To answer in short—we are! Alliance Defending Freedom, in coordination with our allies, has deployed projects that take the fight to the ACLU and its allies, and that are designed to remove oppressive legal barriers, and secure religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and marriage and family for future generations. Three excellent examples are our Church, Conscience, and Education Projects.
The Church Project: We recognize the importance of the Church in communicating biblical truth, and we work vigorously to shape a legal environment in which churches and pastors are free to do so. That includes preemptively challenging laws that the government might use (or has said they will use) to punish churches and pastors for speaking biblical truth regarding human sexuality. We filed – and won! – lawsuits in Iowa and Massachusetts defending pastors and churches against these laws and securing their right to operate according to their faith. Learn more about the Church Project.
The Conscience Project: Every American should be free to live and work peacefully according to their faith. But we have seen increasing legal attacks on Christians who run their business consistently with their beliefs, including Washington floral artist Barronelle Stutzman, Kentucky printer Blaine Adamson, and Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips (who won his case 7-2 at the U.S. Supreme Court). That’s why our attorneys are working to file pre-enforcement challenges on behalf of creative professionals across the country, who will face the same legal attacks if they do not proactively challenge the unconstitutional laws that threaten their freedoms. You can learn more about these courageous clients at CreateFreely.org.
The Education Project: Students do not shed their constitutional rights once they set foot on a public school campus. Our attorneys understand this well and are actively seeking out and challenging the many unconstitutional speech code policies that exist throughout taxpayer-supported public schools and universities. As these policies are systematically toppled, more and more students are able to live out their faith on campus and advocate for important principles of freedom, life, family, and faith. We encourage you to read about the stories of university and K-12 students we've helped.
Finally, Alliance Defending Freedom is also transforming the legal system by equipping Christian attorneys and law students to defend religious freedom through our world-class training programs. To date, more than 3,100 Allied Attorneys have provided more than $222 million in free legal services to the body of Christ and more than 2,200 law students have graduated from the Blackstone Legal Fellowship leadership development program.
Alliance Defending Freedom directly engages the ACLU and its allies in the courtroom on a regular basis, and by God’s grace we are winning. In fact, we have a record of winning more than three fourths of all cases litigated to conclusion. The more we stop them, the more we build precedents that eliminate their ability to bring lawsuits that threaten religious liberty, demean life, or undermine marriage and family.