Tag Archives: Group: American Family Association (AFA)

Christian Post: Alliance Defending Freedom provide slides from the Power Point presentation used by the U.S. Army Reserve in training soldiers on religious extremism.

Todd Starnes at Fox News: At least a dozen members of Congress have signed a letter demanding the Secretary of the Army rescind and apologize for a briefing that labeled Evangelical Christians and Catholics as religious extremist groups, Fox News has learned.

Dan Caleb appeared on Dan Celia’s Financial Issues Program on AFR Radio with Guest Host Fred Jackson. | MP3 audio 17:15 mins

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jim Campbell explains why the case is important to those who hold a traditional view on marriage. “If the Defense of Marriage Act is overturned, it will send the message that the government can no longer affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman,” he laments. “It will essentially say that even though throughout history diverse cultures and faiths have upheld marriage as the ideal, as the union of a man and a woman, it will say that here in America we can no longer do that.”

Citizen Link: The American Family Association (AFA) in Tupelo says the mandate violates its religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law. AFA faces mounting fines if it chooses not to comply.

World Net Daily: They’re targeting 12 key states: Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Alaska, Arkansas, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia. The strategy was profiled Monday by David Brody of CBN News. Brody said the groups – led by the American Renewal Project – are planning briefings for evangelical pastors, voter-registration drives and other events in an attempt “to restore American to its Judeo-Christian heritage.”

Bill Donohue at Newsmax: While there have been many organizations fighting the foes of Christmas — the Catholic League, the Thomas More Law Center, the Alliance Defending Freedom, the American Family Association — without the participation of men and women in our nation’s towns, villages, and cities, we wouldn’t be winning. Here are a few examples:

WorldNetDaily: Parents are being advised to keep their children home from school on Oct. 30 if their local education officials allow the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Mix It Up” day to be held on campus. The advisory comes from the pro-family American Family Association in response to the pro-homosexual message expected to be delivered during the events.

God Discussion: The case, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., et al. v. City of Warren, is being heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit. The City would not allow FFRF to display its sign at the Warren Civic Center and FFRF sued. The Court ruled in favor of the City in May. That decision is now on appeal. Joining the appeal is Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), which announced Friday that it is filing an amicus (friend of the court) brief.

Christian News Network: A national civil rights group that is known for its advocacy of the homosexual lifestyle is promoting its annual “Mix It Up” tolerance day to elementary schools.

Lisa Shaw Roy, The Evangelical Footprint, 2011 Michigan State Law Review 1235-1291.

Funding for evangelical advocacy received a boost with the formation of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 1994. Prominent movement leaders, such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, formed ADF to fund litigation and to coordinate the efforts of Christian litigation firms.

ADF has been responsible for providing funding in several high profile cases, including Rosenberger, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. ADF also sponsors litigation firms with overlapping interests, such as the Christian Law Association, Pacific Justice Institute, the Home School Legal Defense Fund, and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, to name a few. While ADF began solely as an umbrella organization to provide funds to individual lawyers and law firms, ADF now also takes its own cases.

Though its success as a funding organization seems apparent given, for example, the number of Supreme Court amicus curiae briefs that disclose ADF support, some opine that its success in coordinating evangelical litigation efforts has been mixed.

The American Prospect: Iowa Republicans aren’t ready to cast aside their anger over the state Supreme Court’s 2009 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. After successfully unseating three of the justices who joined the unanimous decision in 2010, they’re going after Justice David Wiggins, who is up for a retention vote this year. The new conservative campaign won’t change Iowa’s same-sex marriage law, but it further politicizes the state’s once-independent judiciary and may boost turnout for Mitt Romney in a key swing state.

Think Progress: In some ways, anti-gay hate groups have polished their rhetoric over the years, but often times they remind that they still believe the same old tired myths about homosexuality. At the core of this mythology is the belief that homosexuality is chosen, and thus it must be coerced from young people. That’s exactly what the Alliance Defense Fund believes was happening in Erie, Illinois. [Jeremy Tedesco quoted]

Julie Pace One News Now (AP): Jim Campbell, litigation staff counsel with Alliance Defense Fund, sees obvious contradiction in the president’s announcement today. “This shows that the Obama administration doesn’t understand the public purpose of marriage. Marriage — the lifelong, faithful union of one man and one woman — is the building block of a thriving society. It’s not something that politicians should attempt to redefine for political purposes. “The president has spoken eloquently about how fatherless homes often hurt children and society. Today’s statement is a tragic contradiction that promotes the creation of even more fatherless and motherless homes.

