Tag Archives: Alliance Defense Fund

The Republic: Represented by lawyers from the Alliance Defense Fund, Republican Councilors David Wheeler, Dan St. Hilaire and Ray Wieczorek asked the government on Wednesday to void the contract as contravening the state’s sovereign authority. They said there was no emergency or urgency in delivering the services.

CSMonitor.com: The group pushing this legal test, the Alliance Defense Fund, has been enlisting more and more pastors since 2008. The yearly autumn protest, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, is timed just before elections. Many participating pastors are eager to turn the US into “a Christian nation” by playing a direct role in politics.

KansasCity.com: City Administrator Mike Scanlon said today that the council agreed to exempt the churches if the Alliance Defense Fund dropped the lawsuit. The ordinance approved by the City Council takes effect Oct. 11. Scanlon declined to comment on the lawsuit.

LifeSiteNews.com: Belforti plans to fight for her right to retain her position without violating her conscience. She has obtained representation with the Alliance Defense Fund. “This is about religious freedom,” she told the Times, citing the first chapter of Romans. “This is not about trashing gay people.”

Iowa Independent: “This is an appalling attempt by the Religious Right to turn houses of worship into house of partisan politics,” said Rev. Berry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. “Americans attend church for spiritual guidance, not to get a list of candidates to vote for on election day.” The Alliance Defense Fund, a religiously motivated legal group which considers itself as a counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, is encouraging pastors throughout the nation to “freely speak to their congregations on political matters from a biblical perspective.

OneNewsNow.com: Lorence says that contradicts established U.S. Supreme Court precedence. “The U.S. Supreme Court has definitely ruled that the government cannot limit access to generally available public spaces merely because government officials disapprove a form of expression,” the attorney notes. “Equal access means equal access, and that includes religious services.”

Sracuse.com: Carmichael and DiBiaggio may sue, and the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way is working on their case. Belforti’s legal advocate is the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, based in Arizona. So the lines are drawn. Belforti could end up facing a misdemeanor count.

KMBC Kansas City: The council decided last fall to add the charges as a way to raise revenue for road repairs in the Kansas City suburb. The Alliance Defense Fund says because the city labeled the charges a “fee,” tax-exempt entities paid, too. The group says other cities should take note and not try the same thing.

Christian Post: “When you enforce the laws of the state, you don’t get to pick and choose,” Cuomo said, adding that those who disobey the law would be charged with a misdemeanor. Belforti’s lawyers have a different point of view. “That’s a hard statement to reconcile with New York’s Human Rights laws, which protect religious freedom,” said Holly Carmichael, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative Christian advocacy group, who is working with Belforti.

LifeNews.com: The appeal was organized by The Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education, a division of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), and authored by attorneys Kevin Theriot and Matthew Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund. Joining the Center and 18 colleges in the letter were the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Bishop Curry, who signed in his individual capacity, is chairman of the Committee for Catholic Education at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

LifeSiteNews.com: A letter signed by 18 Catholic Colleges and Universities was sent to the Department of Health and Human Services today objecting to the Obama Administration’s health care mandate requiring employers to cover sterilization, contraception, and abortificients. The letter, which was authored by attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), appeals to the administration to rewrite the mandate’s religious exemption, which the ADF argues is so narrow that it could be construed to exclude Catholic institutions of higher education. | Similar reports at Catholic Culture and Catholic News Service

Jordan Lorence at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Tuesday, ADF asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the federal appeals court in New York City allowing the Board of Education there to single out religious worship services run by private groups, and exclude them from meeting in the public schools during non-school hours

Peter Heck at Kokomo Perspective: It’s amazing that the mainstream media and educational establishment are so complicit with this duplicity. I have said before and I will reiterate, groups like Liberty Counsel and the Alliance Defense Fund are simply irreplaceable and so worthy of your financial support. They are a bulwark of legal defense for Americans who are being assailed by these radical leftists simply for expressing their First Amendment rights (when their views contradict the leftist agenda, that is).

ADF Attorney Erik Stanely at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Yet a growing nationwide movement of pastors are refusing to be intimidated. They are willing to stand up and exercise their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion by boldly preaching on Pulpit Freedom Sunday. These pastors are courageously regaining the freedom of the pulpit.

Visit: KTBS.com

ADF Attorney Jonathan Scruggs appeared on Wallbuilders Live. | MP3 Audio 7 mins

LaTimes.com Editorial: On Sunday, hundreds of preachers are expected to celebrate something called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” by sermonizing about the moral qualifications of candidates for public office. The event is organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization. The alliance is offering legal representation to clergy whose remarks might run afoul of the prohibition of politicking by churches. It’s a challenge the Internal Revenue Service should take seriously.

