Editor’s Note: Due to the nature of this bill, there is sensitive language in the article. On Aug. 31, the California State Assembly passed Senate Bill 145 with a vote of 41-18, following the State Senate where the bill passed 23-10. The vote largely passed along partisan lines. The bill’s passage rightly sparked concern and …
Continue...President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey announced that he will convert the longstanding landmark in Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia, back to a mosque after being a museum for over 80 years. This announcement follows Turkey’s Council of State’s decision to annul the 1934 presidential decree that originally designated the structure as a museum and a …
Continue...The U.S. House of Representatives has passed 10 of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2021 (FY2021). These appropriations bills were packaged together and passed using H.R. 7608 includes Agriculture, Interior and Environment, Military Construction, VA, and State-Foreign Operations. H.R. 7617 includes Commerce, Justice, Science, Department of Defensense, Energy and Water, Financial Services, Labor …
Continue...The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) led a multi-faith letter calling for the U.S. Department of State to designate the continued brutal oppression of the Rohingya as a genocide. For decades, the Burmese government has repeatedly violated the human rights of ethnic minority groups including the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Rakhine, Rohingya, and Shan, by …
Continue...The ERLC affirms that all people are created in God’s image and have innate dignity and worth, and deserve to be treated with respect. The right to believe, practice, and live according to one’s own religious faith is a God-given, fundamental human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 2 that “everyone …
Continue...The ERLC affirms that adoption is a central theological theme in the Bible that provides practical application in our families and communities. We ourselves have been adopted into the family of God, and Scripture provides many instances of God’s tender care for the orphan and vulnerable child, and urges His followers to do the same. …
Continue...As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, religious freedom issues have emerged in a number of places. The healthcare space is no exception to this rule. Thankfully, as has been the case in a number of other areas, as these issues have surfaced, the parties have worked together to find resolutions that allow health and safety …
Continue...Tonight, the Supreme Court declined to hear an emergency appeal from the Ninth Circuit in the case of Calvary Chapel v. Sisolak. The case involves challenges brought by a number of churches in Nevada—including Southern Baptist churches—to the Nevada governor’s reopening plans which treated similar entities, indoor spaces where people gather, differently. Under Governor Steve …
Continue...In a victory for religious liberty, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion involving Chrisitan adoption agencies and its right to place children up for adoption in the best environment possible. The adoption agency, New Hope Family Services based out of Syracuse, works to place children with loving families. The ministry also supports …
Continue...The ERLC participated in the Universal Periodic Review process for the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal focusing on the human rights records of the country. The ERLC filed a joint report to the United Nations, partnering with 21Wilberforce, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and the Jubilee Campaign on the newly implemented Constitution of Nepal. The new Constitution …
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