USA Today: The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ decision to rescind an Indiana gay rights advocacy group’s specialty license plates has created a statewide battle among state officials, conservation groups and gay rights organizations.

Christian Civic League of Maine: The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) uses member resources to advocate same-sex marriage and pro-homosexual military policy.

TPMMuckraker: This suit is just one of many that argues that “religious liberty” is at stake as LGBT rights expand. And, along with the Alliance Defense Fund, the Thomas More Law Center dedicates itself to fighting against “a culture increasingly hostile to Christians and their faith.”

NYTimes.com: “This is the $100,000 question: Can the evangelical leadership unify behind Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Rick Perry?” said John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Policy Council.

AFA of Indiana: Thankfully, the Alliance Defense Fund, one of the nation’s top religious liberty law firms, did a lengthy legal analysis of the Evansville ordinance that was devastatingly effective. They noted over a dozen serious flaws in the ordinance and cited more than 200 court cases, founding quotes and examples of the problems these ordinances create for churches, charities, business owners and vital community groups like the Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army. (Even groups that tend to be known for their economic expertise, like the Heritage Foundation now have studies showing the conflicts between same-sex marriage and non-discrimination ordinances with Constitutional freedoms.)

NCRegister.com: As some ask why Catholics seem to be the only ones fighting for religious freedom, a high-profile theological group prepares to issue statement in early 2012.

AFA of Indiana: However, a new study looking back over the last fifty years has found that the bottom may now be falling out of church attendance among white middle class Americans. The scholarly study from sociologists at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia called, No Money, No Honey, No Church, has found that low or moderately educated white middle class Americans are abandoning church.

The New American: Even before its debut, reported by The New American, the show had come under an intense assault from a group called the Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography, which charged that the show was little more than prime-time porn that should never be aired. The coalition was made up of such groups as Focus on the Family, the Alliance Defense Fund, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and the American Family Association, among others, whose leaders issued a stern condemnation, declaring that “NBC is contributing to the sexual objectification and exploitation of women and encouraging greater acceptance of pornography with its soon-to-be-aired series.”

Pantagraph: But the religious leaders are bolstered by well-funded Christian legal organizations supporting their cause. The most prominent — the Alliance Defense Fund, a group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that spent $32 million in 2010 — is challenging a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits pastors, as leaders of tax-exempt organizations, from supporting or opposing candidates from the pulpit. The fund sponsors Pulpit Freedom Sunday, in which it offers free legal representation to churches whose pastors preach about political candidates and are then audited by the Internal Revenue Service. (So far, no IRS investigations have been triggered.) Last fall, 100 churches participated — up from 33 in 2008. This year’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday scheduled for Oct. 2, is expected to draw more than 500 churches. [Kelly Shackelford of Liberty Institute quoted]

Tom Hambruger and Matea Gold at Tribune Washington Bureau via Kansas City Star (also in Sacramento Bee): As pastors speak out on political matters, they’ve drawn admonitions from groups such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which warns that such activism could jeopardize their churches’ nonprofit status. But the religious leaders are bolstered by well-funded Christian legal organizations supporting their cause. The most prominent – the Alliance Defense Fund, a group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that spent $32 million in 2010 – is challenging a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits pastors, as leaders of tax-exempt organizations, from supporting or opposing candidates from the pulpit. The fund sponsors Pulpit Freedom Sunday, in which it offers free legal representation to churches whose pastors preach about political candidates and are then audited by the Internal Revenue Service. (So far, no IRS investigations have been triggered.)

The state-run California Science Center has agreed to pay $110,000 to settle a lawsuit by American Freedom Alliance against the center for violating AFA’s First Amendment protected free speech right to advocate intelligent design.