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley on Grounded with Ryan Dobson to discuss the Pulpit Initiative. | MP3 audio 29:36 mins

Christian Post: Prior to the nationwide prayer rally on Wednesday, the Arizona-based legal group Alliance Defense Fund said that they are ready to defend students who are prevented or discouraged by public school officials from participating in the prayer event without charging any legal fees. Inquiries were made to ADF during the week leading up to the event, and more were made on Wednesday. A spokesperson for ADF told The Christian Post late Wednesday that specific details could not be presently released, but that the inquiries came from across the nation.

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at Townhall : The war I have in mind is the so-called “Sexual Revolution.” And on every scale that ultimately matters, it is a complete and utter failure . . . In our courtrooms, the culmination of a half-century of hedonism is that sex doesn’t matter at all. Indeed, it doesn’t exist. Gender is irrelevant, a social constraint extrapolated from an increasingly adjustable physical reality

Christian Newswire: The appeal was organized by The Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education, a division of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), and authored by attorneys Kevin Theriot and Matthew Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund.

OneNewsNow.com: “All of this is related to a group called the Tennessee Equality Project that made an effort to unseat some councilmen who were opposed to an ordinance that would have provided preferential treatment for sexual orientation,” explains Erik Stanley, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). [more quotes from Erik]

Kevin Theriot at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Increased animosity toward churches because of their Biblically based moral teaching sometimes results in actual disruption of church services.

NYTimes.com: Ms. Belforti, represented by a Christian legal advocacy group based in Arizona, the Alliance Defense Fund, is arguing that state law requires New York to accommodate her religious beliefs.

Kansan.com: Dale Schowengerdt, an experienced litigator, argued against legalization of gay marriage during the discussion panel. “This rush to same-sex marriage is a passion of the hour,” Schowengerdt said. “This is such a radical change that it will produce a harmful effect on society.”

WSJ.com: “Equal access means equal access, and that includes religious services,” said Jordan Lorence, an attorney for the church.

ADF Attorney Gary McCaleb appeared on Point of View Radio to discuss DADT repeal and the threat to religious freedom. | MP3 audio 16:33 mins

ADF Attorney Joel Oster appeared on the Josh Tolley Show to discuss this: Will 2nd Circuit uphold right of NY town to allow prayer before public meetings? | MP3 audio 27:27 mins

Religion Clause Blog: Petitions seeking Supreme Court review were filed yesterday in two cases of interest. A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed in Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York. (ADF press release.) . . . A petition for certiorari (full text) was also filed in Victory Through Jesus Sports Ministry Foundation v.  Lee’s Summit R-7 School District. (Liberty Counsel press release.)

ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot appeared on KFLC Good Morning Ozarks with Charlie Ingram and Keith O’Neal to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 19:15 min

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss See You At the Pole. | MP3 audio 10:30 mins | Website: See You at the Pole

Commonweal: As a result, marriage licenses are only available in Ledyard with a prior appointment. A lesbian couple moved into town from Miami, sought a marriage license and then refused to wait for an appointment, preferring instead to file a lawsuit. On one side is People for the American Way, representing the couple. On the other side is the Alliance Defense Fund.

KETKNBC.com: The pastors, along with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based nonprofit Alliance Defense Fund, are reacting to a law stating that churches are not allowed to support politicians from the pulpit, according to the ADF. | www.pulpitfreedom.org

The Issaquah Press: Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., represented Ascherl in federal court. “Christians shouldn’t be threatened with arrest and quarantined in isolated ‘expression areas’ when they want to share their beliefs,” Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said in a statement. “The federal judge did the right thing by halting the enforcement of a city ordinance that effectively censors anyone who wishes to express his or her beliefs through the distribution of literature. That violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech in public areas at a free event that’s open to everyone.”

The Town Talk: “Christian students should not be prevented from peacefully expressing their beliefs outside of class time. They don’t abandon their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate,” said ADF senior counsel David Cortman. “Misinformed public school officials need to understand that the so-called ‘separation of church and state’ cannot be used as a reason to keep students from promoting or participating in ‘See You at the Pole.’”

Christian Post: Yet Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund believes the guidelines should be discarded. “Pastors have a right to speak about Biblical truths from the pulpit without fear of punishment,” he said in a statement. Referring to the enforcement of federal tax regulation, Stanley continued, “No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights.”

