Category Archives: ADF in the News

Matt Sharp appeared on WTAM 1100 with Bob Frantz. | MP3 audio 9:10 mins | Related: NC College restores Christmas tree

Steve Aden on the Bob Dutko Show WMUZ 103.5FM in Detroit. | MP3 audio 8:02 mins

Robin Marty at RHReality Check: Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense League) have filed a suit alleging that Minnesota has wrongfuly paid for as many as 37,000 abortions since the year 1999 that should not have been covered. According to their press release . . .

Christian Civic League: Protect and prepare for any conflict that same sex marriage will bring to your church. Click here for part 1 of a two part “Faith Matters in Maine” interview with Joel Oster, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Part 2 will air next Dec. 3 at 6:15 pm (WHCF 88.5, Hodgdon/Houlton 93.7, and Presque Isle 102.7)

LifeNews: “The critical taxpayer dollars of Minnesotans should not be used for medically unnecessary abortions, nor should such funding be used to take the lives of more African-American babies than other babies,” said lead counsel Chuck Shreffler, one of nearly 2,200 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom. “The reporting statistics are unambiguous,” added Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden, who is co-counsel in the case. “The state is indisputably funding medically unnecessary abortions in violation of state law, and 40 percent of the abortions are being executed on African-Americans even though they make up only 5 percent of the state’s population. This lawsuit intends to stop this from continuing.”

Steven H. Aden at American Thinker: Ultrasounds have long been a thorn in the side of abortion sellers. This is because the images of hearts beating inside the womb, and of children sucking their thumbs or reacting to outside stimuli, have gone a long way in undercutting the “mass of cells” or “bundle of DNA” theories abortionists pawn to ease the consciences of prospective clients.

Alan Sears at Townhall: This was seen over the weekend as hundreds of thousands of people rallied in France to support marriage in the face of a pending redefinition of it. They were also standing up for keeping the best environment for a child the number one priority for adoption, rather than change adoption laws to place children with same-sex couples for purely political reasons.

Lexington Herald-Leader: The company is being represented in the case by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group of Christian attorneys dedicated to “transforming the legal system and advocating for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family,” according to the organization’s website. Americans in the marketplace should not be subject to legal attacks simply for abiding by their beliefs,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jim Campbell said in a statement. “The Constitution prohibits the government from forcing business owners to promote messages they disagree with.”

Todd Starnes at Fox News: The student group contacted Alliance Defending Freedom — a legal advocacy group that handles many First Amendment issues. The ADF promptly sent the college a letter urging them to either reconsider their decision or face possible legal action. “We’re pleased the college did the right thing,” attorney Matt Sharp told Fox News. “It really is ridiculous they tried to make this club use the word holiday instead of Christmas.”

Christian Post: “It’s ridiculous that anyone would have to think twice about using the word ‘Christmas’ as part of a Christmas tree sale,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “Not only is it perfectly constitutional to use the word ‘Christmas,’ it is unconstitutional to prohibit use of it. This is another perfect example of the immense misunderstanding that far too many college officials have about what the First Amendment truly requires.”

Todd Starnes at Fox News: It’s ridiculous that anyone would have to think twice about using the word ‘Christmas’ as part of a Christmas tree sale,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.

Matt Sharp appeared on the Vicki McKenna Show to talk about the situation. | MP3 audio 10:40 mins

Matt Bowman on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the Tyndale House Publishers case. | MP3 audio 9:50 mins

Jordan Lorence appeared on the World and Everything In It with Mary Reichard to discuss the Bronx Household of Faith case. | MP3 audio 5:43 mins

Catholic News Service: Matthew Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the Carol Springs, Ill., company, said in a statement that the judge’s ruling was the right one and that Bible publishers “should be free to do business according to the book that they publish.”

LifeNews: Attorneys Greg Jackson and Matt Bowman did an extensive analysis of the case and concluded it “did not legalize assisted suicide and it continues to carry both criminal and civil liability for any doctor, institution, or lay person involved.” The Montana Lawyer, the official publication of the Montana State Bar concluded the issue is open to argument, confirming that the legislature needs to clarify the issue this coming session.

