A letter from Virginia pastors petitioning citizens to vote against amendments to the state constitution that would codify same-sex marriage and abortion is gaining traction. On Tuesday morning, the document totaled 354 pastors’ signatures with room for more before November 3. 

“We pray that this letter amplifies truth throughout the Commonwealth before Election Day, and that Amendments 1 and 2 are defeated.” Ben Purves, pastor of Community and Member Care at Occoquan Bible Church (OBC) in Woodbridge, Va., told The Washington Stand. “This letter presents ancient truths on the sanctity of life and marriage that the church has held from the beginning. These are biblical doctrines.”

David Schrock, pastor of Preaching and Theology at OBC, told TWS, “We’re going to continue to fight for the protection of life from the womb all the way to the tomb, and we’re going to fight for what marriage is according to God’s word.” 

According to the Virginia Department of Elections, Amendment 1 would make abortion a “fundamental right,” giving women the power “to make and carry out decisions” when it comes to abortion “with only certain, specific exceptions.” Additionally, Amendment 2 would “(i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law” if the Supreme Court were ever to overturn the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationally.

Purves said that he’s encouraged by the growing number of pastors signing the letter. “Supporting abortion and redefining marriage is a fundamental rejection of historic Christian doctrine. The church must not abdicate its role when it comes to speaking for truth in the public square,” he shared. “It is the responsibility of every Christian voter to steward one’s vote to love one’s neighbor, protect innocent life, and uphold truth at the ballot box.” 

Most of the pastors who have signed the letter hail from the Baptist faith tradition, but the only criteria to sign is simply that the pastor affirms the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation. President of the Southern Baptist Convention Willy Rice took to X to express his gratitude for the initiative of the pastors. “I’m grateful for their courage and willingness to engage,” he wrote. 

Reverend Terrence Kim of Impact Church in Chantilly, Va., told TWS that the proposed amendments give Christians an opportunity to clearly speak biblical truth but also serve as a reminder: “We need to fulfill our duty of loving our neighbor. Give them something to eat, give them something to wear,” he said, referencing Scripture and explaining what it means for the church to care for its neighbors. “This is a good conversational starter as opposed to just another social issue that comes up every month or so,” he continued. 

Data shows that churches are filling the gap of serving expectant mothers in need. In 2021, the Charlotte Lozier Institute reported that approximately 3,000 faith-based pregnancy centers existed in the U.S., offering life-affirming care. 

“Calling people to vote against [the amendments] is really easy because it’s not a partisan issue. It really comes out of what the Bible says. We believe God is good, that His word is good, that it is true,” Schrock continued. “We’re just saying, if you believe these things from the Bible, that you should speak [on] them in all forums, including in the level of our constitution. That’s going to have an impact on our state.”

“There’s a place and a time to be able to say that one party today, I think, is anti-Christian,” he added. “I think the Democrats are anti-Christian, and certainly not protecting and preserving life. They’ve made it a party platform to enshrine abortion wherever they can.”

Schrock explained that what’s on the ballot in Virginia this November transcends partisan politics. “We’re not asking you to vote for a candidate or to pick a party or anything like that. … There’s a place for that, perhaps. But in this, it’s really simple to say there’s a straight line from what the Bible says to what these amendments say, and we want to help people to think about it.”

The pastor contended that those who support abortion and same-sex marriage often use specific language to entice and confuse voters. “They’re going to frame it as positively as they can, as ‘health care’ for women, or to be able to provide ‘freedom’ for women on the abortion issue, and then again with the ‘freedom’ to be able to express your desires for marriage. But underneath that is something that is very insidious and destructive to the family, destructive to culture, destructive to human life.”

Schrock explained that the type of pastor that concerns him is one that would affirm the biblical realities of marriage and life but refrains from touching on anything related to politics. “I really want to spur pastors on to say, look, this is something that’s really clear, and it’s going to have life and death implications for the abortion issue. It’s going to have family implications.”

Jesse Johnson, the lead teaching pastor at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va., told TWS that it’s a low bar for Christians to have to say that it shouldn’t be a constitutional right to kill babies.

“Marriage predates law, and sanctity of life predates law,” Johnson said. “It falls to the government to protect human life and to regulate marriage, but it does not fall to the government to define human life or to define marriage. That’s what Christians often refer to as ‘common grace,’ the truth of marriage and life is something that extends regardless of your religion.”

“This is not Christians forcing their religion on somebody,” he continued. “This is recognizing common grace that everybody who’s been born has been born from a father and a mother and has been allowed to survive childbirth. …This isn’t even so much of a Christian issue or trying to legislate morality or anything like that. It’s recognizing the reality of how God made the world and voting in accordance with that.”