ERLC

WASHINGTON (BP) – New regulatory actions indicate the Biden administration is rolling back religious freedom protections, contend Southern Baptist advocates for the First Amendment right.

N (BP) – The House of Representatives passed legislation Friday (Nov. 19) known as the Build Back Better bill, a key piece of President Biden’s legislative agenda. The legislation passed in a near party-line vote of 220-213. It now goes to the Senate for debate.

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. State Department’s removal of Nigeria from its list of the world’s worst persecutors has stunned religious liberty advocates.

WASHINGTON (BP) – Religious freedom concerns for faith-based child-care programs plague President Biden’s Build Back Better Act as it nears apparent action by Congress, according to Southern Baptists’ ethics entity.

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) – For Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, partnering with the Psalm 139 Project in the placement of ultrasound machines at pregnancy resource centers in the state is one manifestation of what he describes as a long-standing desire.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has encouraged President Biden to include the input of evangelical Christian and other faith leaders in the federal government’s work on the use of artificial intelligence and other issues in technology ethics.

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Supreme Court weighed the concerns of both religious freedom and prison security in oral arguments Tuesday (Nov. 9) regarding a condemned Texas inmate’s request to have a Southern Baptist pastor lay hands on and pray for him when he receives a lethal injection.

WASHINGTON (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics entity is again urging Congress to extend protections against predatory loans to all Americans.

On Nov. 4, the Biden administration issued a COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The stated purpose of this rule is “to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID-19 by strongly encouraging vaccination.” The intent to issue this rule was announced in September by President Biden, but the text of the rule was issued in November.

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Supreme Court signaled Monday (Nov. 1) its dissatisfaction with a lower court’s ruling on a state abortion mandate and ordered it to reconsider that decision in light of the justices’ unanimous opinion in support of religious freedom earlier this year.