RELIGIOUS
SPEECH PROTECTED IN
CALIFORNIA |
| In
Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento, an employee of the California
Department of
Social Services named Enoch Lawrence was told
that he had to remove a bumper
sticker that read "Marriage:
One Man, One Woman," a small sign that said "Jesus
Spoken Here," various Bible verses, and two published articles
on current political issues from his personal workspace, even
though other
employees were allowed to post their personal "messages." |
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SHARING
CHRIST IN PUBLIC KEPT LEGAL IN SIXTH
CIRCUIT |
| Walking
up and down the streets of an arts festival on public property,
Douglas
Parks--respected pastor of a Columbus-area church--was
peacefully distributing
Gospel literature. But an official who
disagreed with his viewpoint complained
to a police officer,
who subsequently threatened to arrest Mr. Parks
unless
he left! |
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| The
'Philadelphia Five'
Charges Thrown Out! |
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PHILADELPHIA--ADF
called in for last-minute help: On October 10,
2004, 11 members
of the Christian group Repent
America (RA) were arrested simply
for sharing
a biblical message on homosexual behavior at
a huge gathering of advocates of homosexual
behavior called Outfest.
Walking peaceably on a public sidewalk in the
center
of the event, the Christians were immediately
surrounded by a
group called the Pink Angels.
The Pink Angels had specifically
prepared to
confront the Christians and were using shrill
whistles to drown out their message and large
Styrofoam signs to block anyone else from seeing
them.
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Eleven
members of the Christian group Repent
America were peacefully sharing a biblical
message on homosexual behavior during
Outfest, a
homosexual advocacy event,
when they were surrounded by
a group
called the Pink Angels and arrested
by the Philadelphia police. |
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Instead of protecting the rights of RA members to
peacefully
communicate, police sought to improperly cordon them
away and eventually police arrested them--to loud applause
from the parading advocates of homosexual behavior.
All of this was
captured on video, which may be viewed
at www.repentamerica.com/videos.html.
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| ADF
Expands National
Litigation Academy across the Country |
| One
of the biggest
challenges ADF faces is the sheer
number of paid and volunteer
attorneys with
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)--more
than 2,000--who, combined with attorneys serving
LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund, Americans
United for the Separation of Church and State,
and other
leftist causes, greatly outnumber
ADF attorneys and our allied
attorneys.
Remarkably, by God's grace ADF and our allies
have still amassed
an impressive number of victories
in the past decade, including
more than 25 at
the Supreme Court and |
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hundreds
at
lower-court levels. But considering the size of our
opponents' forces,
ADF needs to dramatically increase
our numbers by recruiting and
continuing to provide
more regular, extensive, top-level training to
Christian
lawyers through an accredited program called the National
Litigation Academy® (NLA). |
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| Constitutional
Revisionism and How to Restore the Founding Fathers' Original
Intent |
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"Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof . . .
" So begins the First Amendment
in the Bill of Rights. When the
Founding Fathers
authored those famous words, they could never
have imagined how many judges would someday rewrite
the strict and careful construction of what we
now
call the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
Tragically, the ACLU's reinterpretation of the
First Amendment has become legal mantra. Their
rewrite (1)
redefines its reach to include all
federal, state, and local
government, along with
public schools, property, and other
institutions,
and (2) interprets "respecting an establishment
of religion" to mean virtually any recognition
of our history, culture, or faith. |
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| Law
Student Training Continues Dynamic Growth |
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ADF
Meets--and
Exceeds--Blackstone Legal FellowshipSM
Challenge Grant and Prepares to Train Next Wave
of Christian Legal Students!
When our
visionary founders first began ADF,
they set as a goal not only
defending religious
liberty, the sanctity of life, and family
values,
but also reclaiming America's legal system.
The Blackstone Legal FellowshipSM
is a crucial part of
their vision.
The
Fellowship trains the best and brightest
Christian law students
across the United States
to identify, confront, and dismantle
secular
legal philosophy in their careers. |
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| ADF
Attorney
Receives Prestigious Family Research Council
Award |
| ADF
attorney Mike Johnson (left) is presented the
Family Research Council's "Family, Faith,
and Freedom Award" by FRC president Tony
Perkins.
The Family Research Council (FRC)--one of
America's
largest and most influential public policy
organizations
and a close ally of ADF--chose to honor ADF
attorney Mike Johnson with its "Family,
Faith, and Freedom Award." Mike argued
and won the 2005
landmark case upholding the
Louisiana Marriage Protection
Amendment.
FRC
president Tony Perkins said, "Mike
Johnson has championed the
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family
and honored its Divine Maker with personal and professional
distinction. For his boundless energy and selfless devotion
to the
law written on the human heart, the Family Research
Council is honored
to present Mike Johnson with the
Family, Faith, and Freedom Award."
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