battle same-sex attraction. Additionally, they promise to ban employment discrimination against LGBTQ individuals, with no mention of exceptions to protect the religious liberty of employers and organizations.
The SBC has opposed the LGBTQ agenda numerous times. A 2023 resolution “condemn[ed] and oppose[d] ‘gender-affirming care’ and all forms of ‘gender transition’ interventions.” A 2015 resolution “call[ed] on the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold the right of the citizens to define marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman,” adding that “no governing institution has the authority to negate or usurp God’s definition of marriage.”
Marijuana
To improve the criminal justice system, “no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,” according to the Democratic platform. The statement also touts the Biden administration’s efforts “to reschedule marijuana so it’s no longer classified as more dangerous than fentanyl or methamphetamine.”
SBC resolutions have spoken against illegal drugs several times, including marijuana. Resolutions in recent decades have not addressed marijuana specifically. However, a 1973 statement noted “an alarmingly developing culture involving marijuana and other illegal drugs.” The federal government should not “perpetuate the drug orientation of the culture.”
Federal judges
The Democratic platform bemoaned the selection and confirmation of Supreme Court “justices who have pushed a far-right agenda with devastating consequences,” including “overturning Roe and eliminating the right to choose.”
The SBC advocated the overturning of Roe v. Wade and, in 2005, “call[ed] upon all future presidents to nominate strict constructionist judges who will interpret rather than make law.”
POINTS OF PARTIAL AGREEMENT
Racism
The Democratic platform devotes more than three pages to “racial equity,” with other references to racism sprinkled throughout. It advocates “an ambitious equity and racial justice agenda,” including equal opportunity in business, alleviating child poverty in minority communities, narrowing the racial wealth gap and promoting education in underserved communities.
On President Biden’s second day in office, Jan. 21, 2021, he issued an Executive Order defining equity to mean “the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.”
The SBC has denounced racism on numerous occasions, including a 2021 resolution that “reaffirm[ed] our agreement with historic, biblically-faithful Southern Baptist condemnations of racism in all forms.”
A 1989 resolution set out to “affirm our intention of standing publicly and privately for racial justice and equality.”
The National Education Association defines equality as “fair treatment,” while “[s]ystemic equity involves a robust system and dynamic process consciously designed to create, support and sustain social justice.”
Israel and antisemitism
The Democratic platform and a 2024 SBC resolution both denounce the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel by the terrorist group Hamas and advocate Israel’s right to defend itself with military force. The platform also denounces antisemitism in the same vein as a 2003 SBC resolution. Both Democrats and a 2016 SBC resolution oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, which seeks to isolate the nation of Israel economically and socially.
However, Democrats endorse a Palestinian state that would exist side by side with Israel. The SBC has not endorsed any specific solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. The 2016 resolution “support[ed] the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign state and reject[ed] any activities that attack that right.”
In vitro fertilization (IVF)
Democrats oppose “laws that limit access to contraception and to fertility treatments like IVF.” This year an SBC resolution offered a more qualified statement on IVF, calling on Southern Baptists “to reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic state, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation especially in the number of embryos generated in the IVF process.”
Religious freedom
In keeping with Southern Baptists’ long-standing advocacy of religious liberty, the Democratic platform pledges to “protect the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion for everyone.” A 2024 SBC resolution “on defending religious liberty” reaffirmed “numerous Southern Baptist resolutions throughout our history which reject government restriction of religious opinion” and “religious expression.”
Yet the Democratic platform states it “will continue to honor both religious freedom and other civil rights, not put[ting] them at war with one another.” In the past, such language has been used to justify criminal and civil penalties against Americans whose religious convictions prevent them from providing goods or services that affirm LGBTQ lifestyles. In contrast, a 2012 SBC resolution called on the government to “guarantee the right” of Americans “to express their religious convictions about homosexual behavior without fear of reprisal.”
Gun violence
“The gun violence epidemic is a scourge ripping apart our communities,” according to the platform. In response, Democrats advocate background checks for gun purchasers, policies to keep guns away from domestic abusers and red flag laws that would remove guns from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others.
A 2018 SBC resolution “on gun violence and mass shootings” similarly called gun violence an “epidemic” and asked the government “to implement preventative measures that would reduce gun violence and mass shootings.” Southern Baptists, unlike the Democratic platform, underscored that all gun policies must operate “in accordance with the Second Amendment.”
Climate change
Democrats call climate change “an existential threat” with “dire impacts.” To combat it and protect vulnerable communities, the U.S. should work toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
SBC messengers in 2007 “urge[d] governments to begin to take steps to help protect vulnerable communities and regions from the effects of the inevitable continued cycles of warming and cooling that have occurred through geologic history.” But Southern Baptists also urged governments “to only support cost-effective measures to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions and to reject government-mandated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — David Roach is a writer in Mobile, Ala.)
