Alliance Defending Freedom

Alliance Defending Freedom

Abbreviation	ADF
Motto	For Faith, For Justice
Formation	1994
Type	Non-profit
Purpose	Christian advocacy
Headquarters	Scottsdale, Arizona
President/CEO	Alan Sears
Website	www.alliancedefendingfreedom.org
Formerly called	Alliance Defense Fund

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an American conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation."^[1] ADF was founded in 1994 by Bill Bright (founder, Campus Crusade for Christ), Larry Burkett (founder, Crown Financial Ministries), James Dobson (founder, Focus on the Family), D. James Kennedy (founder, Coral Ridge Ministries), Marlin Maddoux (president, International Christian Media), and Donald Wildmon (founder, American Family Association), along with the leadership of over thirty other conservative Christian organizations.^[2]

ADF supports the inclusion of invocations at public meetings and the use of religious displays (such as crosses and other religious monuments) on public lands and in public buildings.^[3] The ADF opposes abortion, and believes that healthcare workers have a right to decline participation in the performance of abortions and other practices an individual health worker finds morally objectionable. ADF opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, as well as adoption by same-sex couples based on their belief that children are best raised by a married mother and father. ADF believes parents should be able to opt their children out of sex education in schools that run counter to a family's religious beliefs.^[3]

ADF states that it has "had various roles of significance" in thirty-eight wins before the United States Supreme Court, including such cases as Rosenberger v. University of Virginia, Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, and Boy Scouts of America v. Dale.^[4] ADF represented a litigant in Perry v. Schwarzenegger in which the Supreme Court ruling in effect allowed same-sex marriage to proceed in California.

On July 9, 2012, the Alliance Defense Fund changed its name to Alliance Defending Freedom. The name change was a strategic initiative designed to reflect the organization's shift in focus from funding allied attorneys to litigating cases.^[5]

Organization

ADF's President, CEO, and General Counsel is Alan Sears. Sears was previously a Justice Department official under the administration of President Ronald Reagan, and has co-authored two books with Craig Osten: The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today and The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values.

The ADF is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. It has six branch offices, located in Sacramento, California; Lawrenceville, Georgia; Shreveport, Louisiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Washington, D.C., and Olathe, Kansas. In addition, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom is located in Nashville, Tennessee.^[6]

Major donors for the organization include the Covenant Foundation, the Bolthouse Foundation^[7] and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, whose vice president is Blackwater Worldwide founder Erik Prince.^[8]

Finances

The ADF reported a total revenue of $54,532,567 for the year ending June 30, 2014 and net assets of $39,845,439.^[9] This compares with a budget of $9 million in 1999.^[10]

Some of its funds come from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation,^[10] the Covenant Foundation and the Bolthouse Fund, which affirms "that man was created by a direct act of God in His image, not from previously existing creatures, and that all of mankind sinned in Adam and Eve, the historical parents of the entire human race".^[11][12]

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, created by Tektronix co-founder Melvin Jack Murdock, donated $375,000 to ADF in February 2016. The trust has given nearly $1 million to ADF in the past nine years.^[13]

Programs and initiatives

ADF’s National Litigation Academy^[14] and Blackstone Legal Fellowship^[15] are aimed at training lawyers to pursue cases from a socially conservative perspective based on Christian ideals.

The National Litigation Academy brings together law school professionals, litigators, and constitutional lawyers for courses of study. Volunteer and allied attorneys are offered training in areas of law that relate to religious freedom, same-sex marriage, and pro-life issues. The training is provided at no charge, but each attorney pledges to spend 450 hours of pro bono time furthering ADF's mission by representing Christian organizations and individuals.^[16][17] ADF states that more than 1,200 attorneys have attended the National Litigation Academy with pro-bono service totaling more than $82 million to date.^[17]

The Blackstone Legal Fellowship is a nine-week summer internship program designed for Christian law students.^[18] Interns work closely with legal professionals and advocate a Conservative Christian worldview. According to ADF, the goal of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship is "to train a new generation of lawyers who will rise to positions of influence and leadership as legal scholars, litigators, judges, and perhaps even Supreme Court justices, and who will work to ensure that justice is carried out in America's courtrooms."^[19] More specifically, ADF states that the Blackstone Legal Fellowship purposes to "[e]quip Christian law students to engage the legal culture with biblical and natural law principles," to "[g]ive law students confidence that the foundation of law on which our country was established is rationally superior to any competing legal philosophy," and to "[p]rofoundly influence Christian law students to take their training and knowledge into positions of influence where they can bring about needed change in America’s legal system."^[19]

The Center for Academic Freedom was established in 2006 and works to protect the right of students and teachers to freely express their religious beliefs.^[20]

