Baptists are very strong believers that the civil magistrate is ordained by God to punish those who do evil.

It was originally signed by about 150 prominent Christian clergy ministry leaders and scholars and was released at a press conference in Washington DC. Appearance at American Enterprise Institute November 2012 Conference on Immigration Policy
Richard Land stated his "being ashamed" of the Republican party in the 2012 Presidential race. "The Unalienable Universal Right to Religious Freedom.

Land (born 1946) is the president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) the moral and ethics concern entity of the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States a post he has held since 1988. Richard D. He was host of the nationally syndicated radio program Richard Land Live! from 2002 to 2012 and is the executive editor of The Christian Post.