The Weekly is a highlight of the work the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is doing to strengthen you and our churches for God’s glory.

Explainer: ERLC expands pro-life work to Northern Ireland

What just happened?

The ERLC has long played an active role in advocating for the protection of religious freedom and standing for human dignity in the international context. Similarly, the ERLC has been a constant voice for protecting the lives of the most vulnerable in our society. As a logical extension of that work, ERLC is partnering with other groups to oppose abortion in Northern Ireland.

“Against the will of the people, abortion has been decriminalized in Northern Ireland, a place many have previously viewed as one the of last remaining pro-life countries,” said Brent Leatherwood, ERLC’s director of strategic partnerships. “Now, Christians there find themselves thrust into a new reality where the state will officially sanction this assault on human dignity for the first time. As an American, I can’t help but imagine going back in time in our own history when abortion was legalized in the states. In effect, it’s now 1973 in Northern Ireland.

This Week at the ERLC

• Dan Darling is at Lifeway Voices with an article on 5 misconceptions about sin. 

• Jason Thacker’s new book The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity released on Tuesday. 
   
• Chelsea Patterson Sobolik appeared on CBN outside the Supreme Court during June Medical Services v. Russo, a significant pro-life case.​

What You Need to Know

• Brent Leatherwood and Lindsay Nicolet feature A Q&A on coronavirus with an infectious disease specialist.

When circumstances are beyond my control, I can unabashedly cry out to God for deliverance. But as I call on him, I want to remember and take comfort in his past faithfulness—his righteous acts and his deeds of salvation. God’s perfect track record gives me a rock-solid hope. And not just any hope, but a hope that leads to action and compels me to declare his glory to the nations. During uncertain times like these, that is exactly what the nations need to hear.

• Rebecca McLaughlin on How can we engage in apologetics with gentleness and respect?

But when we go on the offense with our apologetics, it must have love at its heart, and gentleness and respect on either hand. People like me, who are prone to intellectual point-scoring, must fight this temptation just as we would fight lust or laziness.

• ERLC Staff with Explainer: Federal government creates ethics advisory board for human fetal tissue research

As Christians we should strive to avoid cooperating with evil and prevent it from occurring in the future. For this reason we should encourage the HHS to appoint members of the Ethics Board who advise the HHS Secretary to not use or fund human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.

News From Capitol Hill

The ERLC was at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday for June Medical Services v. Russo. This is a significant case on a vital Louisiana law dealing with medical standards and patient health as the legislature found that abortion clinics in their state neglect both. The ERLC joined with a broad coalition of pro-life organizations to host the Protect Women Protect Life rally as the justices heard oral arguments inside.

In 2014, state Sen. Katrina Jackson (D) authored legislation to ensure women seeking abortions were provided with a basic standard of medical care, including requiring that the doctors performing the abortion hold admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. The bill, Louisiana Act 620, was appropriately named the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, and it passed overwhelmingly with votes of 85 to 6 in the House and 34 to 3 in the Senate.

Here’s ERLC president Russell Moore on why all Americans ought to know the significance of this case.

For more on this law and how it landed at the Supreme Court, check out these resources from our ERLC policy team.

• Video from Chelsea Patterson Sobolik while at the rally outside the Court explaining why the justices should uphold this law that protects women
   
• Article from Jeff Pickering where he writes that the state of Louisiana is right to correct this contradiction in the way abortion clinics are exempt from health and safety standard
   
• ERLC’s Amicus Brief filed with the Supreme Court on Jan. 2 in support of Louisiana, arguing that if abortion clinics claim to be medical providers, as Travis Wussow told Baptist Press, “then the state is well within its duty to regulate their practices for the safety of women. We hope the Supreme Court will discard the 'undue burden' carve-out and apply the same ordinary and rational scrutiny to Louisiana's law that would apply to any other medical regulation."

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