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.

How the ERLC is advocating for Southern Baptists in Washington, D.C.

Our team in Washington, D.C., produces a legislative agenda annually to mark the work we aim to carry out in the year ahead. This list of desired government action is aspirational for the bills we hope become laws and at times those which we oppose, but also a prudent account for the season in which God has placed us to work. The ERLC will work in 2020 to advance core areas of our agenda that reflect our deepest convictions, such as pro-life and religious liberty legislation, while also targeting bills with broad, bipartisan support in order to make progress on our goals in a time of divided government.

This Week at the ERLC

Russell Moore spoke to Baptist state executives in Tucson, Arizona.

What You Need to Know

During the Super Bowl, Google ran a touching commercial that highlighted their Google Assistant. And, as Jason Thacker points out, the ad painted a picture of the purpose for which we should use technology. Find out more here.

The goal and purpose of all technological innovation is to serve us as we serve the Creator of the universe. It is easy to get that pattern flipped by forgetting God and then letting technology rule over us. It is tempting to cut ourselves off from the world around us for a few more minutes of breaking news on Twitter or construe our lives in such a way that the Instagram algorithms gains us more likes. It is easy to mold our lives around our technologies rather than mold our use and development of technology to our lives and the goal of human flourishing for all.

Fear grips China’s citizens—and many throughout the world—as they face the outbreak of the coronavirus. Drew Griffin writes about this and the deeper disease found within China’s government, which has contributed to the spread of the virus. Read his article here.

The world is once again gripped in apprehension and fear as a new and previously unknown virus has emerged from China. Much like SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003, the coronavirus seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Unlike SARS, however, the coronavirus is spreading with greater speed and lethality. China was much criticized in 2003 for failing to react in time and failing to take SARS seriously; 17 years later, they appear determined not to repeat those same mistakes with the coronavirus.

What do Christians think about criminal justice reform? Prison Fellowship commissioned a study by the Barna Group to find out. Heather Rice-Minus reports on the findings. Read her article here.

“The study revealed some hopeful trends. For example, practicing Christians are significantly more likely than other Americans to agree strongly that restoration should be the goal of the justice system. . . . Not all the findings were worth celebrating, though. For instance, only one in five Christians said their church was involved in raising awareness about criminal justice.”

News From Capitol Hill

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee hosted a hearing to illuminate the issues behind an important piece of legislation the ERLC supports, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

The hearing was titled, “The Infant Patient: Ensuring Appropriate Medical Care for Children Born Alive." This is an issue that is hard to believe is real. How could anyone's conscience not be shocked at the horror of leaving a child to die just because they entered the world after surviving an abortion?

As an example of how critically needed this bill is in the face of an aggressive, profit-driven abortion industry, Melissa Ohden shared her story on our Capitol Conversations podcast. Ohden is an abortion survivor who knows firsthand the importance of these medical provisions; she was born-alive after an abortion attempt at seven months’ gestation. Her story is an awesome testament to God’s grace, the power of forgiveness, and the inherent dignity every person deserves, no matter how small.

Listen to her story to learn more about this awful reality and what must be done to stop it: Melissa Ohden on Surviving Abortion.

Featured Podcasts

The much anticipated 2020 Iowa Democratic Caucus became an unmitigated electoral mess as the first in the nation contest remained unresolved a day before the New Hampshire primary. Brent Leatherwood joins Jeff Pickering and Steven Harris on the Capitol Conversations podcast to talk about what happened, what’s next, and how Christians can be salt and light in a polarized partisan season. Listen to their discussion here.

From The Public Square

Ban on treatments for transgender kids fails in South Dakota
Stephen Groves, Associated Press

Legislation aimed at stopping South Dakota physicians from providing puberty blockers and gender confirmation surgery to transgender children under 16 failed to get enough support Monday in a Senate committee.

How the debate over the ERA became a fight over abortion
Eleanor Mueller and Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico

Because only women can have abortions, conservatives argue restrictions on the procedure could be found unconstitutional under the Equal Rights Amendment.

27 Countries Join International Religious Freedom Alliance
Adelle Banks, Religion News Service

The United States has been joined by 26 other countries in a new International Religious Freedom Alliance that seeks to reduce religious persecution across the globe.

Bill in Vermont would decriminalize prostitution
Lisa Rathke, ABC News

Advocates see the bills as starting a discussion and say that with more education there's a possibility for additional states and jurisdictions to propose decriminalizing prostitution.