Christian Post: More than 540,000 people have committed to a boycott of Home Depot over its support of homosexual activism, according to a spokesperson of the group organizing the boycott.

Minnesota Independent: . . . “[T[he Minnesota Supreme Court’s Baker decision is undoubtedly binding and controlling here,” MFC’s attorneys wrote. Those attorneys are from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group founded by prominent religious right groups including James Dobson’s Focus on the Family and the American Family Association, an organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Religion Clause Blog: The ACLU of Texas announced yesterday that it has filed open records requests with state,county and city offices seeking information on the amount of government support that is being devoted to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s controversial prayer service scheduled for August 6 in Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

New American: But the Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography, led by Morality in Media, said the show is nothing more than a pornographic attack on families and the culture that should never see the light of day. “NBC is contributing to the sexual objectification and exploitation of women and encouraging greater acceptance of pornography with its soon-to-be-aired series,” the coalition charged in a press release. The coalition is made up of more than seventy groups, including Focus on the Family, Alliance Defense Fund, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, American Family Association, Torah Jews for Decency, Wallbuilders, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Reuters: Saying “there is hope for America, and we will find it on our knees,” Texas Governor Rick Perry has invited other governors to join him in a “solemn gathering of prayer and fasting” in August in Houston, according to the event’s website.

One News Now: “Earlier in the month the Kansas House overwhelmingly approved restrictions on strip clubs, adult video stores, and other sexually oriented businesses. The Community Defense Act (H.B. 2107) would prohibit new sexually oriented businesses within 1,000 feet of a school, library, daycare center, or house of worship.”

Indiana Daily Student: “The Senate will vote on the amendment, sponsored by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, this week . . . Representatives from the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Family Association of Indiana testified in favor of the amendment.”

World Net Daily: Austin Nimocks, a senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said the move raises a lot of questions. “One of the reasons we have a Constitution is to prevent opinions from getting in the way of duties. The American people have a right to expect their laws will be defended by the people whose responsibility it is to do so,” he told WND. “One’s constitutional duty should not be optional.” [many more quotations and references to ADF and many other pro-family groups and lawyers] . . .

The Michigan Messenger: “Four Michigan residents have appealed a September decision by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Ludington in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.”

The Daily Caller: “The conservative coalition has always been unstable. And homosexuality may be the issue on which it shatters . . . Peter Wehner says that these groups could give the impression ‘that they do not have the arguments needed to win on the merits’ . . . By voting with their feet, however, social conservatives are not giving up, they are taking a public stand — which creates a forum to make their case more effectively.”

Bryan Fischer writing at Renew America: “However, AFA made a deliberate choice not to participate last year because of CPAC’s decision to allow an aggressive and radical homosexual organization, GOProud, to serve as a sponsor of the event. Because CPAC has continued its association with GOProud again this year, AFA has once again chosen not to participate.”

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Supporters of the American Family Association are invited to report on suspect companies.’If you hear of instances of hostility toward Christmas expression, please let us know: AFA is working with the Alliance Defense Fund to provide resources for government and public school authorities laboring under the misimpression they must censor Christmas,’ the Association states.”

Chuck Colson writing in The Christian Post: “So often today, conscientious objectors to homosexual marriage are being accused of hatred. It’s a dangerous trend. Princeton professor Robbie George, who helped draft the Manhattan Declaration, said this in a recent interview: ‘If belief in marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife comes to be treated in law as a form of bigotry, persons and institutions that dissent from the new political orthodoxy will quickly find . . . disabilities imposed upon them.’”

The American Independent: “As The Iowa Independent previously reported, several out-of-state groups — New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage, Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Washington, D.C.-based Citizens United Political Victory Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund — spent nearly $1 million to defeat the Iowa justices and provided unsolicited materials directly to Iowa churches in an effort to influence congregations across the state.”

