Religious Liberty

NASHVILLE (BP) – A flurry of traditional and social media discussion surrounding two SBC resolutions (one on in vitro fertilization, the other on religious liberty) has provoked clarifications among Southern Baptists following the Convention’s Annual Meeting June 11-12 in Indianapolis.

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. (BP) - A Kentucky high school student who was denied his diploma last week for mentioning God in his commencement speech received it on Wednesday after meeting with school officials, according to a report on WKRC in Cincinnati.

BRIDGEPORT, West Va. (BP) — Simpson Creek Baptist Church’s record in defending free speech goes back further than the United States itself.

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2024 report urged the U.S. State Department to add 15 nations to the current list of egregious religious freedom violators, and recommended key policy guidance for the Biden administration.

Last month, the ERLC joined public comments with other faith-based organizations in response to two Department of State proposed rules that would undermine the vital work being done by faith-based international aid providers.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (BP) – Hoosier Jews for Choice and four others can proceed in a class action challenge to Indiana’s abortion ban, claiming it violates their individual rights under the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), an appeals court ruled April 4.

DES MOINES, Iowa (BP) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in a ceremony Tuesday night (April 2). The legislation is similar to the federal act signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. More than half of U.S. states have passed their own versions of the law since 1997.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The latest Congressional spending package allows federally funded gender transitions and essentially bypasses current restrictions on government-funded abortions, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) told Baptist Press.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) joined several other religious organizations in filing public comments on Tuesday (March 19), urging the U.S. State Department to revise two proposed regulations related to nondiscrimination in foreign assistance that they say would “subordinate faith-based organizations.”

WASHINGTON (BP) – China is the most religiously oppressive government globally, Pew Research Center said in its latest study of 193 countries, citing the banning of religious publications, broadcasting and worship among 20 categories of persecution.