ADF encourages churches, schools to celebrate Religious Freedom Day
ADF partnering with Gateways to Better Education to help churches better equip students, teachers to protect religious freedom in public schools
Friday, Jan 14, 2011
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Alliance Defense Fund has joined with Gateways to Better Education to encourage churches to celebrate Religious Freedom Day Sunday and help equip their members with vital information regarding religious freedom in public schools. The two organizations are encouraging churches to consider making a two-minute pulpit announcement promoting the day.
“Religious freedom is our first liberty,” said ADF President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears. “Unfortunately, that freedom finds itself under increasing attack in the public square, and in particular, our public schools. If we lose our religious freedom, then all of our other freedoms are in peril as well.”
Each year since 1993, the president of the United States has declared Jan. 16 to be Religious Freedom Day. ADF and Gateways to Better Education have teamed up to help churches equip families and public schools with information on student’s freedom of religious expression.
Gateways has created a pocket-sized pamphlet entitled Free to Speak, which cites U.S. Department of Education statements clarifying seven important religious freedoms on public school campuses. In addition, ADF has created a detailed letter that can be sent to school officials that provides them with valuable information on constitutionally protected religious liberty rights in public schools. ADF also stands ready to defend any student whose religious freedom comes under attack in a public school.
“It’s our hope that this effort will not only equip students with the information they need to exercise their religious freedom, but that it will also make all of us, as Americans, grateful for the tremendous gift given to us by the Founding Fathers: the gift of liberty,” said Sears. “That’s why I would like to encourage our nation’s churches to not only celebrate Religious Freedom Day, but also provide this vital information to their congregations on how they can defend and protect that freedom for future generations.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
“Religious freedom is our first liberty,” said ADF President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears. “Unfortunately, that freedom finds itself under increasing attack in the public square, and in particular, our public schools. If we lose our religious freedom, then all of our other freedoms are in peril as well.”
Each year since 1993, the president of the United States has declared Jan. 16 to be Religious Freedom Day. ADF and Gateways to Better Education have teamed up to help churches equip families and public schools with information on student’s freedom of religious expression.
Gateways has created a pocket-sized pamphlet entitled Free to Speak, which cites U.S. Department of Education statements clarifying seven important religious freedoms on public school campuses. In addition, ADF has created a detailed letter that can be sent to school officials that provides them with valuable information on constitutionally protected religious liberty rights in public schools. ADF also stands ready to defend any student whose religious freedom comes under attack in a public school.
“It’s our hope that this effort will not only equip students with the information they need to exercise their religious freedom, but that it will also make all of us, as Americans, grateful for the tremendous gift given to us by the Founding Fathers: the gift of liberty,” said Sears. “That’s why I would like to encourage our nation’s churches to not only celebrate Religious Freedom Day, but also provide this vital information to their congregations on how they can defend and protect that freedom for future generations.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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ABOUT Alan Sears
Alan Sears was the first president, CEO, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, leading its efforts from 1993-2017. Across those nearly 25 years, he built an ADF team committed to a comprehensive legal strategy that includes training, funding, and legal advocacy. Sears earned his Juris Doctor from Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. While serving in numerous positions within the Reagan and Bush administrations, he worked for the Department of Justice under Attorneys General William French Smith and Edwin Meese III, including service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Criminal Section. Sears was appointed as director of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography and served as associate solicitor with the Department of Interior under Secretary Donald Hodel. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Sears has continued his education with professional instruction at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, and Pepperdine University. He is a member in good standing with the American, Arizona, California, District of Columbia (inactive), and Kentucky bar associations.