Michael-In-Norfolk – - Coming Out In Mid Life Blog: “The Family Foundation based in Richmond, Virginia, has a long history of promoting an over the top anti-gay agenda. Thus, it is surprising that TFF has been silent on the designation of its allies – e.g., Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, American Family Association, etc. – as either anti-gay groups or anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center (“SPLC”) [ADF listed as allied organization]”

MSNBC: “The War on Christmas may be in its final days. This season, merry Christmas — not happy holidays or season’s greetings — will dominate retailer’s marketing messages. There will be Christmas sales and Christmas trees and Christmas carols galore.”

Iowa Independent: “Five out-of-state organizations spent $948,355 . . . Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund and one of its affiliates, the Texas-based Liberty Institute, offered free legal representation to any church who openly violated federal tax law by advocating for the removal of the judges from the pulpit. Federal tax law forbids 501(c)3 organizations, including churches, from intervening in elections in support of or opposition to any candidate.”

Iowa State Daily: “The extremely controversial campaign to vote “No” on judicial retention cost $1 million. Funds came from anti-gay organizations such as Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage. Notably, none of these are directly affected by decisions made in Iowa courts.”

Iowa Independent: “The highly charged campaign featured more than $1 million in spending against the judges from national anti-gay organizations like the Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage. The campaign culminated in a 20-city bus tour across Iowa.”

Christian Post: “Pornography is still ‘a very serious moral problem’ that is being ignored during by the U. S. Justice Department and the presidential administration, says the head of a conservative media watchdog. As the start of this year’s White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week nears, Robert Peters, president of Morality in the Media, is hoping to draw attention to a looming American problem – pornography – and wants more action taken.”

ChristianNewsWire: “A coalition of pro-family leaders today urges Christian families to be faithful to biblical morality and discerning in the face of false and irresponsible accusations. Christianity and traditional values are not the cause of teen suicides, and attempts to link the two are deceptive and will ultimately harm children.”

Andy Kopsa writing in The Iowa Independent: “The campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices over a 2009 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage has attracted the attention of some of the most influential conservative organizations in America . . . The Liberty Institute, the Texas organization offering to defend pastors who run afoul of the IRS by encouraging congregations to vote against the judges, is an affiliate organization of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

GlobeGazette.com: “Calling it an ‘extremist hate group’ trying to manipulate votes by using fear, religious leaders across the state Wednesday asked Bob Vander Plaats and his group, Iowa For Freedom, to denounce the American Family Association.”

AnnArbor.com: “The American Family Association of Michigan has accused Saline school board members of pressuring administrators to ‘punish a teacher’ for speaking out against proposed changes in the district’s non-discrimination policy and threatened the district with a lawsuit if such pressure does not stop.”

NBC 12: “The ‘Dominion Holiday Parade’ will make its annual trek down Broad Street on Saturday, December 4.”

AFA Action Alert: “This year, a company which took over sponsorship of the annual Richmond, Virginia, Christmas parade has ordered the city’s organizers to change it to a ‘holiday’ parade.”

OneNewsNow: “Homosexual activists have been working especially hard in eastern Pennsylvania to include language that caters to their lifestyle. Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, confirms that that part of the state is definitely under attack. ‘They’ve been approached to either create a human relations ordinance or to add . . . “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to an existing ordinance,’ Gramley reports. ‘And currently, Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County is the most recent one.’”

WorldNetDaily: “There are more than 3,000 mosques in the U.S., and work is being done on several major projects that have neighbors alarmed to the point of resistance . . . American Family Association policy analyst Bryan Fischer says 80 percent of the mosques being built are funded by Middle Eastern money. Most are also acting as training academies.”

WorldNetDaily: “The filing today came from the Alliance Defense Fund, which noted that the ruling from Judge Vaughn Walker, a homosexual, violates every precedent around. ‘The district court decision conflicts with every other appellate court ruling on the federal constitutionality of marriage, including the U.S. Supreme Court,’ said senior counsel [Brian Raum] . . . The brief even quoted Obama in establishing the body of authority that a moral issue such as marriage certainly can be addressed in the law.”

FRC Action: “Today (Friday) and Saturday, September 17-18, beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET, FRC Action is partnering with our friends the American Family Association (AFA) for a live webcast from the 2010 Values Voter Summit. The FREE webcast will feature all the action from the ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Watch live as our stellar lineup of speakers address the critical issues facing our country today.”

