Alliance Defending Freedom is a nonprofit legal organization that advocates religious freedom and the sanctity of life. We work to defend free exercise of religion, family, and speech under the law, as guaranteed by our nation’s constitution.
The mission of ADF is “To uphold the God-given liberties enshrined in our country’s founding documents.”
ADF was founded in 1989 as “Alliance Defense Fund”, with the goal to help Americans through tough times. We have risen to defend faith-based organizations and individuals who are being persecuted for their beliefs. We work across denominational lines to do so.
History
Our Story
Alliance Defending Freedom was created to defend free exercise of religion, the family, and free speech under the law. All three were under attack by government and society.
In 1989, ADF faced a new threat. The United States Supreme Court handed down a ruling that said it was unconstitutional for churches to receive tax exemptions if they taught or practiced anything contrary to secular law. Many Christian charitable organizations lost both their tax exemption and their independence as a result of this ruling. A few weeks later, in October of that year, Alliance Defending Freedom president Alan Sears traveled on behalf of Alliance Defending Freedom to testify before Congress about the ruling at a hearing titled “Protection for Churches from Government Discrimination.”
And just 10 months after the Supreme Court ruling, in March of 1990, ADF was officially incorporated. Its establishment was prompted by a federal court decision that said that the federal government could define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. That case set the stage for a slew of other cases dealing with marriage and religious liberty. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that states could not deny benefits to married same-sex couples; nonetheless, a few months later, ADF filed suit to protect the religious liberties of couples who believed they had been forced to “abjure” their faith by the government’s redefinition of marriage.
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