Day of Truth

The Alliance Defense Fund states that it established the Day of Truth^[21] "to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective."^[22] The Day of Truth is held annually following the Day of Silence, which is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

The ADF claims that students who have attempted to speak against same-sex relationships and behavior have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their actions under campus hate-speech rules, such as Chase Harper, a high school student whose activism sparked the first Day of Truth. Harper was suspended for wearing a T-shirt that read "Be Ashamed' and "Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned," and on the back read, "Homosexuality is Shameful" and "Romans 1:27." The ADF filed an unsuccessful federal lawsuit against school officials on behalf of Harper, claiming his religious freedoms were violated. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court.^[23][24][25]

The Day of Truth was first organized in 2005. According to ADF, over 1,100 students in 350 schools participated in the first Day of Truth.^[26]

ADF announced that beginning in 2009, it had passed on its leadership role in the Day of Truth to an ex-gay organization, Exodus International,^[27] who has prepared the resources for the event.^[28] On October 6, Exodus International stated they will no longer be supporting or leading the Day of Truth.^[29]

On November 11, 2010, evangelical Christian organization Focus on the Family announced it had acquired the Day of Truth event and was renaming it to the Day of Dialogue.

Notable cases

The Alliance Defense Fund, working with other socially conservative organizations and Christian groups, as well as allied litigators, litigates cases involving religious freedom, abortion issues, and same-sex marriage.^[30]

• Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995). ADF provided funding to defend a student newspaper which was denied university funding due to its religious nature. The case was litigated all the way to the Supreme Court.^[31]
• Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001). The ADF assisted in this case in which the Supreme Court ruled that religious clubs must be afforded equal access to school facilities.^[32]
• Williams v. Vidmar (2004). In November 2004, the ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Cupertino, California elementary school teacher against his school principal and school board members.^[33] The lawsuit was settled without money changing hands and without changes in school policies.^[34]
• Perry v. Schwarzenegger. ADF represented Proposition 8 proponents ProtectMarriage.com in the Federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the proposition, which limited marriage in California to one man and one woman.^[35] Their participation generated some criticism. The religious rights law firm Liberty Counsel, which has litigated opposition to same-sex marriage in California since 2004, criticized Alliance Defense Fund's handling of the case. "ADF presented only two witnesses at trial, following the 15 witnesses presented by those who challenged Proposition 8. Even Judge Walker commented that he was concerned by the lack of evidence presented by ADF on behalf of Prop 8."^[36]
• The ADF defended Elane Photography in its appeal of being found in violation of the New Mexico Human Rights Act for refusing to photograph a 2006 civil commitment ceremony. In August 2013 the New Mexico Supreme Court found in favor of Willock and that the photographer was in violation of the act.^[37][38][39]
• The ADF served as co-counsel defending Sally Howe Smith, Court Clerk for Tulsa County (Oklahoma), whose denial of a marriage license to a same-sex couple was challenged in Bishop v. Oklahoma. Smith lost in U.S. District Court in January 2014.^[40]
• The ADF represented Dr. Mike Adams in a lawsuit against University of North Carolina Wilmington. A first amendment victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit^[41] opened the door to a civil trial in which Adams was also victorious. The case concerned denial of promotion to full professor due to constitutionally-protected speech.^[42][43][44]
• In Bostic v. Rainey, the ADF represented Ms. Michele McQuigg, defendant-intervenor in her official capacity as Prince William County Clerk of Circuit Court; the defendants lost in US District Court in February 2014.^[45]
• The ADF defended Virginia's laws against a challenge to the prohibition on same sex marriage, but lost an appeal in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, July 28, 2014; they have stated that they plan to appeal the ruling.^[46]
• Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York (2012). The ADF lost this case challenging New York City's prohibition on holding worship services in the City's public schools, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case three separate times.^[47]

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Southern Poverty Law Center has said that "The ADF has a record of sharp anti-gay bigotry." and "Today, the group is increasingly committed to international anti-LGBT work."^[48] The SPLC has also accused the Alliance Defending Freedom for assisting the group Belize Action in its campaign to preserve Section 53 of the Belize criminal code which recommends a 10-year prison sentence for homosexual acts.^[49][50]

See also

• American Civil Rights Union
• Center for Individual Rights
• Christian Legal Society
• Focus on the Family
• Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
• Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York