Christianity Today: “Stuart Shepard, host of [CitizenLink's weekly webcast], noted that this position is a departure from Minnery’s previous positions on religious liberty. ‘You have spent a lot of time talking about religious freedom. And you work for Alliance Defense Fund quite a bit helping them fight for the rights of people, for religious freedom. It is quite a turn for you to say that this is not the right location for religious freedom to be expressed,’ said Shepard. ‘Well, it is indeed,’ said Minnery. Minnery said it was ‘hypocritical’ for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to talk about religious freedom. He said the city had been fighting churches wanting to use public school buildings for Sunday worship.”

Tim Wildmon, president of American Family Association, writing in the Los Angeles Times: “The Constitution envisioned a system in which the judiciary would serve to check the excesses of the legislative or executive branches. But today, federal judges have far exceeded their intended role, becoming little gods in our republic. They have lifetime appointments, and their only accountability is the potential for impeachment. But in the history of our country, only 15 judges have been impeached by the House of Representatives.”

CBS: “‘Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero,’ Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association wrote this week on the AFA website. ‘This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government.’”

Sacramento Bee: “After Walker issued a landmark ruling Wednesday that overturned California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage, his detractors took issue with the fact that the judge is gay.”

WorldNetDaily: “Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund said the decision is radical. ‘Its impact could be devastating to marriage and the democratic process,’ said Senior Counsel [Brian Raum]. ‘It’s not radical for more than seven million Cailfornians to protect marriage as they’ve always known it. What would be more radical would be to allow a handful of activists to gut the core of the American democratic system and, in addition, force the entire country to accept a system that intentionally denies children the mom and the dad they deserve.’”

OneNewsNow: “So [Tim Wildmon, President of the American Family Association] . . .  is calling on all members of the House of Representatives who respect the Constitution to launch impeachment proceedings against this judge. Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Sarah Tappen thinks people are tired of judicial activism. Considering the fact that more than 52 percent of voters approved Proposition 8, she finds it ‘clear that whenever the people have been given an opportunity to vote, they have voted to uphold marriage as one man and one woman. Americans in numerous states have affirmed this, and we are prepared to fight all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary to see this decision overturned.’”

New York Times: “At a time when the prospects for immigration overhaul seem most dim, supporters have unleashed a secret weapon: a group of influential evangelical Christian leaders. Normally on the opposite side of political issues backed by the Obama White House, these leaders are aligning with the president to support an overhaul that would include some path to legalization for illegal immigrants already here. They are preaching from pulpits, conducting conference calls with pastors and testifying in Washington — as they did last Wednesday.”

Christianity Today (see page 2): “[Gregory Baylor] of the Alliance Defense Fund said the constitutional issues at stake are still up for debate. ‘The conflict still exists,’ said Baylor. ‘The Hastings policy actually requires CLS to allow atheists to lead its Bible studies and the College Democrats to accept the election of Republican officers in order for the groups to be recognized on campus. We agree with Justice [Samuel] Alito in his dissent that the Court should have rejected this as absurd.’”

“Virtually all Americans have the common sense to recognize that children need both a mother and a father. Rudimentary biology tells us it’s impossible for a child to have two fathers. But here we have the leader of our nation and the Democrat Party celebrating sexual behavior which is contrary to nature and pushing a household structure that we know is harmful to children.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘Any justice nominated to the Supreme Court should apply the Constitution faithfully and according to the intent of the founders who drafted it. As Thomas Jefferson said, the judiciary becomes a “despotic branch” if judges decide for themselves what is and is not constitutional,’ said Senior Counsel [Gary McCaleb], of the Alliance Defense Fund . . . ADF CEO [Alan Sears] said, ‘Thomas Jefferson noted in 1804 that “the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the legislature and the executive also in their spheres, would make the judiciary a despotic branch.”‘”

Andrew Sullivan writes at the Atlantic Monthly: “The days are past when this could be brushed under the rug. Let’s have an honest debate, can we? The way to counter prejudice is through truth – not avoidance. For the right to oppose Kagan merely because she is gay – if she is – would be one more step toward their self-destruction. By staying mum, the Obamites may be playing yet another rope-a-dope. I just cannot see how in 2010, ambiguity is an option.”