Todd Starnes at Fox News: But attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom said the secular group is way off base. “An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that it’s okay to celebrate Christmas in schools and in the public square,” attorney Matt Sharp said. The ADF sent a letter to the Little Rock School District offering their legal services should anyone sue over the performance. “Schools should not have to think twice about whether they can allow students to watch a classic Christmas production simply because a Bible verse is mentioned in it,” Sharp wrote in his letter. “Are atheist groups going to start demanding that students be blocked from attending other classic productions just because they contain religious references?”

Pieor Tozzi appeared on the The Naked Constitution Podcast by Ricochet.com with host Adam Freedman. “This week, we go to the barricades to defend religious freedom. We’re joined by Piero Tozzi from the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), an organization on the front lines of the battle. We explore the original understanding of the Establishment Clause as a federalism provision and not – as it has become – a requirement of radical secularism. We also talk about the Free Exercise clause, and how “progressives” have cast it aside. Finally, Piero treats us to a lively discussion of the culture of death, and why the preservation of religion is so important. It’s everything you wanted to know about sects, but were afraid to ask!” | alternative MP3 audio 56:33 mins

David Skeel at the Wall Street Journal: Consider it a refreshing postelection case of strange bedfellows. For four years, a Christian group called the Alliance Defending Freedom has tried to get courts to review a law that prohibits churches from electioneering. The alliance’s strategy was to goad the IRS into enforcing the law, but the IRS wouldn’t bite. Last week, however, a secular group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation may have forced the IRS’s hand by suing it for this same failure to enforce.

Inside Higher Ed: Florida officials have agreed to declare Florida Christian College’s students eligible for a state student aid program, settling a lawsuit by the college, The News Service of Florida reported

Matt Bowman at Washington Examiner: Religious believers have something special to be thankful for this week. Last Friday, the judicial branch put the brakes on an attack against the very religious freedom that was the reason for the first Thanksgiving. That attack, sadly, originates from the White House. The good news is that the Obama administration has lost the first part of a case in which it was attempting to establish that the scope of religion in America is so miniscule that it does not apply to a devoutly religious Bible publishing company.

Press Enterprise: The movement, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday and organized by the Arizona-based Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, encourages pastors to “preach a biblically based sermon regarding candidates and the election without fearing that the IRS will investigate or punish the church,” according to the group’s website.

Religion Clause Blog: Alliance Defending Freedom issued a Nov. 15 press release reporting on the settlement, and also made available the full text of the Mediation Settlement Agreement.

Newsmax: The Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement, organized by an Arizona-based Christian legal group called Alliance Defending Freedom, was designed in support of an alliance court challenge to a section of the IRS tax code regulating political activities on the part of churches and religious groups that are granted tax-exempt status.

The Alliance Alert will not be published on November 22nd and 23rd. Normal publication will resume on Monday, November 26th. Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Alan Sears at the Alliance Defending Freedom Blog: But this is a season of Thanksgiving, and all of us at this ministry have so much to be grateful for, as our gracious God has showered us, even in the last few weeks, with a series of important victories in a variety of cases from all over the country. A brief sampling . . .

San Francisco Chronicle (AP): Brett Harvey, a lawyer at the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian group that often helps towns defend their practices, sees it the other way. He says liberal groups have made a coordinated attempt to bully local governments into abandoning prayers, resulting in more cases. “It’s really kind of a campaign of fear and disinformation,” Harvey said. Harvey has talked with hundreds of towns about their policies and been involved in about 10 court cases in the past three years. Right now, his advice differs for different parts of the country because the law is in flux.

Heritage Foundation: Late last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction temporarily halting enforcement of the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate against Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., as the lawsuit continues. This is the third such injunction issued against the mandate to date and the second to be obtained by the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of its clients.

The Guardian: So, when the IRS sits on its hands while Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky commands all the priests in his diocese to read an anti-Obama letter at mass; when the IRS pretends not to be interested while Billy Graham runs full-page ads in national newspapers on the eve of the election whose message is a transparent endorsement of Mitt Romney; when the IRS has nothing to say about the fact that on 7 October, at least 1,000 pastors participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” by explicitly endorsing political candidates from their pulpits – we can only suppose that the IRS has decided to ignore its own code.

NBC Bay Area: The movement, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday and organized by the Arizona-based Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, encourages pastors to “preach a biblically based sermon regarding candidates and the election without fearing that the IRS will investigate or punish the church,” according to the group’s website.

