Southern Baptist Figures Join Ukrainian Baptists in Lobbying Congress for Ukraine Aid

Evangelical Christians in the United States and Ukraine have long maintained close ties, and those ties now carry political weight that reaches the highest levels of American government, according to the report. House Speaker Mike Johnson is a Baptist, and he met with Ukrainian “brothers” on the eve of important Ukraine-related decisions in Congress. The report describes Ukraine as often called the “Bible Belt of Eastern Europe,” and says evangelicals regard the war there as a spiritual confrontation. Although evangelicals make up only 2 to 4 percent of the U.S. population, the report, citing AP, says they hold religious and political influence. Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States with 13 million members, are a key part of that electorate.

Southern Baptist churches have a long history of missionary work in Ukraine, the report says. After the war began, representatives of the Southern Baptist Convention voted to “express solidarity with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.”

Over the past two years, Ukrainian Baptists and other evangelicals have traveled across the United States, visiting churches, Christian colleges, Capitol Hill and the Republican National Convention. The report says they appeal to American evangelicals with political influence within the Republican Party, whose leaders remain skeptical about aid to Ukraine. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said in a recent podcast, “This war is lost,” and has repeatedly said he is ready to help end the war without specifying an outcome. His running mate, JD Vance, said: “I really don’t care what happens to Ukraine.”

Gary Marx, a longtime conservative, works with Ukrainian evangelicals to help them convey the need for aid, according to the report. The work is part of a $3.6 million contract between a Ukrainian organization and the lobbying firm DCI Group, according to foreign agent registration documents. Marx said, “(Ukrainians) know that their nation’s existence depends on whether the US supports them. It’s that simple. If the US stops supporting, they won’t be able to survive.”

Baptists from both countries appealed earlier this year to Johnson, asking him to support aid to Ukraine, though the report notes that the right flank of his party threatened to remove him from office if he did. Pavel Ungurian, a well-known Ukrainian Baptist leader who once worked in the Ukrainian parliament and heads the country’s National Prayer Breakfast, has met with Johnson several times. Before the speaker helped allocate $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Ungurian arranged for Johnson to meet a man from Odesa who had lost his wife and young son in a bombing. The victims were relatives of a Ukrainian Baptist pastor. Grief shared with those who have suffered can become a channel of comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). The report also says Johnson knelt and prayed during the vote on aid to Ukraine.

Daniel Darling, director of the Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, signed a letter with other prominent Baptists calling on Johnson to support aid to Ukraine. Darling said, “For the most part, when I talk with Southern Baptist pastors — rank-and-file pastors — they really want Ukraine to win. Many of them have mission connections there. And so I don’t think it’s as controversial as it often seems.”

Stephen Moore, a Republican veteran of Capitol Hill staff, founded the “Freedom for Ukraine” project in 2022, and the report, citing AP, says he coordinated meetings with more than 100 congressional offices. During the debates over aid, Moore’s organization launched digital advertising in Johnson’s district, across from his church in Louisiana. The Ukrainian humanitarian group Razom, which Moore advised, paid for the banner, which showed a damaged Ukrainian Baptist church and quoted the book of Esther: “Speaker Johnson, for such a time as this.” Moore said, “Every day we try to figure out how to build and maintain Republican support for Ukraine. And evangelical Christian messages are one of the ways we do that.”

Moore’s organization also created a website with stories of Ukrainian Christians who were tortured by Russians.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Russian)