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: Supreme Court to hear case about faith-based foster care

What just happened?

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a religious liberty case that involves a Philadelphia Catholic agency targeted by the City of Philadelphia regarding its sincere religious beliefs.

At issue in Fulton v. Philadelphia is the question of whether it violates the religion clauses or the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution for the city of Philadelphia to end its contractual relationship with Catholic Social Services because of the city’s requirement that CSS endorse or certify same-sex relationships.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, ruled against the agency, claiming the city’s nondiscrimination policy is a neutral, generally applicable law, and the religious views of Catholic Social Services do not entitle it to an exception from that policy.

This Week at the ERLC

• The ERLC’s Nashville office hosted a Leadership Luncheon featuring an interview with Andrew Peterson. 

• Jason Thacker was on the Eric Metaxas show. He also led a panel discussion at NRB on transhumanism and human dignity.

What You Need to Know

• Jason Thacker on Artificial intelligence could change the human body as we know it

An unfettered hope in our ability to fix the world’s problems through technology will end only in heartbreak and broken bodies. We were not designed to carry that weight or responsibility. We are not gods, but we were made like the one who created everything. We are not able to fundamentally upgrade ourselves because we already are God’s crowning achievement in creation (Eph. 2:10). If we belong to God, there is nothing lacking in us.

• Catherine Parks with Who was the first known Baptist missionary? Honoring George Liele’s legacy

The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention recently voted to approve the first Sunday in February as the annual George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism and Missions Day. Liele holds the distinction for being the first known Baptist missionary. Having been enslaved from birth, he understood the depth of the gospel message of freedom and rest in Christ and shared it with people of many backgrounds and ethnicities.

• Todd E. Brady with The 2,411 hoarded remains in Indiana were murdered human beings

Since 1973, over 61 million human lives have been killed by abortion in America. The Indiana attorney general described the hoarding of 2,411 human remains “horrifying to anyone with normal sensibilities.” Over 61 million murders is horrifying. In fact, let us remember that the murder of merely one human being is nothing less than horrifying.

News From Capitol Hill

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate took two roll call votes on a pair of significant pro-life bills, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The ERLC has long advocated for senators to vote for both bills as they would protect human life by ensuring that vulnerable children, beginning as fetal patients and also as newborn infants, are protected by law and provided with the medical care they deserve. To learn more, see ERLC’s policy briefs linked above or listen to this week’s episode of Capitol Conversations with Jeff Pickering and Chelsea Patterson Sobolik.

Unfortunately, both failed to receive the 60 votes needed to advance. Here’s Russell Moore on why this failed vote “ought to be a national scandal.”

• The Pain-Capable bill would protect children in the womb, beginning at 20 weeks’ gestation, from abortion. Substantial medical research shows that an unborn child who is 20 weeks old in the womb can feel intense pain, with new research suggesting it is likely even earlier. This bill received 53 yeas and 44 nays. Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) joined the majority of Democrats in opposing this legislation while Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.V.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) joined Republicans voting for the bill.
   
• The Born-Alive bill seeks to protect children who are already born, living and breathing outside the womb after surviving a failed abortion. As difficult as it is to believe, federal law does not adequately ensure proper medical provision is provided to these vulnerable newborns because the abortion industry has successfuly carved out for themselves exemptions to proper medical standards. This bill received 56 yeas and 41 nays with every Republican senator and three Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.V.), Bob Casey (Pa.), and Doug Jones (Ala.) supporting the legislation.

The three Democratic senators running for president did not vote on either bill as they were away from Washington, D.C., on the campaign trail in South Carolina.

The basic responsibility of the government is to protect human life, and the ERLC will continue to advocate for legislation that upholds this fundamental duty.

Featured Podcasts

From The Public Square

US appeals court upholds Trump rules involving abortions
Gene Johnson, Associated Press

A U.S. appeals court has upheld Trump administration rules imposing more hurdles for women seeking abortions

GOP attorneys general seek to block Equal Rights Amendment
Associated Press

Five Republican attorneys general are seeking to block an effort by three Democratic-led states to see the Equal Rights Amendment adopted into the U.S. Constitution

Boko Haram attacks predominantly Christian community in Nigeria
Morningstar

Islamic extremist militants from terrorist group Boko Haram destroyed three worship sites and an unspecified number of houses in northeast Nigeria Friday night (Feb. 21), sources said.

Google, Tyson, and Target Rank as Top Corporations for Religious Inclusion
Megan Fowler, Christianity Today

List highlights the minority of Fortune 100 companies that include faith in diversity initiatives.