Sullivan follows up with this post arguing that Kagan should be asked whether she is a lesbian: “The only thing that could conceivably put this question into the zone of ‘whispers’ and ‘privacy’ is homophobia – and yes, that means the homophobia of liberal journalists . . . ”

AFA: “The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, (the governing board that controls the Internet) is ONCE AGAIN considering establishing an .XXX domain for pornography. This matter has been considered twice before but stopped because of overwhelming opposition in this country and abroad. An .XXX domain will increase the amount of porn on the internet and make it more available to adults and children . . . Here are reasons to oppose the .XXX domain, from our friends at PornHarms.com . . .”

WorldNetDaily: “Now members of the Michigan Senate have approved legislation that includes a provision calling on university counseling programs to evaluate and affirm how they can accommodate the religious beliefs of students . . . According to a column posted by David French of the Alliance Defense Fund, the lawsuit is over the fact that Eastern expelled Ward ‘not because she harmed anyone but simply because she was unwilling to express support for things she did not believe.’”

WorldNetDaily: “U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, sent an unsolicited letter to a group of Christian activists and pastors to support their efforts in suing Attorney General Eric Holder over the ‘hate crimes’ law that President Obama signed into law late last year.”

North Carolina Family Policy Council: “Students in North Carolina are encouraged to join thousands of young people nationwide in countering the promotion of homosexuality in schools by participating in the sixth annual ‘Day of Truth’ sponsored by Exodus International. The ‘Day of Truth,’ which is scheduled for Thursday, April 15 this year, was established in 2005 by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) as a response to the pro-homosexual ‘Day of Silence,’ an annual event created by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) that encourages students to remain silent throughout the school day to show support for students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”

The New American: “The arrests on March 28 and 29 of nine people associated with the so-called Hutaree Militia in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio has provided media commentators and reporters with an opportunity to broadly smear all political conservatives, constitutionalists, Tea Party activists, and opponents of President Obama’s health care as ‘extremist’ and ‘anti-government’ . . . Of course, the SPLC has been attacking the “Christian Right” for years, leveling the sandwich smear on such respected Christian and pro-family organizations as Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, the late Rev. D. James Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Ministries/Center for Reclaiming America, and Beverly LaHaye’s Concerned Women for America, as well as the Alliance Defense Fund, the American Family Association, the Chalcedon Foundation, American Vision, the Christian Action Network, the Family Research Council, Summit Ministries, and the Traditional Values Coalition.”

The MetroWest Daily News: “Have you ever thought of having a Bible study in your home? If so, don’t plan on moving to either San Diego, California or Gilbert, Arizona. It seems there are regulations, which forbid you to hold a ‘religious assembly’ in your home . . . The ADF argues ‘that such bans violate the Constitution’s free-exercise clause, and even the state’s Free Exercise of Religion Act protects such meetings.’”

OneNewsNow: “Fort Wayne City Council members rejected a proposed ordinance which would have granted special behavior-based protections to people with gender identity disorders. The city already has non-discrimination ordinances for sexual orientation on the books, but the proposal would have expanded that protection.”

Christianity Today Political Advocacy Tracker: “At a Focus on the Family chapel service to say farewell to retiring James Dobson, Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family Action recounted Dobson’s impact on public policy organizations. Dobson helped found three national policy organizations (American Family Association, Alliance Defense Fund, and Family Research Council) and 37 state family policy councils. According to Minnery, in 2010 these 40 organizations have 548 full-time employees and a combined budget of $89 million.”

One News Now: . . . Dr. Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, was stricken with St. Louis encephalitis after he was bitten by a mosquito last summer. From August through November he spent 121 days in the hospital and rehabilitation and later underwent surgery for cancer in his left eye. His son Tim currently serves as AFA president and is expected to lead the ministry . . .

CitizenLink: “Through the vision and leadership of Dr. Dobson, 40 law and policy organizations have been founded over the years, including 37 state-based family policy councils, as well as the national organizations Family Reseach Council, American Family Association and the Alliance Defense Fund.” Audio interview at link.