Tag: Alliance Defense Fund

Just one day after the results of a controversial parenting study were released to the public, the research was used – and misrepresented – in a federal court brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Part of the mission of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, led by Richard D. Land, is to expand, generally, the freedom of religious groups to influence law and policy. This past Sunday, Land was among more than 400 religious leaders to participate in the Alliance Defense Fund’s Pulpit Freedom Sunday, wherein pastors videotaped themselves preaching to their congregations about scripture, politics and political candidates to challenge the Internal Revenue Services’s rule that prohibits churches with 501(c)3 status from endorsing political candidates, reported The Christian Post. The plan was for pastors to mail those tapes to the IRS and then the Alliance Defense Fund will defend churches if their tax-exempt status is threatened in court.

A national group that advocates for the separation of church and state is urging members of the evangelical clergy to reject the Alliance Defense Fund’s “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” on Oct. 2.

Faced with the prospect that New York lawmakers will make gay marriage the law there this week, Christian organizations are touting new polling data that runs counter to data brought out in waves by major nationally respected firms such as Gallup over the last two years showing fast-expanding support among the U.S. population in favor of extending marriage rights to the millions of gay Americans.

Churches egged on by the Alliance Defense Fund to violate federal law that prohibits tax-exempt churches from endorsing or opposing political candidates are still waiting to learn if their civil disobedience will matter.

A poll commissioned by the New Mexico Republican Party with an ideological assist from the Christian legal team at the Alliance Defense Fund is fueling voter confusion over a domestic partnership bill before the state legislature in Santa Fe.

Maybe Focus on the Family commentator Stuart Shepard should have just kept his “Merry Tossmas” campaign to one year — last year — and put a lid on this year’s efforts to threaten retailers who don’t wish him a Merry Christmas in a satisfactory enough way. His Merry Tossmas threat, coming just as hundreds of his colleagues were laid off doesn’t help much by way of public opinion for the guy who got his last whiff of fame for a video praying to God for Noah and the Ark-like rain to drown Barack Obama’s speech at Mile High Stadium during the Democratic National Convention.

Remember when it was annoying that the spooky Halloween leftovers were barely gone when the Christmas trees came out in full bloom? Well, add to that the time we're now apparently supposed to publicly gnaw on the bone of contention over God and Christmas and public displays of belief.

Egged on by the conservative Alliance Defense Fund legal firm, 33 church leaders across the country have vowed to break federal law during their sermons this Sunday, Sept. 28. The so-called “Pulpit Freedom Day” action is a call for pastors to flaunt federal law and deliver full-on endorsements of political candidates. But some religious leaders — including Richard Cizik of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, and Catholic Archbishop John Favalora of Miami — have warned pastors not to risk losing the benefits that come from tax-exempt status.

An aggressive Arizona-based Christian legal firm has declared victory over the tiny city of Idaho Springs over a dispute involving group praying at city...