SBC president calls on pastors to engage in abortion, immigration

Southern Baptist Convention President and Pastor Willy Rice called on pastors across the country to “step up” into the political process as midterm elections near.

While some Christian leaders advise against wading into politics from the pulpit, Rice argues pastors have long played a key role in American politics.

Members of the theological and political left have shown no hesitance to mix religion with their politics and evangelicals should not either, he says.

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“Should pastors engage in the political process? They absolutely should. Because there are many political issues that are, at their heart, theological issues and moral issues that strike at the very center of what we believe to be true and what we believe people need to know in order to flourish personally and as a culture.”

“I think the pastors need to step up. I think throughout American history, pastors have had a strong voice at key moments in American political history,” Rice said.

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Worshipers arrive for Easter Sunday services at Second Baptist Church in Houston on Sunday, April 5, 2026. (Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Rice lamented that many Christians have been encouraged in recent decades, from both external and internal forces, to “be more quiet” and “withdraw from the political process.”

“Now, the interesting thing is that those on the theological and political left did not [withdraw], and they had no intention of doing so. And in fact, statistics show that people on the political and theological left are actually more politically engaged than those on the right,” Rice said. “So what you had was, for a period of time, I felt like you had an almost a vacuum that kind of developed, a silence that was there with a lack of Christian leaders leaning in.”

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The midterm elections heat up as voters will return to the polls in 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

Rice highlighted abortion, the definition of marriage, gender identity and immigration as issues where Christians should feel compelled to vote in a certain way.

“These issues are deeply, profoundly theological issues. They go back to the creation; they go back to Genesis 1 and 2. They go back to our understanding of what it means to be a human being, and our understanding of what God’s creative purpose is for us as human beings,” he said.

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PROVO UT – NOVEMBER 08: Voters cast their ballots at the Utah County Justice and Health center on November 8, 2022 in Provo, Utah. After months of candidates campaigning, Americans are voting in the midterm elections to decide close races across the nation. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) (George Frey/Getty Images)

Rice argued that Christians also face “manipulative” arguments when it comes to immigration. He admits that the immigration issue does present a “challenge” for Christians but argues there is nothing wrong with enforcing America’s laws.

“There is a value of compassion, a value of wanting to care for the least of these people who are poor and oppressed and wanting to help,” Rice said, noting that Christians do more of that charity than any other group in the U.S.

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“But there is also the importance of the rule of law,” he continued. “The protection of people who are in this country. And what you’ve had is sometimes a very cynical use by some people in power of trying to manipulate Christians by saying, since you must demonstrate compassion, therefore you must embrace open immigration, or you must not insist on the enforcement of the the immigration laws.”

“That is very, very manipulative. 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,” he said.