One News Now: “No American should be forced to give up a constitutionally protected freedom, much less sacrifice their job in order to maintain that freedom,” Nimocks contends. “Religious freedom is important to every American, and that includes those who issue marriage licenses. It’s important that we as a society embrace the idea that they can do their job without having to violate their conscience.”

Catherine Glenn Foster appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the case. | MP3 audio 12:38 mins

Matt Bowman appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss the Tyndale House Publishing ruling. | MP3 audio 9:23 mins

Blaze.tv at the Acton Institute Power Blog: On Nov. 19, Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico discussed a recent federal court ruling on the Obama Administration’s HHS Contraception Mandate on TheBlaze.com’s Real News. For more on this story, see the Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius resource page on the website of Alliance Defending Freedom.

Ed Whelan at National Review Bench Memos: The HHS contraceptive mandate suffered another loss last Friday—its third loss in the four decisions that have addressed the merits of the claim that the HHS mandate violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). In a thorough opinion in Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the federal district court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction that bars the federal government from penalizing a publishing house for its religiously based refusal to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives that also operate as abortifacients. I’ll highlight two aspects of Judge Walton’s impressive ruling . . . Congratulations to the Alliance Defending Freedom for its victory.

Salon: “No American should be forced to give up a constitutionally protected freedom, nor should any American be forced to give up his or her job to maintain that freedom,” said ADF Senior Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “Religious freedom is paramount to every American, including those issuing marriage licenses. They can perform their job without violating their conscience.”

Speak Up Movement University Blog: Beginning the spring of 2013, Alliance Defending Freedom and Speak Up University want to host a “Free Speech on Campus” event at your school. We will provide a meal and information about your rights on campus, as well as looking specifically at the policies from your school.

Jordan Lorence at Speak Up Movement University Blog: I attended the annual banquet of the Federalist Society Thursday night in Washington D.C., and learned about increasing efforts by law schools to restrict the number of debates Fed Soc sponsors on law school campuses around the nation.

Paul Coleman at Townhall: In late October, a 31-year old female dentist named Savita Halappanavar died in Ireland after being refused an abortion. And although there was no causal link between the refused abortion and her death at the time, and there remains none now, pro-abortion proponents are seizing on her death as sufficient reason to legalize abortions in Ireland.

Everyday Christian: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) started Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008 to challenge the 1954 Johnson Amendment that prohibits tax-exempt churches from making political endorsements. ADF hoped the IRS would take action so that a lawsuit could be filed that would repeal the law. “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections,” ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link last month. He added that the purpose of the October event was “to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

Reuters: They’re focusing on a type of worship that is Judeo-Christian, and that is the type of religion being excluded,” Jordan Lorence, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, the Christian nonprofit representing the Bronx church, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

EWTN: The D.C.-based legal group Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the company and its president and chief executive Mark D. Taylor. “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” the group’s senior legal counsel Matt Bowman said Nov. 16. “The court has done the right thing in halting the mandate while our lawsuit moves forward.”

One News Now: “Well, we are facing the reality that we are before … the same three judges who ruled against us 2-1 in June of 2011,” he tells OneNewsNow. “But we [now] have some different arguments and new evidence, and we are hopeful that they will take a fresh look at this and vote in favor of religious liberty.”

Acton Institute Power Blog: Tonight at 6:30 EST on TheBlaze TV, Rev. Robert Sirico will discuss that case, along with a wider discussion of religious liberty and opposition to the Obamacare mandate by other businesses and organizations.

Religion Clause Blog: . . . Alliance Defending Freedom issued a press release announcing the decision, and the Washington Postreported on the decision.

Matt Bowman at Townhall: So whatever the Obama administration declares is secular is secular, because they said so. The areas of human life where people spend most of their waking hours—education, business, and healthcare—are, by edict, “secular.” And whatever is secular, the government controls. The Obama administration lost that argument unanimously at the Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor. Let’s hope they lose it again when the abortion pill mandate cases reach the high court.

National Right to Life News Today: The following are comments by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap., as he accepted the annual Meese Award Nov. 16 in Washington, D.C., from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which specializes in legal defense of religious liberty.

World: “It’s outrageous for pastors and churches to be threatened or punished by the government for applying biblical teachings to all areas of life, including candidates and elections,” ADF legal counsel Erik Stanley told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link last month. He added that the purpose of the October event was “to make sure that the pastor, and not the IRS, decides what is said from the pulpit.”

