NASHVILLE (BP) — The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has sent a letter urging Congress to consider several Southern Baptist priorities amid ongoing negotiations for the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The NDAA, passed annually, provides authorization of appropriations for the Department of Defense (DOD), some Department of Energy funding and other defense-related activities. It also establishes policies, restrictions and other administration matters relating to the DOD.

The priorities outlined in the ERLC’s letter for the upcoming NDAA include prohibiting the use of government funding for abortion and “gender transitions,” as well as ensuring that selective service is not expanded to include women.

Regarding “gender transitions,” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood said using taxpayer money to fund “gender transitions” violates the consciences of Southern Baptists.

“At a time when gender confusion is pervasive throughout our society, Southern Baptists affirm that there are no accidents in God’s good design,” Leatherwood said in the letter sent Monday (Aug. 26).

“Southern Baptists believe that any attempt to deny or alter one’s sex through so-called ‘gender transitions’ is both an affront to God’s good design and directly conflicts with human flourishing.

“Continuing to provide gender transitions paid for by taxpayer funding through the NDAA violates the consciences of millions of Americans who morally oppose such transitions on moral and ethical grounds as deeply harmful to their neighbor. As a result, the ERLC is supportive of clear provisions that prohibit the taxpayer-funded misuse of such federal funding to perpetuate harmful gender ideology or ‘gender transition’ procedures.”

The ERLC’s letter was addressed to:

• Jack Reed, chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee
• Roger Wicker, ranking member, Senate Armed Services Committee 
• Mike Rogers, chairman, House Armed Services Committee
• Adam Smith, ranking member, House Armed Services Committee

The two committees will continue to negotiate toward the required bipartisan passage of the NDAA.

Speaking on women in the draft, Leatherwood explained that though Southern Baptists are thankful for women who voluntarily serve in the military, women should not be required to register for the draft. Currently, women are not required to do so.

“Over the nearly 250 years since its founding, the U.S. government has never required women to register for the draft,” Leatherwood said. “On the rare occasions where members of Congress have pushed forward legislation to this effect, both Congress and the courts have met such efforts with resounding rebuke.

“In 2019, Southern Baptists passed a resolution ‘oppos[ing] efforts to force women into military service by government coercion’ and urging Congress ‘not to expand the Selective Service to include women, which would be to act against the plain testimony of Scripture and nature.’ Congress should maintain existing standards for selective service, such as the language retained in the House-passed version of the NDAA.”

Alex Ward, research associate and project manager for the ERLC, wrote in a recent essay that the idea of women being required to register for the draft is the wrong solution to a real problem.

“The rise of hostility (in conflicts around the world) raises fair questions about how to ensure we could respond appropriately if it became necessary,” Ward said. “However, the answer is not to require women to serve in combat roles under either a sense of fairness or a fear that more soldiers are needed. 

“The measure to require women to serve in combat roles is connected to the mood of the age in which fairness or surface-level equality are the grounds for all decisions. The thinking goes something like this: because men are required to serve in combat roles, and there is no actual difference between a man and a woman, then women should also be required to serve. 

“If men and women are mere social constructs, then there is no reason to not require they register and step onto the front lines. But this is a lie. Try as culture might to make this true, it’s impossible to overcome the truth that differences do exist.”

The two additional priorities the letter outlines are prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion-related travel, and resisting taxpayer-funded expansions of assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“Southern Baptists believe each person is made in the image of God and is worthy of protection and care at every stage of life, regardless of age or ability,” Leatherwood wrote in the letter.

“Therefore, the ERLC strongly opposes the misuse of federal taxpayer dollars in an attempt to subvert state law and end precious preborn lives in the name of ‘military readiness.’

“Millions of taxpayers around the country oppose abortion as a result of deeply held religious and moral beliefs, and we encourage Congress to ensure their consciences are not violated by supporting the grievous evil of abortion.”

Regarding assisted reproductive technology (ART), the letter first affirms the Baptist value that “life is inherently valuable and endowed by God, regardless of the mechanism by which a precious preborn child is conceived.”

Yet, because of a lack of baseline regulations in the fertility industry as well as vague language in early versions of this year’s NDAA which could potentially lead to other questionable practices in the future, the entity is opposed to expanded use of taxpayer funding for ART in the 2025 NDAA.

Leatherwood closed out the letter with a word of gratitude for lawmakers.

“As always, we thank each of you for your commitment to serving the American people and pray that God grants each of you wisdom and discernment as you undertake these negotiations,” Leatherwood said.

The full letter can be read here.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Timothy Cockes is a writer in Nashville.)