WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have always championed religious liberty and the separation of the institutions of church and state; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have been in the forefront of opposition to the appointment of an United States Ambassador to the Vatican and the reception of an ambassador from the Vatican to the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church is an ecclesiastical entity synonymous with the Roman Catholic Church; and
WHEREAS, The Holy See is located in an entity called the State of Vatican City which is headed by the Bishop of Rome and in which office and citizenship are conditioned on some relationship with the Roman Catholic Church; and
WHEREAS, Maintaining diplomatic relations with the Vatican is clearly a violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of separation between the institutions of church and state; and
WHEREAS, Opposition to diplomatic relations with the Holy See should not be regarded as religious bigotry against Roman Catholics but instead as reaffirmation of a long-held Baptist conviction; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have registered their opposition to this public policy by adopting resolutions at annual meetings in 1939, 1940, 1942, 1969, 1984, and 1986; and
WHEREAS, In 1983 the United States Congress repealed the federal law which explicitly barred diplomatic relations with the Vatican; and
WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan successfully appointed America’s first ambassador to the Vatican in 1984 over the vigorous objections of Southern Baptists and others opposed to this policy; and
WHEREAS, President Clinton is both a Southern Baptist and a professed advocate of church-state separation; and
WHEREAS, The President, contrary to the request of the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission and other evangelicals, has nominated a candidate to be the next United States Ambassador to the Vatican.
Therefore, be it RESOLVED, That we, the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Houston, Texas, June 15-17, 1993, reaffirm our opposition to diplomatic ties with the Vatican; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we urge the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the entire United States Senate to reject the nomination and to restore the federal law which barred diplomatic relations with the Vatican; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we urge President Clinton to reconsider his position and revoke diplomatic relations with the Vatican; and
Be it finally RESOLVED, That we assure Roman Catholics that we are not acting on the basis of any bigotry against them, their spiritual leader or their strongly held convictions and that we express our desire to continue working with Roman Catholics on moral, social and public policy issues of mutual agreement.