February 5, 2021
Our form of government invites Americans to engage in the legislative process through advocacy. The ERLC advocates for issues of missional priority that are of national import through the cooperation of congregations throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, as was recently noted in the introduction to our 2021 Public Policy Agenda.
Our public policy team’s advocacy work in Washington is organized through the categories of religious liberty, sanctity of human life, justice, marriage and family, and related international engagement. On some issues, there is a wide shared consensus and purpose, and on others, there is deep disagreement. As our public policy agenda says, “whether issues are currently popular or unpopular, we have the opportunity to bear witness, to seek to persuade, and to build the consensus needed to make change.”
December 17, 2020
On Dec. 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s pandemic restrictions that treated churches more harshly than other spaces, like casinos and restaurants. This is a significant win, as the ERLC argued for in our amicus brief in this case.
The case challenging Nevada’s non-neutral pandemic rules was brought by Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, a church in rural Lyon County. Calvary Chapel is represented by the legal organization, and ERLC partner, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) that made the case that Gov. Sisolak’s rules were both unconstitutional and illogical for public health during a pandemic.