Southern Baptists heretofore have held and do now hold fast the American principle of the Separation of Church and State.
They believe that the power to tax is also the power to reform, to change, to destroy even; Therefore,
Be it RESOLVED, That we now register our opposition to the amendments to the Social Security Act which are now pending in Congress, which amendments would if enacted by Congress place a tax upon all of our churches, our schools, our orphanages, our missionary and benevolent boards, and all other agencies of the denomination.
Be it RESOLVED further, That Southern Baptists do not favor amending the Social Security Act at all; however, if in the judgment of Congress the Social Security Act should be amended in order to include in its provisions employees of secular non-profit organizations then this Convention insists that such amendment shall definitely exempt all employees of religious denominations, churches, boards, institutions educational and benevolent and all other non-profit agencies of the religious bodies of the United States.
RESOLVED further, That the Southern Baptist Convention whose constituency numbers some five million members with a family attachment of some fifteen million persons does not agree to the proposed Walsh Amendment as contained in Senate Bill No. 3579 which would be able to transmute a general tax into a “true contribution” by the process of placing money thus raised into a Social Security Trust Fund of the Federal Government. On the contrary, this bill would merely convert a general tax into a tax for a special purpose.
The tax proposed by Senate Bill No. 3579 would in our sober judgment be violative of the American principle of the Separation of Church and State and would amount to usurpation of the powers of the Federal Government with reference to religious bodies of every faith–Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and all others.