Alliance Defense Fund
Encyclopedia
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization
with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright
(founder, Campus Crusade for Christ
), the late Larry Burkett
(founder, Crown Financial Ministries
), James Dobson
(founder, Focus on the Family
), the late D. James Kennedy (founder, Coral Ridge Ministries), the late Marlin Maddoux
(president, International Christian Media), and Donald Wildmon
(founder, American Family Association
), along with the leadership of over thirty other conservative Christian organizations.
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. 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
, as well as adoption by same-sex couples based on their belief that children are best raised by a married mother and father. ADF believe parents should be able to opt their children out of sex education in schools that run counter to a family's religious beliefs.
ADF states that it has "had various roles of significance" in thirty-three 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
. ADF is representing a litigant in Perry v. Schwarzenegger
.
. 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, DC, and Olathe, Kansas. In addition, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom is located in Nashville, Tennessee.
Major donors for the organization include the Covenant Foundation, the Bolthouse Foundation and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, whose vice president is Erik Prince
.
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. 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.
The Blackstone Legal Fellowship is a nine-week summer internship program designed for Christian law students. 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." 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."
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.http://www.speakupmovement.org/LearnMore/Index/2689
, which is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
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 Alliance Defense Fund 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.
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.
ADF has announced that beginning in 2009, it is passing on its leadership role in the Day of Truth to an ex-gay
organization, Exodus International
, who has prepared the resources for the event. On October 6, Exodus International stated they will no longer be supporting or leading the Day of Truth.
On November 11, 2010, Focus on the Family
announced it had acquired the Day of Truth event and was renaming it to the Day of Dialogue. The goal would remain unchanged.
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright
Bill Bright
William R. "Bill" Bright was an American evangelist. The founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, he wrote The Four Spiritual Laws in 1952 and produced the Jesus Film in 1979.-Early life:...
(founder, Campus Crusade for Christ
Campus Crusade for Christ
Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational Christian organization that promotes evangelism and discipleship in more than 190 countries...
), the late Larry Burkett
Larry Burkett
Larry Burkett was an American author and radio personality whose work focused on financial counseling from an evangelical Christian point of view. Burkett was born the fifth of eight children. After completing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he entered the U.S...
(founder, Crown Financial Ministries
Crown Financial Ministries
Crown Financial Ministries is a nondenominational, evangelical Christian ministry with the mission of equipping Christians around the world to learn, apply and teach financial principles which they claim are based on the Bible...
), James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
(founder, Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
), the late D. James Kennedy (founder, Coral Ridge Ministries), the late Marlin Maddoux
Marlin Maddoux
Marlin Maddoux was a pioneer in Christian broadcasting. Marlin Maddoux was the host of Point of View Radio Talk Show, the Founder and President of the USA Radio Network and the National Center for Freedom & Renewal , Alliance Defense Fund co-founder as well as a noted journalist and author.Mr...
(president, International Christian Media), and Donald Wildmon
Donald Wildmon
Donald E. Wildmon is an ordained United Methodist minister, author, former radio host, and founder and chairman emeritus of the American Family Association and American Family Radio.-Biography:...
(founder, American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
), along with the leadership of over thirty other conservative Christian organizations.
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. The ADF opposes abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, 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
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
, as well as adoption by same-sex couples based on their belief that children are best raised by a married mother and father. ADF believe parents should be able to opt their children out of sex education in schools that run counter to a family's religious beliefs.
ADF states that it has "had various roles of significance" in thirty-three wins before the United States Supreme Court, including such cases as Rosenberger v. University of Virginia
Rosenberger v. University of Virginia
Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, , was an opinion by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding whether a state university might, consistently with the First Amendment, withhold from student religious publications funding provided to similar secular student...
, Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York
Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York
Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, 519 U.S. 357 , was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court. It ruled in an 8-1 decision that speech-free "buffer zones" around abortion clinics were constitutional...
, and Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, , was a case of the Supreme Court of the United States overturning the New Jersey Supreme Court's application of the New Jersey public accommodations law, which had forced the Boy Scouts of America to readmit assistant Scoutmaster James Dale...
. ADF is representing a litigant in Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Perry v. Schwarzenegger is a federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the federal constitutionality of Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that amended the California Constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples,...
.
Organization
ADF's President, CEO, and General Counsel is Alan SearsAlan Sears
Alan E. Sears is the president, CEO, and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund . Since ADF’s inception in 1994, he has coordinated the strategy, training, funding, and litigation initiatives dealing with freedom of religion, abortion, marriage, and the composition of families.He was a...
