WASHINGTON (BP) – President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive actions his first week in office has drawn mixed reviews from evangelicals.
“On two top issues of concern to Southern Baptists – the sanctity of life and respecting biological gender realities – headway was made, without a doubt.”
Brent Leatherwood
Initiatives to combat radical gender ideologies and protect pro-life demonstrators sparked praise while facets of Trump’s immigration crackdown met with caution in some cases and opposition in others.
The president’s other executive actions spanned a range of topics, including freedom of speech; the death penalty; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives; and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S Capitol Building.
An executive order signed on Trump’s first day in office defined male and female as biological realties determined at conception and ordered federal agencies to follow those definitions. The order also called for Trump’s staff to produce within 30 days a proposed bill to codify the traditional definitions of gender in federal law.
“Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being,” the order stated. “The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.”
Kristen Waggoner, president and CEO of the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), applauded Trump’s stand for the traditional definitions of gender.
“President Trump’s executive order to end the U.S. government’s promotion of gender ideology and restore the true definition of ‘sex’ in federal law is momentous,” Waggoner said in a statement. “It’s a 180-degree turn back toward reality and common sense. Men and women have real biological differences. When the law denies this, people suffer.”
Brent Leatherwood, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, expressed gratitude for Trump’s actions regarding gender and abortion.
“On two top issues of concern to Southern Baptists – the sanctity of life and respecting biological gender realities – headway was made, without a doubt,” Leatherwood said. “Ensuring taxpayer resources will not go to ending preborn lives, both here at home and abroad, is a significant accomplishment. At the same time, mandating that our government recognizes what we all know to be true about there only being two sexes is a return to sanity this nation needs. These are important steps, ones that will keep lives from harm and death, and I deeply appreciate them.”
SBC messengers have addressed gender and abortion numerous times in resolutions. A 2023 resolution “condemn[ed] and oppose[d] ‘gender-affirming care’ and all forms of ‘gender transition’ interventions.” A 2022 resolution committed to “eliminate any perceived need for the horror of abortion.”
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