ADF vs ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 by a group of socialists, progressives, feminists, and suffragettes, including the late Helen Keller, then a member of the Socialist Party. In those early years, the organization promoted the protection of free speech and worker rights. It also fought racism and discrimination in ways that would now be considered moderate. However, where it once concentrated on supporting individual liberty and free association, it now focuses on group rights and fights battles with a decidedly leftward compass.
Today, the ACLU supports abortion, up to and including partial-birth abortion. It encourages the teaching of the LGBTQ agenda in schools. According to the Heritage Foundation, “the ACLU’s retreat from the First Amendment is well documented. It will not defend the First Amendment rights of pro-life pregnancy centers or small religious businesses. It no longer defends religious freedom, although it once did. And in a leaked internal memo, the ACLU takes the position that free speech denigrating “marginalized groups” should not be defended.”
The leftward plunge of the ACLU and the courtroom victories that followed were seen by many on the right as eroding traditional Christian and American values. This spurred the rise of opposing organizations.
One prominent opposition group is the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a tax-exempt conservative Christian 501(c) (3) headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. According to Wikipedia, the ADF was founded in 1993 by Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family), D. James Kennedy (founder of Coral Ridge Ministries), and other evangelical leaders of the time.
The ADF opposes abortion and believes that healthcare workers have the right to decline participation in them. They support prayer in public schools and other settings. They support the celebration of Christmas, including nativity displays, crosses, and Christmas trees in public buildings and on public land. The ADF supports parent rights to guide their children in matters of sex education, gender confusion, and transgender issues. The ADF supports pro-life pregnancy centers and Christian-owned businesses in local, state, and federal courts.
Another organization with similar goals is the American Center for Law and Justice. The ACLJ was founded in 1990 by evangelical leader Pat Robertson with the mandate of protecting religious and constitutional freedoms. The name American Center for Law and Justice, and the acronym, ACLJ, were both chosen to contrast with the ACLU. The ACLJ has a greater tendency to support cases in federal or international courts.
Since 1992, Jay Sekulow has been the chief counsel of the ACLJ. Sekulow has a long and controversial record for the way donations are handled. You can read more about the controversy here and here. I don’t have the resources to verify the accusations. Beginning in 2017, Sekulow also served as a personal attorney to President Donald Trump.
Have you donated to either the ADF or the ACLJ? What do you think of the work they do? Let me know in the comments section below.
