ERLC - The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

In a monumental combined decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Idaho and West Virginia’s laws prohibiting biological men from competing in women’s sports are permissible under both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. This decision helps uphold the laws in 27 states that prevent biological males from competing in women’s sports.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. This move signaled the official founding of the United States of America. At the recent 2026 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission encouraged Southern Baptists to use this occasion to consider the past, present, and future of Christian faithfulness in our great nation.

This summer’s Supreme Court case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport was about the state of New Jersey issuing a subpoena for the personal information of First Choice donors all in an attempt to intimidate the supporters’ pro-life mission. On April 29, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous victory for First Choice, upholding the ruling that First Choice could protect its First Amendment rights in federal court.

On this day four years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade in a historic ruling. The case in question, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, upheld a Mississippi state law banning abortion after the 15-week gestational period. This case earned landmark status because of the question it presented: Is abortion a federally protected right?

Today and tomorrow, in anticipation of the fourth anniversary of the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, senators will take to the Senate floor to draw attention to the need for continued federal pro-life advocacy and to call for the immediate consideration of a slate of bills that would honor the sanctity and dignity of human life.

The Supreme Court handed down its decision in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety today, ruling that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a key religious liberty statute, does not allow individuals working on behalf of the government to be personally sued for monetary damages when they violate a prisoner’s religious liberty.

The world my kids are growing up and going to school in is completely different than the one I did. Culture has even shifted dramatically between the time when my 21-year-old was in middle school and when my 14-year-old was in those same grades. Much of the shift revolves around sexuality and what we should or should not say.

The SBC annual meeting feels like a big family reunion or holiday gathering each year. We travel to a location where most of us do not live, eat meals together, talk for hours on end, and catch up on each others’ lives. Inevitably, at such get-togethers, you find out that one of your distant relatives has changed jobs to something that you cannot explain. That’s a little how I felt at this year’s annual meeting.

On June 18, the ERLC sent a letter authored by ERLC President Dr. Evan Lenow to the House Education and Workforce Committee encouraging committee leadership to schedule a markup for the Equal Campus Access Act. The Equal Campus Access Act would prevent funds given under the Higher Education Act from going to schools that discriminate against religious student groups by denying them access to facilities and resources otherwise available to them.

Dr. Hollingsworth joined the ERLC as the entity’s interim president on October 1, 2025 and concluded his tenure on May 31, 2026. On today’s episode, you’ll hear from Dr. Hollingsworth as he reflects on his time leading the ERLC and the firsthand impact he has seen the ERLC’s work have on assisting churches in how to address cultural issues from a biblical perspective.