The Weekly is a rundown of news by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlighting the week’s top news stories from the public square and providing commentary on the big issues of our day.

Kansas and Oklahoma Pass Laws Protecting Faith-Based Adoption and Foster Care

On Thursday night and Friday morning, the state legislatures in Oklahoma and Kansas passed legislation to protect the religious freedoms of faith-based adoption and foster care agencies.

Oklahoma’s version of the legislation prevents—to the extent allowed by federal law—requiring private adoption and foster cares agencies from having to place children in homes when the proposed placement would violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions or policies. The law also prohibits actions to deny or refuse to renew certain licenses or to deny state grants and funds because of their religious or moral convictions or policies.

The state’s House of Representatives approved the bill by a 56-21 vote and the Senate passed the bill by a 33-7 vote. Governor Mary Fallin has not publicly indicated whether she will sign it.

Kansas’s version of the legislation similarly prevents—notwithstanding any other provision of state law, and to the extent allowed by federal law—requiring child placement agencies from being required to “perform, assist, counsel, recommend, consent to, refer or otherwise participate in any placement of a child for foster care or adoption” when the proposed placement of such child would violate such agency's sincerely held religious beliefs. Like the Oklahoma legislation, the Kansas law also prohibits actions to deny or refuse to renew certain licenses or to deny state grants and funds because of their religious or moral convictions or policies.

The state’s House of Representatives approved it late Thursday by a 63-58 vote and the Senate approved it Friday morning by a 24-15 vote. Gov. Jeff Colyer is expected to sign the bill.

Several states—including Virginia, Texas, Alabama, North Dakota, and South Dakota—have passed similar legislation to protect faith-based adoption providers.

ERLC sent letters to both state legislatures expressing support for the bills.

“Throughout the country, government entities are threatening, and in some cases depriving, child welfare provider's ability to serve children based on the provider's sincerely held religious and moral convictions,” wrote ERLC President Russell Moore in a letter to the Oklahoma legislature. “Several states have already driven out faith based agencies from the foster and adoption services sectors. Religious service providers and families represent a high volume of child welfare participants.”

“Forcing adoption and foster care providers to compromise their sincerely held beliefs in order to serve children is unconscionable,” Moore added. “Not only is this a violation of religious liberty, but it is also a tragedy for the over 440,000 children in foster care and 110,000 waiting to be adopted in the U.S.”

This week on ERLC podcasts: Daniel Darling talks to Jason Thacker about the gospel and technology. On the Capitol Conversations podcast, Matt Hawkins moderates a panel on criminal justice reform featuring Ed Copeland, James Kirkwood, Heather Rice-Minus and Julie Warren. On the Countermoves podcast, Andrew Walker talks to Trillia Newbell about evangelicalism and racial unity. And on the ERLC podcast, Todd Wagner talks about pressing on when you fail as a parent.

Other Issues

American Culture

Most Americans are lonely, and young people are the loneliest, new study says
The Week

Social media platforms may be able to connect the world, but they've yet to eliminate existential angst. A nationwide study published Tuesday found that nearly 50 percent of respondents feel lonely or left out. The study, conducted by the health insurer Cigna, additionally found that younger generations are likely to say they feel isolated, reports NPR .  

Restorative justice seen as a critical piece of criminal justice reform
Crux

Restorative justice should be advocated as a key element in criminal justice reform, according to participants at an April 25 conference in Washington sponsored by the Catholic Mobilizing Network, which champions restorative justice as well as an end to the death penalty. 

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. secondary schools have sworn officers on site – but not all the time
Pew Research Center

The share of U.S. public secondary schools with sworn officers on site has increased in the past decade.

State Department removes ‘reproductive rights’ section from human rights report
Crux

The U.S. State Department has removed the term “reproductive rights” from its annual human rights report, drawing praise from pro-life leaders who say that the phrase had become a thinly veiled reference to abortion. “‘Reproductive rights’ has long been a euphemism for destroying human life in the womb,” said Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life group Live Action.”

Bioethics

Evangelicals, Not Catholics, Are Now the Pro-Life Base
RealClearReligion 

Looking at an article in the Washington Post about the frenetic activity in many states since 2010 aimed at enacting abortion restrictions, some in order to set up a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the American Prospect's Harold Meyerson noticed a pattern, which he discussed in a subscription email to readers that I happen to receive. 

Violence Against Women Begins in the Womb
Christianity Today

Why female feticide threatens the social order. Sabu George, a Delhi-based researcher, has spent the past quarter-century exposing what he calls “the worst kind of violence” in Indian history—the elimination of millions of unborn girls. He regards it as nothing less than genocide and describes the first few months in the womb as “the riskiest part of a woman’s life cycle in India.”  

When It Comes to Birth Control Devices and Drugs, Women Deserve to Know the Risks
Institute for Family Studies Blog

A controversial female sterilization device called Essure is making the news after the FDA issued a restriction last month that limits where this device can be sold. Specifically, the restriction limits sales of Essure to medical practices that agree to mandate informing women about the dangerous side-effects they might experience by using it.

Christianity and Culture

SWBTS trustees, SBC entity presidents address abuse
Baptist Press

Amid ongoing discussion of statements by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson on domestic violence, Patterson and the executive committee of the seminary trustees have issued a statement affirming "the importance of protecting victims of abuse."

Committee on Nominations seeks more diversity
Baptist Press

The Southern Baptist Convention's Committee on Nominations says social media discussion helped reinforce its commitment to propose a diverse slate of nominees for trustee boards and committees when the SBC gathers in Dallas.

Study: Clinton Voters Much More Likely to Leave Evangelicalism than Trump Voters
Christianity Today

How political divides impact religious affiliation and attendance. Editor’s note: Due to a computational error made in the original April 30 posting, certain figures and charts have been updated as of May 3. The 2016 presidential election heightened an ongoing discussion over the allegiance of American evangelicals to the Republican Party. 

Family Issues

About one-third of U.S. children are living with an unmarried parent
Pew Research Center

The share of U.S. children living with an unmarried parent has more than doubled since 1968, jumping from 13% to 32% in 2017.

International Issues

Scientists believe they just discovered the largest known child sacrifice in human history
Quartz

An international team of scientists funded by the National Geographic Society has discovered what appears to be the largest instance of mass child sacrifice in human history on a site known as “Huanchaquito-Las Llamas,” on the northern coast of Peru. 

US State Department Report Exposes Turkey’s Human Rights Abuses
Providence

The United States State Department released a report on April 20 detailing significant human rights abuses in Turkey, including the torture of detainees, forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and the detention of “tens of thousands” of individuals, including members of parliament as well as US consular staff in Turkey. 

Trump presses Nigerian president on anti-Christian killings
Crux

Meeting embattled Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, President Donald Trump made a special plea for Christians facing persecution in Africa’s most populous country. “We’ve had very serious problems with Christians who have been murdered, killed in Nigeria,” Trump told Buhari at a White House press conference.

Religious Liberty

Judge Rules Pro-Trump Hat Is Not Part of Any Religious Belief
Religion Clause

New York Post reports that a New York state trial court judge on Wednesday dismissed a discrimination suit that had been filed by an accountant who was told to leave a West Village bar because he was wearing a pro-Trump "Make America Great Again" cap.