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.

What you should know about recent state ballot initiatives

During the recent midterm election, voters in 37 states also considered ballot measures on a range of social issues. Here are some of the main decisions on issues of special concern to the ERLC.

Abortion

Three states had ballot initiatives related to abortion access and funding.

Alabama: Voters in Alabama approved an amendment to their state constitution that makes it the public policy of the state to recognize and support the importance of unborn life and the rights of unborn children—including the right to life—and to protect the rights of unborn children. Additionally, the amendment makes it clear the state constitution does not include a right to abortion or require the funding of an abortion using public funds. The proposed amendment does not identify any specific actions or activities as unlawful. It expresses a public policy that supports broad protections for the rights of unborn children as long as the protections are lawful.

West Virginia: Voters in West Virginia approved an amendment to clarify that “nothing in the Constitution of West Virginia secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.” (West Virginia also has laws restricting access to Medicaid funding for abortion and criminalizing abortion that includes jail time for performing or receiving an abortion. Neither law is currently in effect, though, because to federal and state court rulings.)

Oregon: Voters in Oregon voted against an amendment that would have changed the Oregon Constitution to prohibit publicly funded healthcare programs from covering abortion.

This Week at the ERLC

• Wondering how Christians should respond to the latest election results? Read Dan Darling’s thoughts at Lifeway, “4 Ways Christians Should Respond to the Election Results."
   

• Russell Moore preached the closing address at the North Carolina Baptist Pastor’s Conference earlier this week and delivered a series of lectures at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville last night.

What You Need to Know

• Our churches often designate a Sunday to focus on orphan care, but we should be a people who help the vulnerable year round. Brittany Salmon gives three ways we can stay engaged in serving “the least of these.” Read her article here.

As our churches gather to pray and discuss how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus by caring for the orphans and at-risk children, I am asking you to consider being a part of an ongoing conversation—a conversation and ministry that is close to the Father’s heart. Will you pray about taking action . . . to participate in orphan care and prevention throughout the year?

• President Trump recently signed a new opioid reform law to combat the deadly addictions that are pervasive throughout the U.S. Read Joe Carter’s breakdown of it here.
   

• As Christian parents and those who invest in children, we desire that our children will follow Jesus because they love him. Mary C. Wiley gives four suggestions for how we can begin pointing little hearts toward a gracious Savior. Check out her article here.

Discipleship begins at home, with you, and there’s nothing more exciting than watching your kids grow to love God’s Word and hide it deeply in their hearts. Let’s pray and intentionally parent in such a way that we might see God do such a work in our families.

• The Good Book Company consistently provides biblical and engaging resources for adults, teens, and children. They currently have a discount on several books. Get the details here, and be sure to grab a few books before the end of November.

News From Capitol Hill

• Remember when Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby won religious freedom cases at the Supreme Court? The justices ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby in 2014 and Zubik v. Burwell in 2016 that their religious objections to the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which required coverage of abortifacients, were protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Over four years from when this challenge began, the victory is finally realized this week with the release of final rules by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor.
  
  The Administration issued two final rules establishing exemptions to the contraceptive mandate on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs and nonreligious moral convictions. For more on the rules and who is covered, read this explainer.
  
  The ERLC policy team supports the final rules, having commented in October 2017 affirming the interim rules, and applauds the diligent effort by officials in the Administration to achieve this victory for religious liberty. The objections to abortion inducing contraception that Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor argued for are constitutionally protected, Supreme Court upheld, and now, administratively ensured.

Featured Podcasts

From The Public Square

Release of Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy roils Pakistan
Pamela Constable, Washington Post

The release from prison of a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy against Islam, and unconfirmed reports that she was then secretly airlifted abroad, are roiling Pakistani Muslims and intensifying fears in the country’s minority Christian community.

Rural American hospitals are not prepared for the rise in babies born with opioid withdrawal
Annabelle Timsit, Quartz

The opioid epidemic’s youngest victims haven’t yet been born.

Planned Parenthood Says It Puts Women First. This Missouri Clinic Proves Otherwise.
Monica Burke and Genevieve McNalis, The Daily Signal

Planned Parenthood claims to put women first, yet the atrocious health code violations found at a Missouri clinic earlier this month suggest otherwise.

What to Do About Persecution in China
Mark Galli, Christianity Today

Our most effective weapon against injustice is carried and concealed in our hearts.

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