The Alliance Defense Fund ("ADF") is a non-profit organization with the stated goal of using the United States legal system in "protecting religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and traditional family values". It conducts and funds litigation, trains lawyers, and coordinates the work of like-minded and lawyers and legal groups.

ADF was founded in 1994 by the leaders of more than thirty Christian ministries, as a response to the American Civil Liberties Union. ADF's major focus is strategizing and coordinating with hundreds of lawyers and right-wing groups to defend what they define as "Christian legal issues". Examples include anti-gay cases like Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network , and a national strategy to "protect marriage," following Vermont's decision in 2000 to allow same-sex civil unions. People for the American Way notes that ADF's founding groups "are influential members of the Right, they are pro-life and anti-gay and their ultimate goal is to see the law and government of the US enshrined with conservative Christian principles." In 2001, ADF's budget was $15,411,093. [1]

ADF claims a high success rate in its legal challenges: "God has given the Alliance Defense Fund victory in nearly three out of four cases litigated to a conclusion." [2]

Contents

1 Organization 2 Programs 3 Litigation 3.1 Against student fees 3.2 Cupertino case -- the "banning" of the Declaration of Independence 4 Founders 5 See also 6 External links

Organization

In addition to ADF's principal office in Scottsdale, Arizona, it has three Regional Service Centers, staffed by volunteer lawyers and other allies, in Shreveport, Louisiana; Temecula, California; and Olathe, Kansas.

As of 2005, ADF's President, CEO and General Counsel is Alan Sears . Sears held several positions in the Department of Justice during the Reagan administration, and co-authored a book, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today.

The ADF Board of Directors is composed primarily of businessmen and religious leaders.

Programs

According to its website, ADF runs six programs:

• National Litigation Academy - "a state-of-the-art lawyer training project" providing training to sympathetic lawyers so that they can handle "free-speech, religious liberty, or other matters involving constitutional law" of importance to ADF
• Blackstone Fellowship - a "nine-week summer leadership development program in law and servant ministry" for law students, primarily those between their first and second year of law school, to "profoundly 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"
• Scholarships - the William Pew Religious Freedom Scholarship Competition, for law students, with awards of $500 to $5000
• Case Funding - to help "people suffering religious discrimination", who can "not afford attorneys"
• Case Litigation / Mentoring - "to train newly licensed attorneys in the fine art of litigating--and winning--legal matters protecting religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and traditional family values"
• Faith & Freedom Sunday - "a national Church-based day of prayer and instruction - and a rapidly growing grassroots movement - to secure religious freedom in America"; the third observance was held on October 3, 2004. [3]

Litigation

Against student fees

ADF has been involved in several university cases. In 1998, ADF filed a lawsuit claiming that religious groups at Miami University in Ohio did not have equal access to university funding and facilities. The Center for Campus Free Speech warned: "this attempt to ensure 'equal access' for all voices could be overshadowed by the broader strategy behind this case. It is an effort to limit debate on campus that is being driven by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). ADF is the right-wing legal foundation that is backing this suit and similar cases in Wisconsin and Minnesota attacking mandatory student fees. ADF's literature claims their lawsuits will 'eliminate millions of dollars from those who oppose biblical values, religious freedom, and the spread of the gospel'. They hope to forward their own political cause by dismantling student activities fees." [4] Other groups that have used legal challenges in an attempt to limit the use of student fees include the Pacific Legal Foundation and Individual Rights Foundation . [5]

Cupertino case -- the "banning" of the Declaration of Independence

On November 22, 2004, ADF lawyers filed suit on behalf of Stephen Williams against the Cupertino Union School District in Cupertino, California. Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek Elementary School, had been told not to use class handouts that proselytized for Christianity. His suit alleged that his First Amendment rights had been violated. Because one of his handouts included excerpts from the Declaration of Independence making reference to God, the ADF's press release about the case was headlined "Declaration of Independence Banned from Classroom". Fox News and other conservative outlets gave heavy play to that distorted version of the story. [6] Commentator Alan Keyes also repeated ADF's spin: "Someone was mentioning to me that there is a school district now in America where they will no longer teach the Declaration of Independence to the students. Why? Because it mentions God. ... [N]ow we’re being told that on account of some doctrine that has been promulgated by the courts, it is now unconstitutional to teach our children about the Declaration." [7] The truth, as pointed out in an answering press release from the school district, was that "The Declaration of Independence, sections of the United States Constitution, and other historical documents are re-printed in our textbooks, displayed in some of our school buildings, and taught in our social studies curriculum and lessons."

Founders

• Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ
• Larry Burkett , founder of Christian Financial Concepts
• Rev. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family
• Rev. D. James Kennedy , founder of Coral Ridge Ministries
• Marlin Maddoux , President of International Christian Media
• Don Wildmon , founder of American Family Association

See also

• American Family Association
• Focus on the Family

External links

• Alliance Defense Fund website
• "Christian law firm takes on S.F. gay nuptials today", by Lisa Leff, Contra Costa Times, May 25, 2004

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The list of authors can be found here.