WHEREAS, The United States Congress in 2016 appointed a National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service to investigate the question of expanding Selective Service registration to all Americans, which would subject women to potential military conscription, and to report back to the President and Congress in March 2020; and
WHEREAS, The Commission is currently soliciting input from America’s religious institutions on this question; and
WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist Convention in 2016 adopted a resolution “On Women Registering for the Draft” wherein the Convention resolved to “call on the Administration, Congress, and all military leaders not to require women to register for military drafts”; and
WHEREAS, Requiring women to register for the Selective Service alongside men would be to treat men and women interchangeably and to deny male and female differences clearly revealed in Scripture and in nature; and
WHEREAS, We honor women who wish to engage in military service as volunteers, however, we oppose efforts to force women into military service by government coercion; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, June 11–12, 2019, strongly urge the President and Congress not to expand the Selective Service to include women, which would be to act against the plain testimony of Scripture and nature; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we continue to affirm the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention resolution “On Women Registering for the Draft.”