The ERLC and ADF released this free legal resource for churches and Christian organizations.
Two organizations collaborated to create a free legal resource for churches, ministries, and schools to protect themselves if issues related to religious liberty were to occur.
The 44-page handbook is called "Protecting Your Ministry," and was created by the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The handbook comes as more and more lawsuits involving Christians in businesses and same-sex marriages have been brought to attention by the media over the past several months.
"Without soul freedom we have no other liberties," said Russell Moore, the president of the ERLC. "The church cannot outsource its convictions to the state. I am grateful to partner with the Alliance Defending Freedom to produce this resource to help equip churches on how to remain faithful to our mission in a culture that often disagrees with our message."
The handbook features stories of Christians who have recently been involved in legal cases, as well as legal checklists for churches, Christian schools, and Christian ministries (which include "a broad spectrum of nonprofit, faith-based organizations," the handbook says) to ensure that they have the broadest religious liberty protections under the law. Statements of faith, religious employment criteria, facility use policy, religious mission statement, and code of Christian conduct, are among the several aspects included in the legal checklists. The handbook also includes samples of such statements or policies for groups to reference.
"A new concept -- that 'sexual liberty' trumps religious freedom -- has begun to impact churches, ministries, and individual Christians across this nation," the handbook states. "Alliance Defending Freedom created this manual to help you prepare for the legal intrusions some around the country have already faced, and for other threats on or near the horizon."
The free handbook can be found at the ADF website: http://www.alliancedefendingfreedom.org/content/campaign/2014/church/SOGI-Handbook.pdf.
