NASHVILLE (BP) – The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has announced the organization’s policy priorities for the upcoming year through the entity’s annual federal public policy agenda, released Monday (Jan. 12).
The ERLC’s 2026 Public Policy Agenda is divided into the entity’s four main focus areas: Life, Religious Liberty, Marriage and Family and Human Dignity. The agenda was authored by the ERLC public policy team.
After 2025 brought a new presidential administration and several Southern Baptist public policy wins, the ERLC hopes to continue to build upon this momentum while also continuing to advocate for areas of concern.
“Each year, our team works to produce a robust federal policy agenda highlighting specific policies we plan to engage in the areas of life, religious liberty, marriage and family, and human dignity,” said ERLC Interim President Gary Hollingsworth. “The result of this hard work is a culmination of priorities near to the heart of every Southern Baptist.
“The ERLC is uniquely positioned to bring the moral principles of Southern Baptists to bear on public policy as we carry the truth of Scripture and the hope of the Gospel with us into a chaotic public square and before our national leaders. Over the next year, the ERLC will champion the priorities contained within this agenda, advocating for substantive legislative and legal change that honors God’s design for humanity and our flourishing.”
There are 43 total items listed in the agenda among the four categories. The opening of each section begins with a quotation from the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 addressing said topic before identifying policy items of focus for the year in that category. After each item is a listing of SBC resolutions where Southern Baptist messengers have spoken to the issue at hand.
The following are a sample of policy priorities from each section:
Life
- End the proliferation of chemical abortions
- Defund Planned Parenthood
- Protect and expand the Hyde Amendment
- Support federal abortion restrictions
- Oppose physician-assisted suicide and all euthanasia efforts
Religious Liberty
- Support conscience protections
- Respond to the decision in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections
- Respond to the decision in First Choice Women’s Resource Center v. Platkin
- Combat global and domestic antisemitism
- Advocate for a strong Office of International Religious Freedom
- Advocating for persecuted Christians around the globe
Marriage & Family
- Oppose taxpayer funding for “gender transition” surgeries and procedures
- Support proposals to ban harmful “gender transition” surgeries and procedures
- Respond to decisions in two women’s sports Supreme Court cases
- Advocate for pro-family tax policies
Human Dignity
- Support protections for children online
- Support efforts to ban pornography
- Support efforts to shape artificial intelligence and technology that emphasize human dignity
- Oppose marijuana expansion
Katy Roberts, ERLC’s senior policy manager, commented on the ERLC’s goal in releasing the agenda.
“Policymaking in America is not an ethically simple task, particularly in our modern context,” Roberts said. “While not exhaustive, it is our hope that the 2026 Public Policy Agenda serves as a helpful roadmap for thoughtful lawmakers as we ‘seek to bring,’ in the words of theBaptist Faith and Message, ‘society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love.’
“We must not only continue to diligently pray for our elected leaders in line with 1 Timothy 2, but also come alongside them in providing practical resources. This is our aim in compiling this agenda: that we would all be equipped to better honor the Lord in word and deed through legislative, legal and advocacy work.”
The full 2026 public policy agenda can be found here.
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