The Weekly is a rundown of news by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlighting the week’s top news stories from the public square and providing commentary on the big issues of our day.

ERLC Testifies Before Congress on Religious Freedom in Sub-Saharan Africa

On Wednesday, Steven Harris, policy director for ERLC, gave testimony at a meeting of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. The topic of the hearing was “Protecting Civil Society, Faith-Based Actors and Political Speech in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Harris began his testimony by briefly stating the importance of religious freedom, and why promoting it across the globe is a national security interest. “When religious freedom is not protected, myriad human rights violations, various forms of violence, and overall destabilization is usually the result,” said Harris.

Harris also noted that “suppression of religious freedom can be correlated not only with safety concerns for the people of a given state but also with broader global security concerns—including U.S. national security.”

The main focus of the testimony, though, was to apprise the committee of the status of religious minorities in Sudan, and the religious communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Sudan

In their latest report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) redesignated Sudan as a “country of particular concern.” The government of Sudan, led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, imposes a restrictive interpretation of Shari’ah law, which led government officials to arrest church leaders, harass members of various Christian denominations, and destroy or confiscate church properties.

“We believe this trend reveals that the Sudanese regime’s ideological commitments are incompatible with the requirements of a religiously tolerant state,” said Harris, “and any United States action ought to be directed at these core commitments.”

Democratic Republic of the Congo

An internal political crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo left thousands dead, created tens of thousands of refugees, and left about 1.5 million people displaced. Catholic priests and other Christians have been either murdered or detained by police for participating in protests against the country’s president.

“The church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a long, outspoken proponent of democracy and freedom, historically serving as a moral voice against the corrupt consolidation of power,” says Harris.

“It will be imperative that the United States closely follow, and continue to exert pressure on, the impending presidential elections to be held in December,” he added. “Integral to the overall hope and vision of a free and flourishing Democratic Republic of the Congo is a peaceful, democratic transfer of power.”

Rwanda

The Rwandan government has been engaged in ongoing suppression of critical opinion. Earlier this year the Rwandan government closed 700 churches and arrested six pastors.

“The closings have incited much debate concerning freedom of expression in Rwanda,” Harris told the committee. “While government authorities claim god-honoring motivations, others in the civil society and development space view the closings as yet another manifestation of governmental fear regarding the spread of anti-government sentiments.”

In his conclusion, Harris urged Congress to ensure that “religious freedom be a serious factor taken into account as a foreign policy priority as the United States considers the nature of its relationships to these African countries.”

You can read Harris’s full testimony here.

Other panelists who gave testimony included John Prendergast, co-founder, The Sentry; Nanythe Talani, representative, The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition; Negussie Mengesha, director, Voice of America, Africa Division; and Emerson Sykes, legal advisor, The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law.

EVENT NOTICE: If you are in the Washington, DC area, feel free to join us for a free ERLC Academy event on Monday, May 21, from 7:00-8:30 pm at the Russell Senate Office Building, Room 385.

This week on ERLC podcasts: Daniel Darling talks to Pete Scazzero about healthy spiritual leadership. On the Capitol Conversations podcast, Travis Wussow and Jeff Pickering join Matt Hawkins to discuss their upcoming trip to the United Nations in Geneva to advocate for Malaysian human rights. On the Countermoves podcast, Andrew Walker talks to Trillia Newbell about evangelicalism and racial unity. And on the ERLC podcast, Charlie Dates talks about overcoming divisions to pursue racial harmony.

Other Issues

American Culture

A Design Lab Is Making Rituals for Secular People
The Atlantic

Religions have long been the dominant suppliers of rituals, gamely stepping in with an answer to every question from How do I celebrate the birth of my baby boy? to How can I transfer my own sins onto a live chicken? But in an age of increasing religious disaffiliation, these rituals now feel hollow to millions of people. 

The Merit Badge of Surrender: How the Boy Scouts of America are Succumbing to the Gender Revolution
Public Discourse

The incremental surrender of the Boy Scouts to the gender revolution has undermined the very reason for their existence. Last week, the Boy Scouts of America, a venerated organization, announced that it will drop the “Boy” from “Boy Scout” and make scouting available to all sexes. This was not a surprise decision, nor did it come out of nowhere.

