Alliance Defending Freedom is an organization of Christians working to ensure that the U.S. Constitution and the civil rights it guarantees are upheld in courtrooms across our nation. We stand for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family as the building blocks of society. Our staff—a diverse group including men and women, straights and gays, and military experience levels from combat to peacetime service—is united by a common faith in Jesus Christ to effectively advance these goals with integrity, compassion, intelligence, dignity, pragmatism and creativity. We are a national organization with offices in Arizona, Washington, D.C., and Brussels and affiliates in Australia, Canada, and Israel.

The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Thus, from its inception, the United States has granted religious freedom to all Americans—protecting both the rights of those who believe and those who do not.

One of Alliance Defending Freedom’s primary goals is to ensure that freedom of speech and religion are not compromised in educational settings. It means ensuring that schools do not censor students or inhibit their ability to form clubs based on their viewpoints; that university students are not punished for peacefully expressing religious views; and that elementary school children are protected from punishment if they pray over their lunch at school or pray in class when asked by a teacher.

Alliance Defending Freedom ensures students can express their religious viewpoints in public schools without fear of censorship or retaliation.

On December 11, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that school officials at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, had violated students’ right to freedom of speech and religion. The Ninth Circuit decision came after ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of several students at the school who were prohibited from handing out copies of the Ten Commandments or holding a prayer group during non-instructional time. The Supreme Court declined an invitation to hear this case in October 2008. See related link for more information.

More about ADF on https://www.adfchurchalliance.org/