ADF Allied Attorney Mike Johnson appeared on “Today’s Issues” with Tim Wildmon and Tony Perkins to discuss Joyner v. Forsythe County, North Carolina. | MP3 audio 18:45 mins

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at the TellADF Blog: It’s almost as if officials at the University of Montana think religious faith is toxic … a kind of spiritual or philosophical asbestos that pollutes whoever breathes the air around it.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday on behalf of Bronx Household of Faith in an equal access lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys announced that they are ready to defend, free of charge, students who are prevented or discouraged by public school officials from participating in Wednesday’s 2011 “See You at the Pole” event.

ADF Attorney Matt Bowman appeared on the Mike Siegel Show to discuss this. | MP3 audio 38:03 mins

KTBS Shreveport: County commissioners have enlisted the aid of the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative group that gets involved in church-state issues.

God Discussion (includes ADF video): The Alliance Defense Fund is sponsoring its annual “See You at the Pole” September 28th. It is being touted as a student organized, student led event which entails meeting on public school grounds around the country and praying round the flag pole.

Alan Sears sees his calling as fighting for the religious freedoms that undergird other freedoms

ADF Attorney Matt Sharp appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: ADF assures Tenn. schools: ACLU wrong on rights in public schools. | MP3 audio 17:12 mins

Jim Garlow appeared on the Glenn Beck Program to dicuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 11:48 mins

Kansas Law Free Press: The KU Federalist Society, KU OutLAWS and Allies, and KC Legal are pleased to announce this year’s inaugural event, “The Case for Same Sex Marriage: Practicum and Practice.” We are fortunate to have two respected speakers who will each give their arguments for the legalization of same-sex marriage. KU Federalist Society is proud to welcome Professor Dale Carpenter. Professor Carpenter is an Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law at University of Minnesota. He will be discussing the “Conservative Case for Gay Marriage” with Dale Schowengerdt. Schowengerdt is a seasoned litigator who has worked with the Alliance Defense Fund since 2003. | Dale Carpenter has a related post at the Volokh Conspiracy announcing the forum.

Erik Stanley at Townhall: Yet it remains a fact that every Sunday, when pastors in America ascend the pulpit, they face the cruel and unusual prospect of exchanging their natural, God-given right to free speech for a government-ordained lexicon (if they want to keep their tax-exempt status).

Arizona’s Abortion Consent Act upheld | Oregon Faith Report: Georgene Rice interviews Deborah Sheasby, legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, regarding a recent decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals . . .

NashuaTelegraph.com: Elsewhere on the Web, we find that Cornerstone has been most active in opposing the marriage equality law in New Hampshire. It has close ties with other conservative groups such as the Alliance Defense Fund, the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage.

Pamela Kimble at Cross Timbers Gazette: On October 20th, Reclaiming Texas For Christ will hold their second annual FREE conference for pastors, lay leaders, and everyday citizens who are concerned about the crumbling of this nation’s spiritual foundation. An impressive array of speakers will headline this year’s conference. In this FREE afternoon conference, attendees will hear from Timothy Barton of nationally recognized WallBuilders, Dr. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund, Pastor Geoffrey Cohen of Gateway Church, Dan Panetti of Prestonwood Church, and talk show host Kerby Anderson of Point of View Ministries.

LJWorld.com: In Lawrence, a forum took place in April where several members of the community expressed religious, moral and practical concerns with the idea. An organizer of the local forum did not return phone calls seeking comment this week. Representatives of the Alliance Defense Fund, which led the conversation at the April forum, also did not respond to a request for comment. Here are questions surrounding the gender identity issue . . .

OneNewsNow.com: Alliance Defense Fund attorney Kevin Theriot says that since the nation’s founding, public meetings have been opened with prayer — and there is no legal reason, he explains, why a town should be denied this right. “This practice has always been lawful in America, and the district court rightly affirmed its constitutionality in this case last year,” says Theriot

Love Your Neighbor ministry seeks used cookbook donations – St. Petersburg Times: Brooksville Wesleyan Church, 8168 Jasmine Drive, will recognize Pulpit Freedom Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 2. The Alliance Defense Fund created the day in 2008 to encourage pastors to preach boldly and biblically about current events. Visit pulpitfreedom.com

LifeSiteNews.com: A proposed Mexican Supreme Court decision that would nullify pro-life amendments to Mexican state constitutions suffers from flawed reasoning, is “arbitrary,” and “frankly confused,” according to Piero Tozzi, an international human rights law expert and senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund.