Mormon Church to End Centurylong Relationship With Boy Scouts of America
Slate

The Mormon church announced it will end its centurylong relationship with the Boy Scouts, an organization the church has supported as its largest sponsor in the United States.

Bioethics

AMA Still Says No to Assisted Suicide
National Review Online

A doctor's role is to heal, palliate, counsel, and treat. It should never be to help kill.

Iowa governor signs most restrictive abortion ban in country
Politico

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday signed into law the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country, prohibiting the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected, often at six weeks. The new law is almost certain to prompt court challenges. 

We Might Be Able to Grow Human Organs Inside of Animals. Should We?
Slate

In the United States , the clock is ticking for more than 114,700 adults and children waiting for a donated kidney or other lifesaving organ, and each day, nearly 20 of them die. Researchers are devising a new way to grow human organs inside other animals, but the method raises potentially thorny ethical issues. Other conceivable futuristic techniques sound like dystopian science fiction. 

Christianity and Culture

Evangelicalism needs to focus on cross, Moore says
Baptist Press

American evangelical Christianity needs to be born again to an embrace of the cross of Christ, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said in a lecture on the Princeton University campus.

Afraid LGBT Speech Law Will Pass in California, Christian Ministry Cancels 2 Conferences There
The Daily Signal

A Christian educational organization has canceled two leadership sessions in California because a bill moving through the state Legislature would censor speech and religious freedom. 

Responding to Moral Failure in Church Leaders
Christianity Today

Christians and church leaders must listen, address real issues, take action, and bring judgment. The most recent rash of moral failures, accusations, and heartbreak over sin and human frailty is upon us. Ed Stetzer shared some very helpful reflections on this topic recently. 

Hate group' status blocks ADF from Amazon charity
Baptist Press

A nonprofit Christian legal defense organization cannot receive donations through an Amazon charity program because the law firm is erroneously labeled a "hate group."

International Issues

North Korea frees 3 Americans ahead of Trump's summit with Kim Jong Un
Politico

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has secured the release of three Americans held as prisoners in North Korea and is flying home with them — a move that could further smooth relations ahead of the historic planned summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. 

Church Massacre Shakes Central African Capital
Christianity Today

Priest among 16 killed during Mass at Bangui Catholic church which suffered a similar attack in May 2014. At least 24 people are feared killed and more than 100 injured following a fresh outbreak of violence in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). 

Marriage Issues

Cohabitation is not marriage prep
Family Edge

Even less so for women than for men.

How Divorce Law Disadvantages the Less Educated
Institute for Family Studies Blog

by Laurie DeRose In Charles Dickens’s Hard Times , a mill owner is approached by one of his weavers seeking guidance on how to obtain a divorce, which was more common at that time among the elite. The mill owner dismisses him because the weaver doesn’t have a suit to wear to petition for a Private Act of Parliament, much less the ability to bear other associated costs. 

Domestic violence: Ministry advice for pastors
Baptist Press

As discussion of domestic violence persists among evangelicals, seasoned pastors and others who minister to families are advising their ministry colleagues on what to do when they encounter physical abuse in a marriage.

Del. bill first to outlaw child marriage in U.S.
Baptist Press

A bill awaiting Del. Gov. John Carney's signature is America's first to outlaw marriage before age 18, the latest measure in a nationwide effort to rein in child marriage.

Religious Liberty

The Powerful Headwinds Confronting Religious Freedom
Library of Law and Liberty 

In the next few months, the Supreme Court will decide Masterpiece Cakeshop, one of a series of cases in which conservative Christians have sought exemptions from public-accommodation laws that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. 

Gayle Manchin Appointed To USCIRF
Religion Clause

Last week, the U.S.Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a press release announcing the recent appointment of Gayle Conelly Manchin as a member of the Commission. She was appointed on April 19 by Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer. 

Calif. bill already impacting religious expression
Baptist Press

The California state legislature's latest effort to outlaw biblical views on sex, marriage and gender identity appears to have claimed its first casualty. Citing concerns over possible legal repercussions from a pending bill, Colorado-based Summit Ministries has canceled a summer conference at Biola University in the Los Angeles area.

Sexuality Issues

Australian, 104, dies in assisted suicide in Switzerland
ABC News

A right-to-die group says 104-year-old Australian biologist David Goodall has ended his life in Switzerland