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.

5 Facts about Juneteenth

Today, Americans will be celebrating Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery. Here are five facts you should know about the longest running African-American holiday.

1. On Sept. 22, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln announced that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves in the Confederate states would be free. The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation read in part, “. . . on the first day of January . . . all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” The proclamation applied only to states that had seceded from the U.S., leaving slavery to remain unchallenged in the six border states. (Four of these states—Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia—abolished slavery before the war ended. Delaware  and Kentucky only abolished slavery when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in December 1865.)

This Week at the ERLC

• Trillia Newbell was on “The World and Everything in It” discussing why we should care about injustice.
   
• Russell Moore responded this week to the Supreme Court ruling on Title VII with an op-ed in The New York Times titled “Just How Secular Should America Be?”, an article at Baptist Press, and a quote in Kentucky Today.

What You Need to Read

• Ashli Arbo with 6 legal issues to consider when reopening your church

Church leaders need to be aware that as they reopen their churches post-pandemic, compliance with local ordinances or executive orders from governors should not be the only legal issue on which they focus. There is also a significant risk of lawsuits against churches in the coming days as the fallout of the pandemic continues. Plaintiffs’ lawyers are on the lookout for more targets, and churches are being lumped into potential targets with nursing homes and cruise lines.

• Lindsay Nicolet with Raising a family, lamenting, and trusting in God amid racial injustice: An interview with Jimmy McNeal

Jimmy McNeal: There have been a lot of tears and grief as we’ve mourned with the rest of the black community. I’ve seen these things happen my whole life. But to my wife, like many others who are white, this is new to her, and every tragedy is real and raw to the core. She fears my death at the hands of racism and laments that this has become a new normal for her life. We have grieved together and with others as we’ve vulnerably processed and used our spheres of influence to bring these daily occurrences to light.

• Josh Wester with What J.K. Rowling can teach us about standing firm among the crowds: Social media, the sexual revolution, and the Christian’s faithfulness to Scripture

When it comes to issues of sexuality, Christians must remain faithful to what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures. We can affirm the value and dignity of all people without denying what God has said is true about men and women. We can love and support people who are hurting without affirming what we know to be false about what it means to be male or female. And we can do so knowing that for some people that will never be enough.

News From Capitol Hill

This was an unexpectedly busy week at the Supreme Court. The justices handed down opinions in two of the most consequential cases of this term dealing with Title VII and DACA.

• On Monday, with a 6 to 3 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, the court ruled that the nondiscrimination protections on the basis of “sex” in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act should also now extend to cover “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” The ERLC filed an amicus brief in this case alongside other religious institutions contending that "sex" in Title VII does not include either classification of orientation or identity. Unfortunately, the justices ruled the opposite with Justice Neil Gorsuch authoring the majority opinion.
  
  While this ruling raises more questions than it answers, one thing to watch is the future autonomy of religious organizations in making hiring decisions. The ERLC is engaged in a few religious liberty cases that will be decided this summer that could give further clarity.
  
  Russell Moore responded with an article at ERLC the morning the case was decided and then later in the week with the aforementioned opinion piece at The New York Times. For more on this decision and its effects, see our policy staff’s new explainer and article reviewing the top quotes in the majority opinion and dissents.
   
• On Thursday, with a closely divided 5 to 4 decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, the court held that the Trump Administration unlawfully ended the DACA program. While the ERLC did not file an amicus brief in this case, Southern Baptists have long advocated for immigration reforms, particularly to protect this special category of young men and women from unjust deportation.
  
  Russell Moore responded to the news noting that while the court’s decision “might address an immediate question of administrative law, it does not, ultimately, protect our vulnerable neighbors.” Moore then challenged the country to take immediate action:

“Dreamers are not an abstraction. They are people created in the image of God, who were brought here as children by their parents. Their entire lives are at stake right now. There is no sending these people ‘back’—in many cases they have no memory at all of the land of their parents’ origin. Those who have lived as good neighbors and contributed so greatly to our country should be protected from the constant threat of having their lives upended. That will take action by the United States Congress. Most Americans agree on this question, which is quite a feat in times as divided as these. Congress should move immediately to protect our Dreamer neighbors.”

• For more on what this DACA case means for Dreamers, check out this explainer from our policy staff.

Featured Podcasts

From The Public Square

Supreme Court blocks execution for Texas prisoner denied spiritual adviser
Richard Wolf, USA Today

The Supreme Court blocked the execution Tuesday of a Texas inmate who was not allowed to die in the presence of a Christian priest.

Most US Pastors Speak Out in Response to George Floyd’s Death
David Roach, Christianity Today

As protests continue across America, Christians may be shifting their views of the church’s role in addressing racism, becoming more outspoken and involved in the current movement for racial justice.

Scientists made 1 small edit to human embryos. It had a lot of unintended consequences.
Kathryn Krawczyk, The Week

A human embryo editing experiment gone wrong has scientists warning against treading into the field altogether.

Religious liberty lawsuit challenges Illinois abortion insurance mandate
Diana Chandler, Baptist Press

The Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA) is challenging a 2019 state law requiring employee health insurance plans to cover abortions, saying the mandate violates freedom of religion and conscience.