References

1. Defending our First Liberty, Pg. 3, Retrieved June 2, 2007, Alliance Defense Fund
2. History, Alliance Defense Fund
3. Gizzi, John. "Alliance Defense Fund Promotes Religious Freedom." Human Events 65.28 (2009): 21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
4. Supreme Court Victories, Alliance Defense Fund
5. "Alliance Defense Fund now Alliance Defending Freedom" (Press release). Alliance Defending Freedom. 2012-07-09.
6. ADF Center for Academic Freedom - Faith has a Voice
7. "The Bolthouse Foundation". The Bolthouse Foundation. 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
8. Posner, Sarah. "The Legal Muscle Leading the Fight to End the Separation of Church and State" April 1, 2007, Washington Spectator Online
9. "Alliancer Defending Freedom Comparative Assets". Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
10. Stewart, Katherine (2011). The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children. PublicAffairs. p. 84. ISBN 978-1586488437.
11. "Affirmation of Faith". Bolthouse Foundation. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
12. Curtis, Polly; Quinn, Ben (2 September 2011). "Abortion debate: Dorries campaign urged to reveal how it is funded". BBC. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
13. "A Vancouver Charity is Funding a Group Backing North Carolina’s Anti-Transgender “Bathroom Bill”". Willamette Week. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
14. National Litigation Academy, Alliance Defense Fund
15. Blackstone Legal Fellowship, Alliance Defense Fund
16. National Litigation Academy - Multiplying the Power of Alliance through Training Archived October 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
17. National Litigation Academy - Alliance Defense Fund - Defending Our First Liberty Archived April 25, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
18. "Blackstone". Retrieved 2013-09-24.
19. "Our Work > Training > Blackstone Legal Fellowship - Alliance Defending Freedom". Alliancedefensefund.org. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
20. "Speak Up : About Us". Speakupmovement.org. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
21. Day of Truth Participant Manual Web site
22. "Day of Dialogue | Join the Dialogue". Dayoftruth.org. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
23. "'Day of Truth' provides response to homosexual-themed day". Baptist Press. Sbcbaptistpress.org. 2005-03-29. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
24. ADF attorneys seek justice for high school student silenced on Day of Truth, Alliance Defense Fund
25. "T-Shirt Wars". Box Turtle Bulletin. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
26. Day of Truth participation statistics, Day of Truth website
27. "Hostile Questions". Day of Truth. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
28. Homosexuality FAQ Sheet, Day of Truth website
29. ": Day of Truth Support Pulled". Religion.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
30. Issues, Alliance Defense Fund
31. Robert Booth Fowler. Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices ... Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
32. Joel Stashenko (2009-02-03). "Conservative Christian Group Targets New York". Law.com. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
33. Boyer, Peter J. "A Reporter at Large: Jesus in the Classroom". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
34. California teacher, district settle religion lawsuit | First Amendment Center – news, commentary, analysis on free speech, press, religion, assembly, petition
35. Farrell, Michael B. "Will California gay-marriage trial go to Supreme Court?" Christian Science Monitor 26 Jan. 2010: N.PAG. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
36. "California Judge Strikes Down Prop 8 Marriage Amendment". Liberty Counsel. 2010-08-04. Archived from the original on 9 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
37. Beard, Sterling (22 August 2013). "NM Supreme Court Finds Refusing to Photograph Gay Wedding Illegal". National Review Online. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
38. Gentilviso, Chris (22 August 2013). "Elane Photography v. Vanessa Willock: Court Rules Against Photographer In Gay Bias Case". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
39. Gershman, Jacob (22 August 2013). "Photographers Discriminated Against Gay Couple, Court Rules". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
40. Geidner, Chris (January 14, 2014). "Oklahoma Ban On Same-Sex Marriages Is Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules". Buzz Feed. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
41. Victory for academic freedom: 4th Circuit says professor’s speeches, columns protected by First Amendment - Alliance Defending Freedom
42. Mike Adams Wins His Day in Court |
43. Mike Adams Lawsuit | Jury Verdict | UNC Wilmington
44. A Victory for Free Speech: Atheist Turned Christian Professor Wins Lawsuit Against University
45. Dujardin, Peter (2014-02-14). "Reaction mixed to Virginia judge's ruling in same-sex marriage case". Daily Press. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
46. Barnes, Robert; Portnoy, Jenna. "Appeals court upholds decision overturning Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban". www.washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
47. Sharon Otterman (2015-03-30). "Supreme Court Leaves Intact New York’s Ban on Religious Services in Schools". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-04-04.
48. "Criminalizing Sex: Six U.S. Anti-Gay Groups Abroad"
49. http://www.splcenter.org/get%20informed/publications/Dangerous%20Liaisons/Dangerous%20Liaisons%3A%20Outlawing%20Homosexuality%20in%20Belize
50. American Groups Encourage Anti-Gay Violence In Belize: Southern Poverty Law Center Report

Further reading

• Sears, Alan; Craig Osten (2005). The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values. B&H Books. ISBN 978-0-8054-4045-4.
• Sears, Alan; Craig Osten (2003). The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today. B&H Books. ISBN 978-0-8054-2698-4.

External links

• Alliance Defense Fund, official website
• Day of Truth
• ADF a Force Behind Conservative Court Victories
• The 800-Pound Gorilla Of The Christian Right