ERLC applauds reauthorization of global religious freedom commission
WASHINGTON (BP) – The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission applauds the reauthorization of a bipartisan government group created to monitor and help improve religious liberty worldwide.
China has no religious freedom, USCIRF says, days after release of U.S. pastor
WASHINGTON (BP) – China has tightened its control of religion, creating such crimes as genocide, mass arrests and enforced disappearances, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in a Sept. 23 fact sheet, days after China released long-imprisoned American Protestant pastor David Lin.
Illinois Baptists lose religious freedom case, expect to appeal
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A circuit judge in Springfield has ruled against the Illinois Baptist State Association in a suit to protect IBSA from requirements to provide employees with insurance benefits that cover abortion. The ruling, saying the Illinois Reproductive Health Act did not violate IBSA’s religious freedom, came more than four years after IBSA filed suit.
USCIRF: Tagging global religious freedom violators has not led to much change
WASHINGTON (BP) – Tagging and sanctioning egregious violators of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) has not been effective in improving religious freedom globally, according to a study of the process.
Members of shuttered Rwandan churches gather in homes as leaders quietly protest
KIGALI, Rwanda (RNS) — On a recent Sunday morning, a dozen people congregated in a home in the Nyabisindu neighborhood of Rwanda’s capital to ponder their next steps after the government shuttered numerous churches for noncompliance with health and safety regulations.
How much does forgiveness cost? $7 million for one Christian college.
(RNS) – A dispute with the federal government over how to count employees, mixed with some bad timing, could cost a small evangelical Christian college more than $7 million.
Global religious freedom harmed by government-fostered lies, USCIRF reports
WASHINGTON (BP) – When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the invasion was to “denazify” Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, is a Nazi hellbent on committing genocide against Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians, Putin said.
Appeals court hears Christian homeless shelter’s challenge to Washington anti-discrimination law
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lawyers for a Christian homeless shelter were in federal appeals court July 19 to challenge a Washington state anti-discrimination law that would require the charity to hire LGBTQ+ people and others who don't share its religious beliefs, including those on sexuality and marriage.
How Baptists became champions of religious liberty
Throughout the world, many Christians face imprisonment or even death for expressing dissenting religious beliefs. Today, such persecution often comes at the hands of other religions such as Islam and Hindu nationalism. But in early modern Europe, religious conformity was often enforced by state power and by the hands of believers in Christ.
Independence Day, Let Religious Freedom Ring!
On this July 4th may we continue to celebrate and pray for the freedom of religion established by our Founding Fathers.