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley appeared on Koinonea with Tom Brown. | MP3 audio 12:17 mins | The Pulpit Initiative

ADF Attorney Jon Scruggs appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss this. | MP3 audio 12:51 mins

ADF Attorney Roger Kiska appeared on Voice of Russia. | MP3 audio 9:30 mins

LifeNews.com: In Ohio, a lawsuit in which Planned Parenthood was recently found to have violated an Ohio informed consent law has been “resolved and dismissed,” according to the Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney who filed the suit. ADF-allied attorney Brian Hurley represents the parents of a girl who, at age 14, was brought to a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion by the 22-year-old soccer coach who impregnated her.

Chicago Tribune: The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group, is representing one of the proprietors. Alliance Defense Fund attorney Jason Craddock told Huppke: I believe strongly that liberty of conscience, particularly religious liberty of conscience, is what our nation was built on and is something that goes deep to our souls. Increasingly it’s being pitted against the asserted rights of homosexuals. Now it’s going beyond just asking for tolerance. Now we’re getting into a situation where government is telling people of faith, “You can’t live out your faith if it happens to disagree with this particular group.”

A federal judge ordered the city of Issaquah on Thursday to allow a local small construction company owner to freely hand out Christian literature in public areas at this year’s annual Salmon Days Festival held October 1 and 2. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit last month . . .

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at Townhall : Consider the words of Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, in “After the Ball,” a manifesto in which they wrote: “[Regarding those] who feel compelled to adhere rigidly to an authoritarian belief structure (i.e. an orthodox religion), that condemns homosexuality…our primary objective…is to cow and silence them.” Does not Kirk and Hunter’s approach toward those with whom they disagree smack of the same intolerance on display in China?

ADF Attorney Brett Harvey at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: In a series of short blogs I will explore some of the troubling aspects of the decision in Joyner v. Forsyth County, NC decided on July 29, 2011.

ADF Attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss the threat to religious freedom that DADT poses. | MP3 audio 20:41 mins

ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on Wallbuilders Live in late July to discuss the ADF marriage survey. | MP3 audio 11:58 mins

LifeNews.com: In Ohio, a lawsuit in which Planned Parenthood was recently found to have violated an Ohio informed consent law has been “resolved and dismissed,” according to the Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney who filed the suit. ADF-allied attorney Brian Hurley represents the parents of a girl who, at age 14, was brought to a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion by the 22-year-old soccer coach who impregnated her.

ADF Attorney David Cortman at Human Events: But no matter how the ACLU plays this one, it’s indefensible for a simple reason: it does not violate the First Amendment protected rights of anyone to block sexual sites in school. And make no mistake, the sites that would be accessible if the filters were removed are rife with what can only be considered pornography.

LJWorld.com: Cromwell expects significant opposition to the proposal. In April, about 50 people attended a meeting to express concerns about the gender identity proposal. Representatives from the Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America, and the Kansas Family Policy Council attended the meeting. Attempts on Wednesday to reach a local organizer of that meeting were unsuccessful. But Cromwell said he had received multiple emails from individuals who objected to the proposal on religious and moral grounds.

The New American: The ADF immediately contacted the township and informed officials that they would take the case to court if Racaniello was not permitted to put the cross anywhere he wanted on his own property. ADF lawyer Jonathan Scruggs declared, “We believe this is private property, and therefore he has a right to engage in this expression. We believe that either [of the two crosses] is protected by the First Amendment. | ADF information page

Jordan Lorence at Speak Up Movement University Blog: Last week, the University of Wisconsin paid almost $500,000 to the Alliance Defense Fund for violating the First Amendment rights of Badger Catholic, the Catholic student organization on campus. ADF has litigated a number of cases against the University of Wisconsin over the years challenging the unconstitutional abuses inflicted on students and student groups by its mandatory student fee system.

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman appeared on The Real Side with Joe Messina to discuss the Nampa Classical Academy litigation. | MP3 audio 12:48 mins

ADF Attorney Matt Sharp on Drive Time with the Bill Bunkley to discuss the Nampa Classical Academy case. | MP3 audio 11:47 mins

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 17:50 mins

Boise Weekly: The article mentions that Moffett is suing the board over the revocation of the charter. His lawyer is David Cortman of the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that defends so-called “Christian” causes “One of our claims in the case is, the closing down of the school, under the alleged guise of financial reasons, is a reaction to the teaching of religious books,” said Cortman.

ADF Attorney Greg Baylor at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: Is working where religious activities occur like working at a building with asbestos ceiling tiles?