NASHVILLE (BP) – Flags waving, sparklers sizzling and patriotic songs galore will help Americans mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. Leading public policy voices hope Southern Baptists won’t miss the opportunity to give thanks for their freedoms and remember why they’re so important.
“America’s semiquincentennial is a special occasion, not just to celebrate America’s founding, but also to reflect on the important ideas and factors that have shaped our nation, including the role of faith in American democracy,” writes RaShan Frost in the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s booklet One Nation Under God: Reflections on 250 Years of Faith and Democracy.
Frost, the ERLC’s director of research, says it’s Southern Baptists’ dual citizenship as citizens of the Kingdom of God and the United States that drive them to not only pursue the Great Commission given by Jesus but also the common good of their neighbors.
“The Christian faith is never isolated from our social and political context because that is the environment by which we live out our primary allegiance to King Jesus. This anniversary provides us an opportunity to evaluate how we have lived our faith since the founding of America and how we can continue to live it out even as the societal climate changes,” he writes.
The ERLC has created several resources for churches. Among them are a prayer guide, a collection of essays, a church bulletin insert and more. They’re available at the commission’s website.
The prayer guide features a seven-day and 30-day version. The short version offers a theme and Scripture reading for each day and the longer guide offers similar themes and Scripture references for the week.
Topics focus on praying for leaders on the local, state and national level as well as those who support them in their work.
“It is our hope and prayer that these guides will help serve the churches of our Convention as they seek to bring the light of Jesus to our nation,” Frost told Baptist Press.
In addition to celebrating the nation’s special anniversary, Frost notes that July 5 is Religious Freedom Sunday in the SBC Emphasis Calendar. He believes these resources would benefit churches on that day.
Messengers to the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting passed a resolution highlighting the anniversary.
The resolution noted the work of Baptist leaders Isaac Backus and John Leland who helped craft the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“Baptists have historically affirmed that religious liberty is not merely a political principle (such as a ‘wall of separation’) but a biblical conviction rooted in the teaching that every individual is accountable to God and must be free to respond to Him without coercion from the state,” the resolution says.
Resolution Committee Chair Hunter Baker believes this correctly reveals how Baptists have long supported religious liberty.
“Early American Baptists sometimes faced repression and even violent conflict, but they strongly promoted their belief in the church as a body of believers and not a congregation of those compelled by government,” he told Baptist Press. “The result is clear. While the old church establishments of Europe have largely led to the most secular nations on earth, the American churches continue to be vital and influential.”
Not only does the resolution reflect on the past, it calls Southern Baptists to be steadfast in the days to come as they “reaffirm our historic Baptist commitment to religious liberty for all people, recognizing it as a God-given right grounded in the dignity of every human being made in the image of God.”
Baker hopes Southern Baptists will join in the important celebration of freedom.
“America should be celebrated because it was here that a nation enunciated the idea that God created all men equal and then embarked upon a great national quest to realize that belief with integrity,” he told Baptist Press.
Baker has served as the provost at North Greenville University, but, in July, transitions to the role of senior fellow at First Liberty Institute’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy.
He acknowledged the nation has fallen short on many occasions. Still, he says, “The United States has been a practitioner and a defender of freedom.”
Southern Baptists play key roles in government today. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner served as a pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas prior to joining the Trump administration.
At the recent SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando, during a heartfelt and off-the-cuff moment, SBC Recording Secretary Don Currence, a Missouri pastor and the mayor of Ozark, Missouri, urged Southern Baptists to lean into local, state and national governments.
These examples, as well as being upright citizens, point to the resolution’s call to “steward these freedoms by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, living as faithful citizens of both the kingdom of God and the United States, and engaging the public square with both courage and civility.”
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