Washington Post (AP): Matthew S. Bowman, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, which brought the suit on behalf of Tyndale, said in an email that Bible publishers “should be free to do business according to the book that they publish.” He added: “The Obama administration is not entitled to disregard religious freedom.” The Health and Human Service Department declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

Christian Post: Churches shouldn’t be treated differently than other entities in Tennessee – such as college bookstores, family wellness centers, and hospital gift shops – that are tax exempt by law,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley in a statement.

LifeNews: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman, who argued before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 9. Bowman told LifeNews: “The court has done the right thing in halting the mandate while our lawsuit moves forward. For the government to say that a Bible publisher is not religious is startling. It demonstrates how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

Jordan Lorence at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: The ongoing legal battle for equal access of churches to meet in New York City’s public schools returns to court Monday

Travis Barham at Speak Up Movement University Blog (video embedded): But our friends at FIRE recently unveiled a new way of illustrating the problems with speech codes—a video replete with whiteboard illustrations.

LifeSiteNews: With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), she plans to expose at least 87,000 instances of fraud during her time as a clinic manager in Southeast Texas.

Nick Vadala at The Philly Post: Headed up by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group out of Arizona, the stunt essentially makes a mockery out of the IRS’s code enforcement. Most endorsements, unsurprisingly, go to Romney or Republicans generally, but that’s beside the point. Endorsement on either side is simply against the law . . . Erik Stanley of the ADF told the Washington Times that the FFRF’s lawsuit “borders on frivolous” and that it probably will go nowhere in court. There’s also very little chance that the FFRF will be able to prove they’ve been done damage by the IRS’s un-enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. But even if they could, as much as I hate to say it, he’s right about the lawsuit missing the mark . . . All I hear when pastors endorse Romney (or Obama, or Jill Stein, or whoever) is “charge us, we would like to contribute to the society that pays our way.” Let the ADF think they’re freedom fighters for the religious set; it’ll cost them eventually.

Rebecca Downs at Live Action News: Wednesday night, Students for Life of America’s group, Law Students for Life, and Harvard Right to Life held a debate, as part of the Law Students for Life tour. The debate was titled “Should Roe Survive Another 40 Years?” The event was broadcast live via USTREAM, and it is still up on the “Resources” section of the Law Students for Life website for those who are interested . . . Instead, the event first featured a presentation from Steve Aden, from Alliance Defending Freedom, followed by Professor Teresa Collett, of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Now, I consider myself someone well-versed in the pro-life movement and the Roe v. Wade decision. However, there was much I learned from Aden’s carefully crafted presentation, which started off with the premise that Roe v. Wade is the single worst decision the Court has made and is a Supreme Court decision that the pro-choice side has never been able to get the other side to fully accept. The rest of his presentation involved the top-ten reasons to support his premise. The following portion of the article is my recounting of Aden’s reasons and explanations.

First Things: I don’t have any illusions about “earning” this award. Dante has a circle somewhere in The Inferno for people who believe their own good press. But I’m very glad to accept the Meese Award to serve the efforts of the Alliance Defending Freedom. The ADF does crucial work for religious liberty, and it’s never been more urgently needed than now. Ed Meese, Robert Bork, Chuck Colson, Robert George—all of these men whom the ADF has honored in the past are heroes to me. I’m grateful to be included in their company . . . The wind is the business of God. Success is the business of God. Our business is to fight the good fight. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Again: Our business is to fight the good fight. The Alliance Defending Freedom is vitally important in that work. That’s really why I’m here today—not to be honored, but to honor the ADF, its leaders and its staff, and to ask all of you to continue your generous support for its service.

Charisma News: “No American should be forced to give up a constitutionally protected freedom, nor should any American be forced to give up his or her job to maintain that freedom,” said ADF Senior Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “Religious freedom is paramount to every American, including those issuing marriage licenses. They can perform their job without violating their conscience.”

One News Now: The legal guardians, acting on the basis of their faith, were in Washoe County Family Court arguing in favor of the life of the unborn child for three weeks. Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Catherine Glenn Foster was pleased when the court finally decided this week in favor of life.

God Discussion Blog: For the past few years, religious right groups have been encouraging pastors to endorse candidates and political matters from the pulpit during “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” The effort has been spearheaded by the Christian advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund) and actively promoted by groups such as Liberty Counsel. At least 1,500 pastors reportedly participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” this year, on October 7.

