Evangelical Law Firm at Front of Culture War

[donsu]

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/8523/


In a modern brick building just off the highway here, a small team of evangelical lawyers is trying to elevate conservative Christian values in U.S. society.

PoliticsScottsdale, Ariz. Stateline.org - infoZine - This up-and-coming advocacy group, known formally as the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), is increasingly challenging progressive groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union on issues such as school prayer, gay rights and abortion.

Republicans in the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Statehouse recently asked the ADF to intervene on behalf of the Legislature to oppose a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in April on behalf of six lesbian state employees who want the state to provide employee benefits for their partners.

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"The Alliance Defense Fund has been very effective at finding local conflicts that symbolize a bigger fight and using those local conflicts as an opportunity to make a larger statement," said Charles C. Haynes, a senior scholar for the First Amendment Center, a nonpartisan education group with offices at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and in Arlington, Va. They have become the "go-to organization" for religious conservative activists, Haynes said.
-snip-
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this is a long article and it ends with:

"For decades, there was this moving train, pushed primarily by the ACLU, to curb religious freedoms, and nobody was trying to slow it down or resist it. ... But collectively, we've been able to make a huge difference in a short time frame," he said.

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america now has Evangelical Law firms - how quaint, how dangerous

since they are attacking ACLU we should attack ADF

[Bill McBlueState]

1. dummies

That damn civil liberties union and their attacks on civil liberties. We need Radical Christians to protect our liberties! Hell, their holy book contains many shining examples of tolerant, progressive societies.

What was Roger Baldwin thinking?

:sarcasm:

[Maat]

2. These guys are very big in their own minds.

The problem is them going around to groups and saying, 'You're kid has the right to wear this t-shirt,' or 'your kid has the right to read the bible at recess.' 'We'll represent you for free if they don't allow it.'

I watched Robert Tyler, and his associate, Thierot, arguing before the Ninth Circuit. Tyler is in the Murrieta/Temecula area, in California, believe it or not. They were arguing whether the teenager in San Diego County (Poway) had a right to wear the T-shirt that said, 'I will not accept what God has condemned,' and 'Homosexuality is sinful,' on the other side. The justices were just peppering them with hostile questions.

The guts of the case has to do with what conduct constitutes substantialy disruptive conduct. When that kid came to the high school wearing that t-shirt, the principal knew that it would be seriously disruptive (any reasonable person would). The principal then had the right to ask the kid to remove the t-shirt. At the time, of course, he refused (they wanted this as a test case). They lose their case (due to mootness - irrevelancy) if the kid graduates high school within the next year.

These guys are relentless, filing case after case. Each of their lawyers received training at a 'Blackstone Institute,' and made a commitment to supply so many man-hours to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). The notorious James Dobson and D. James Kennedy, the current reichwing religious honchos, founded/funded the ADF.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. I saw that

His arguement was worthless, imho, and I loved those questions from the justices...

[Maat]

6. Yep. Right on!

I can't wait to see which way they rule!

[nikraye]

3. "Curb religious freedom" GMAB

Really, give me a break. These people are not about protecting their religious freedom; they're strict agenda is about forcing everyone else to adhere to their religion and their religion alone. Yet they whine and cry foul whenever the ACLU tries to protect me (and other non-Evangelicals like me) from having these zealots' archaic and repressive religious beliefs and mandates forcibly crammed down my throat.

You'll never see these christian yahoos defending the religious freedom of Muslims, Jews, or anyone else whose religious beliefs don't absolutely agree with their own. They are most certainly NOT about defending their OWN religious freedom. They ARE about denying the religious freedoms of everyone else.

[Maat]

4. That's exactly what is going on (n/t).

[FreedomAngel82]

7. ACLU curbing religious freedoms?

Uh I think you've got it backwards pal.