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.

5 Facts about substance abuse

This weekend many churches in America will observe Substance Abuse Prevention Sunday. In preparation for the observance, here are five facts you should know about the most commonly abused drugs in America.

1. More than 70,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2017, the last year for which complete data is available. The rate was 21.7 per 100,000 population, a increase of nearly 10 percent from 2016. Opioids were involved in over two-thirds of overdose deaths, with death rates linked to synthetic opioids increasing more than 45 percent. The rates of overdose deaths involving cocaine increased by more than 34 percent, and the rate of overdose deaths involving psychostimulants (e.g., medicines often prescribed for people with ADHD) increased by more than 33 percent.

2. An estimated 1.7 million people in the U.S. suffer from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers, and 652,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder (the two categories overlap). About 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, and between eight and 12 percent develop an opioid use disorder. Of those who misuse prescription opioids, an estimated four to six percent transition to the abuse of heroin. About 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.

This Week at the ERLC

• Russell Moore condemned the terrorist attacks in New Zealand as “horrifying,” calling for prayer and work "for swift justice against these murderers, and for grace and comfort for those grieving the loss of family, friends, neighbors."
   

• Over at Facts and Trends, Jason Thacker shares practical advice on how to help parents in your church protect their kids online. Check out his piece here.
   

• Jenn Kintner recently finished her doctorate, and she shares “4 Reasons for Christian Women to Pursue Doctorates” at The Gospel Coalition.
   

• You may not realize it, but your church could be the key to someone’s second chance. Learn how your church can welcome someone coming into the church with a criminal history from our friends at Prison Fellowship.
   

• Coming to the TGC National Conference in Indianapolis? Join Russell Moore, Dan Darling, Trillia Newbell, Sam Allberry, and Jasmine Holmes for a special conversation on the imago dei and human dignity on April 2nd. This panel is sponsored by our friends at The Good Book Company.

What You Need to Know

• International Women’s Day was last Friday, and Rebecca McLaughlin explains why Christians need to reclaim this annual event. Check out her article here. 

While some elements of “second-wave feminism” are at odds with Christian ethics (most notably with regard to abortion) the drive to ensure that women are treated as having equal value, empower women to pursue their various vocations in the world, and protecting women from denigration and exploitation, is at heart a Christian project.

• SBC President J.D. Greear writes about the importance of institutions in the SBC, and explains why a commitment to institutional structures will keep us faithful as we move forward. Read his article here.

Southern Baptists have a lot to pass on to the next generation, and one of the most important principles is the concept and practice of cooperative mission. Our cooperative mission strategy has yielded one of the greatest gospel movements in history. If we are going to remain faithful as a denomination, then we will only do so by remaining fixed on the mission Christ commissioned for us.

• “Are we raising good or godly kids?” That’s the question posed by Mary C. Wiley this week in her piece. She encourages parents to focus on cultivating godliness instead of simply regulating behavior.

As we become more like Christ, I pray that he works through each of us to help our children become more like him, too. I pray that God will raise up a generation of kids who aren’t simply good kids, but are godly kids who boldly obey God because their identity and value is secure in him.

• Adoption is a brave, and often hard, choice—for birth and adoptive parents. In this interview by Lindsay Nicolet and Brittany Salmon, a birth mom, adoptive mom, and daughter come together to share their story.

The greatest news about the gospel is that we get to experience all of God’s character even if our earthly circumstances never change. So if your story looks different, hard, or painful, cling to the truths we know about God from his Word, and find peace in his character.

• What is spiritual poverty, and how can Christians work to alleviate it? Laura Campbell shares some practical ways we can reduce spiritual poverty by loving and listening to our neighbors. Read her article here.

The God who formed us, saved us, and calls us is strong to restore what is broken, bring justice where there is none, and make life out of death. Because of him and the power of the gospel, we can and must do poverty alleviation in our daily lives. Essentially, this means we must be obedient to love our neighbors.

News From Capitol Hill

On Wednesday, a bill known as the Equality Act was reintroduced in the House of Representatives as HR5 for the 116th Congress. This legislation would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act by redefining “sex,” in the list of protected classes as “sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity).” This change would bring a dramatic shift in civil rights law, religious liberty, and the foundations of civic pluralism.

ERLC president Russell Moore denounced the proposed legislation, “The Equality Act is poorly named. In the name of equality it would bully those who dare to dissent with the demands of the Sexual Revolution.”

In his statement to Baptist Press, Moore expanded the supposed aims of a bill like HR5:

Every human being ought to be treated with dignity, but placing sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in this kind of legislation would have harmful consequences. This legislation would make the situation worse in this country, both in terms of religious freedom and in terms of finding ways for Americans who disagree to work together for the common good.

For more on this bill, read Andrew Walker’s article at The Gospel Coalition, The Equality Act Accelerates Anti-Christian Bias. Walker, who serves as director of research and senior fellow in Christian ethics at the ERLC, explains how the Equality Act “equates Christian ethics with hatred and bigotry,” and “represents the most invasive threat to religious liberty ever proposed in America.”

Featured Podcasts

From The Public Square

California governor halts death
Harvest Prude, WORLD

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday that puts a moratorium on capital punishment, delaying the execution of 737 death row inmates.

Pentagon issues new transgender policy limiting service members to birth gender
Luis Martinez and Elizabeth Mclaughlin, ABC News

With all legal hurdles cleared, the Pentagon has instituted a new transgender policy that largely limits the military service of transgender persons currently in uniform to their birth gender. If they are unwilling to do so, they could be discharged.

Bioethicists Urge Animal Research into Male Uterus Transplants
Wesley J. Smith, National Review

From a basic animal welfare analysis, experimenting in a (probably vain) attempt to allow biological men to give birth would be immoral and unethical.

Short Is the Road That Leads From Abortion to Infanticide, Euthanasia
Bruce Ashford, The Daily Signal

Since the Netherlands legalized euthanasia nearly 20 years ago, doctors have taken the lives of thousands of elderly citizens annually.