Washington Times: “I think the lawsuit itself really borders on frivolous. I don’t know how the FFRF can claim they’ve been harmed by the IRS‘ refusal to enforce the Johnson Amendment,” Mr. Stanley said. “But, on the chance it does, then we will seek to protect those churches.”

One News Now: “Well, I think this is just further evidence that groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation or Americans United for Separation of Church and State are trying to use the Johnson Amendment in the tax code as a tool of intimidation to silence and censor churches,” contends Erik Stanley, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Baptist Press: In what appears to be a final victory for the pastor, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, Alberta’s highest court affirmed in October Boissoin’s right to publicly express his religious views. “Public expression should not be censored simply because the views expressed are unpopular,” read an ADF blog post Nov. 2. “… This legal victory has great significance for religious expression. As American courts look more frequently to international jurisprudence for guidance, this victory for freedom of expression has important implications for preserving and promoting religious freedom in America.”

Citizen Link: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said churches shouldn’t be treated differently than other entities. “It’s a widely known fact that churches across America effectively use facilities such as gyms and bookstores for clear religious purposes and are exempt from property taxes just like other organizations that serve the community — often at a loss,” he said. “Really what the state was doing was attempting to define what ministry was for Christ Church by telling them that they can’t use their facilities to reach out to evangelize, to build up their own membership.”

AP: The lawsuit also refers to “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” a national event on Oct. 7 in which more than 1,500 pastors endorsed a candidate from the pulpit and then sent a record of their statement to the IRS, hoping their challenge would eventually end up in court. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has organized the event since 2008. The group considers the IRS regulations against bringing partisan politics to the pulpit an unconstitutional government intrusion.

Family Research Council: One of those states–Texas–will be hearing its first arguments on the issue this week in U.S. District Court, thanks to former Planned Parenthood director-turned-whistleblower Abby Johnson. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), she plans to expose at least 87,000 instances

Alan Sears at the American Thinker: Following the passage of California’s Proposition 35 on Nov. 6, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit to stop the measure against child predators from taking force. The section of Prop. 35 against which the ACLU took issue is that which “requires registered sex offenders to give authorities a list of their Internet providers and screen names.”

Paul Coleman at the Bell Towers: “A secular society is not an anti-religious one. Rather, it is one where fundamental beliefs that we disagree about – beliefs that provide strong motivation to some but mean little or nothing to those who do not hold them – are left aside in public debate about communal decisions.” So says the European Humanist Federation. Such a statement is no doubt intended to comfort the religiously minded that often hold the sneaking suspicion that the secular vision for society is, a contrario, anti-religion. But do the secularists really practice what they preach, and is secularism really neutral in matters of religion and belief, as it is claimed.

Erik Stanley appeared on the Drew Mariani Show to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 14:30 mins

David Hacker at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: Last month, the California Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on Equal Educational Opportunity and Free Speech on Public College and University Campuses in California. The focus of the report was whether harassment policies at these institutions intrude too much on student free speech. As we’ve written about before on these pages, overbroad and vague harassment policies are major contributors to the national speech code problem. Alliance Defending Freedom has represented students who challenged these policies in California (multiple times), Washington, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

Alan Sears at the Alliance Defending Freedom: The occupant of the White House isn’t the only thing that hasn’t changed in the last two weeks. Many friends of Alliance Defending Freedom have expressed grave concern about how our work will continue, in the wake of President Barak Obama’s re-election. Although this ministry is committed to being apolitical, there is no denying that this administration has been the most openly and aggressively hostile in American history to religious freedom, to preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and to the protection of life in the womb.

Alan Sears appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show. | MP3 audio 8:26 mins

David Hacker appeared on 570 KVI with John Carlson to discuss the situation at Evergreen College in Washington State. | MP3 audio 10:52 mins

American Thinker: For example, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg actually did say what she believes about life-ending abortions in July 2009. Justice Ginsburg said: Frankly I had thought that, at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.

One News Now: “The government went so far as to say that even if this were the church itself, it would lose its free exercise of religion claim,” he tells OneNewsNow. “This is a government that says that it can pick and choose what religion is, who can exercise religion and where they can exercise it, and can basically say that nobody can do it except in maybe in the four walls of your church — maybe not even then.”