By Phillip Bethancourt, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. If we could rewind the clock to 1973, would the outcome of Roe v. Wade have changed if churches fully embraced the sanctity of life and rallied together to pray for its protection? It is impossible to know. But what we do know is that our nation may be…
The headlines since March 17 have been crystal clear: Presbyterians approve same-sex marriage. By a majority vote of its presbyteries (regional bodies), the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) ratified an amendment to its constitution sent down last summer by its General Assembly that allows ministers to perform and churches to be used for same-sex weddings. In immediate response,…
A new “sign here” document called “The Marriage Pledge” is now circulating among clergy who are opposed to same-sex marriage. Presbyterians, along with clergy from virtually every stripe have signed it. Many recognizable Christian-thought leaders have weighed in as to the relative value of signing or not signing. So, the presenting question is “should you…
“I am far less afraid of being on the wrong side of history, than being on the wrong side of a holy God,” said Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, as she participated in a panel discussion at the recent Ethics, Religion and Liberty Council (ERLC) National Conference – the Gospel, Homosexuality,…
By Tom Strode, Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) — The Southern Baptist Convention’s religious freedom entity has told the U.S. Supreme Court the time to rule on same-sex marriage has arrived. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) joined four other faith organizations representing tens of millions of Americans in a Sept. 4 brief urging the…
A federal judge in Utah ruled last week that a part (but not all) of the state’s anti-polygamy law is unconstitutional. As Joe Carter of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission writes: “The ruling appears to say that a person who is legally married to one spouse cannot legally marry a second spouse…
On March 26, the board of trustees for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission approved Dr. Russell Moore as its next president. Moore, a native of Biloxi, Miss., currently serves as dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. As the eighth president of ERLC, he will be charged by…