Two Baptist university presidents in South Carolina were among scores of college and seminary presidents and religious leaders who signed a letter opposing a California bill that would undercut religious liberty at faith-based colleges.

Evans Whitaker, president of Anderson University, and Jairy Hunter, president of Charleston Southern University, signed the letter, which was written by Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

A day after the letter was written, a California lawmaker dropped the proposal in question, allowing religious schools to keep exemptions to anti-discrimination laws related to sexuality.

“I don’t think this will be the end of the issue, but this is a positive development nonetheless,” Whitaker told The Courier.

Whitaker said the presidents of seven Christian colleges in South Carolina are also sending a similar letter to Gov. Nikki Haley, “asking her to protect the religious freedom of our institutions should anything like this ever be proposed in our state.”

Earlier versions of the California bill would have prevented colleges that received state funds from enforcing codes of student conduct reflecting a college’s religious beliefs about sexual identity, including teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The full letter can be read at http://goo.gl/gFPNd3.