. Sears was previously a Justice Department official under the administration of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, and has co-authored two books with Craig Osten: The Homosexual Agenda
Homosexual agenda
Homosexual agenda is a pejorative term used by some conservatives in the United States to describe the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual orientations and relationships...
: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, and The ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values.
The ADF is based in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
. It has six branch offices, located in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, California; Lawrenceville, Georgia; Shreveport, Louisiana; Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee; Washington, DC, and Olathe, Kansas. In addition, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom is located in Nashville, Tennessee.
Major donors for the organization include the Covenant Foundation, the Bolthouse Foundation and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, whose vice president is Erik Prince
Erik Prince
Erik Dean Prince is the founder and formerly the sole owner of the private military company Xe Services LLC, formerly Blackwater Worldwide. On March 2, 2009, Prince announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Xe. He is currently living abroad in the United Arab Emirates, where he is creating a...
.
Programs and initiatives
ADF’s National Litigation Academy and Blackstone Legal Fellowship 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
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
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. 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.
The Blackstone Legal Fellowship is a nine-week summer internship program designed for Christian law students. 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." 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."
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.http://www.speakupmovement.org/LearnMore/Index/2689
Day of Truth
The Alliance Defense Fund states that it established the Day of Truth "to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective." The Day of Truth is held annually following the Day of SilenceDay of Silence
The Day of Silence is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's annual day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and their supporters...
, which is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
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 Alliance Defense Fund 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.
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.
ADF has announced that beginning in 2009, it is passing on its leadership role in the Day of Truth to an ex-gay
Ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...
organization, Exodus International
Exodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
, who has prepared the resources for the event. On October 6, Exodus International stated they will no longer be supporting or leading the Day of Truth.
On November 11, 2010, Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
announced it had acquired the Day of Truth event and was renaming it to the Day of Dialogue. The goal would remain unchanged.
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.- Rosenberger v. University of VirginiaRosenberger v. University of VirginiaRosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, , was an opinion by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding whether a state university might, consistently with the First Amendment, withhold from student religious publications funding provided to similar secular student...
(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. - Good News Club v. Milford Central SchoolGood News Club v. Milford Central SchoolGood News Club v. Milford Central School, , held that when a government operates a "limited public forum," it may not discriminate against speech that takes place within that forum on the basis of the viewpoint it expresses—in this case, against religious speech engaged in by an evangelical...
(2001). The ADF assisted in this case in which the Supreme Court ruled that religious clubs must be afforded equal access to school facilities. - Williams v. Vidmar (2004). In November 2004, the ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Cupertino, CaliforniaCupertino, CaliforniaCupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...
elementary school teacher against his school principal and school board members. Williams has been described as "the seminal equal access case." - Perry v. SchwarzeneggerPerry v. SchwarzeneggerPerry v. Schwarzenegger is a federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the federal constitutionality of Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that amended the California Constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples,...
. ADF is representing the proponents of the initiative, ProtectMarriage.comProtectMarriage.comProtectMarriage.com is a coalition of conservative and religious American political activist groups aligned against same-sex marriage. The coalition's stated goal is to "defend and restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman." Beginning in 2001 as Proposition 22 Legal Defense...
, in the Federal lawsuit which challenges the constitutionality of CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Proposition 8, which limited marriage in California to one man and one woman. Their participation has generated some criticism. The religious rights law firm Liberty CounselLiberty CounselLiberty Counsel is a non-profit public interest law firm and ministry that provides free legal assistance in defense of "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family." Liberty Counsel is headed by attorney Mathew D. Staver, who founded the legal ministry with...
, 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."
See also
- Focus on the FamilyFocus on the FamilyFocus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
- Boy Scouts of America v. DaleBoy Scouts of America v. DaleBoy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, , was a case of the Supreme Court of the United States overturning the New Jersey Supreme Court's application of the New Jersey public accommodations law, which had forced the Boy Scouts of America to readmit assistant Scoutmaster James Dale...
- Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New YorkSchenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New YorkSchenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, 519 U.S. 357 , was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court. It ruled in an 8-1 decision that speech-free "buffer zones" around abortion clinics were constitutional...
- Center For Individual RightsCenter for Individual RightsThe Center for Individual Rights is a non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm is "dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against the increasingly aggressive and unchecked authority of federal and state governments." The Center is...
- Christian Legal SocietyChristian Legal SocietyThe Christian Legal Society is a non-profit, non-denominational organization of Christian lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students whose members profess to follow the "commandment of Jesus" to "do justice with the love of God."...
- American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
External links
- Alliance Defense Fund, official website
- Day of Truth
- ADF a Force Behind Conservative Court Victories