Victory for Dream Center Lake Elsinore

Pastor Brett Masters leased a store front in downtown Lake Elsinore, California, as his headquarter offices for the Lake Elsinore Dream Center. The Dream Center is a volunteer driven organization that finds & fills the needs of individuals and families in their community. They do this by connecting isolated people to God and a community of support providing services that address immediate and long-term needs in order to build relationships that will allow them to speak into their God-given potential. They work to bring hope to the needy, a way off the streets, out of poverty, and into self-sufficiency. One of Pastor Brett’s plans has been to implement a weekly community assistance program called “Adopt-A-Block.” Through Adopt-A-Block, the Dream Center teams assist residents in cleaning up their properties and offer a hand-up to those in need. The Dream Center needed a conditional use permit (CUP) from the City of Lake Elsinore in order to begin using the building for their headquarters. The planning staff had been very friendly and supportive of the project.  However, during the process of obtaining the permit, Pastor Brett faced stiff opposition from a couple of individuals who spent considerable time opposing the project.  This resulted in a Planning Commission deadlock vote.

Pastor Brett was referred to Advocates for help on his appeal to the City Council.  After a review of the law protecting the religious use of land, Advocates was able to help Pastor Brett understand the existing zoning laws and the CUP process as he prepared for the public hearing at the Lake Elsinore City Council.  With much planning and prayer, the Dream Center was unanimously approved. The City of Lake Elsinore and its residents will be enjoying the assistance from this wonderful staff and many faithful volunteers for years to come.

In 2007, Advocates prevailed against the City of Lake Elsinore on behalf of Elsinore Christian Center  where we set precedent in the Ninth Circuit preventing zoning discrimination against churches. That case helped pave the way for this victory and many others across the country.

We appreciate the financial support and prayers from faithful people like you! It’s only with your help and donations that we can make a difference and help Pastor Brett Masters and the Dream Center.

Two Christmas Victories for Advocates and Religious Liberty

The spirit of Christmas has arrived at Advocates for Faith & Freedom with the settlement of two Christmas-themed cases involving Southern California children. Both cases involve incidents that happened in December 2013. The resolution of these cases demonstrate how West Covina and Temecula Valley school districts worked with us to address our clients’ First Amendment liberties. As you may recall, Isaiah Martinez, then a first-grader, was barred from handing out candy canes to his West Covina classmates after his teacher noticed an accompanying note explaining the legend of the candy canes. The legend involves a candy maker who created the red-and-white-striped candies to represent the life of Jesus Christ. The teacher consulted with the principal, who told her the candy canes could not be distributed with the Christian legend attached. After school, Isaiah reported to his parents that the teacher tore off the Christian legend and told him that Jesus was not allowed in school.

We filed a federal lawsuit after several attempts to resolve the case at the school district level were unsuccessful. But in depositions for the lawsuit, the district’s representative admitted that the principal made a mistake and violated Isaiah’s rights by telling him he couldn’t give the religious-themed candy canes to his friends. The revelation helped Advocates’ staff attorney, James Long, to successfully negotiate a settlement after the school district had revised its district policy to accommodate religious liberties at all of its campuses. The district also agreed to pay Advocates for a portion of the attorney fees we incurred. The school district required that the amount remain confidential. Alex Martinez, Isaiah’s father said, “Advocates have been a blessing to my family. This organization is truly a Godsend! We thank God for Bob Tyler and the staff there.”

The second case involved Brynn Williams who was a first grade student in December 2013 within the Temecula Unified School District. She was prevented from reading from John 3:16 during an in-class Christmas presentation. After filing an administrative complaint, the school district agreed to a settlement and we agreed to the joint statement that follows:

 The Temecula Valley Unified School District, Brynn Williams, and Brynn’s parents Gina and Shane Williams, have reached an agreement that will result in the dismissal of the administrative complaints submitted to the District by the Williams family.  The Williams family alleged that Brynn’s constitutional rights were violated when she was not permitted to read a Bible verse out loud as a part of a class assignment. The District’s internal 

investigation into the matter concluded that the actions of the classroom teacher and the principal were not anti-religious. 

Although further administrative action through an appeal and litigation are available to the Williams family, and litigation is available to District employees, the parties agree that a compromise would be more beneficial to all involved. The compromise reached by the parties is not an admission of liability on the part of either party.  The settlement presents a compromise that is in the best interests of Brynn Williams, her family, the District, District staff, and local students.

The District continues to be committed to providing an educational environment that ensures that students do not lose their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse gates.  Therefore, the District will continue to work to ensure that all of its students continue to enjoy their constitutional freedoms, including religious freedoms, in harmony with District policies. 

The District agrees that it is in the best interest of all concerned to provide training to school administrators on the topic of First Amendment rights of staff and students.  The Williams family, the District, and the District’s employees are very satisfied with the outcome and the Williams family applauds the School District’s willingness to provide First Amendment training to its staff.

While both cases were two years in the making, their successful completion shows the need for persistence when advocating for religious liberty and the protection of free speech. When we take on a case, it is not something that is usually resolved in a day or even a month. It’s typically a long-term commitment with many struggles and 150 to 500 hundred hours of legal work. For example, Isaiah Martinez’ case, our attorneys logged-in more than 350 hours.

We are grateful for your continued commitment to our vital work. To that end, would you please consider helping us to continue our core mission by making a year-end tax deductible donation so that we can continue to defend your liberties along with the liberties of students like Isaiah and Brynn who simply want to share the love of Jesus? We know there are many great ministries that deserve your support and we truly appreciate any contribution you can make to Advocates for Faith & Freedom.

Mobile Pregnancy Clinic Sues State Over New “Bully” Law

Just 15 months after launching a mobile pregnancy medical clinic ministry, Pastor Scott Scharpen is facing the reality of having to shut it down after Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the “Reproductive FACT Act,” which requires all such clinics to post a notice on site promoting free and low-cost abortions. The notice must be at least 22-point size and posted in the waiting area. It must also include a telephone number for abortion referrals. Clinics may opt to distribute the notice to each patient in 14 point type. “I will not post that notice in our clinic,” said Scharpen, founder of the Go Mobile for Lifeministry clinic in Riverside County. “I would rather close the clinic than post that notice. This is outrageous!”

Scharpen launched his mobile clinic in August 2014 with a 31-foot RV. The clinic provides free services, including ultrasounds. The unit parks in conspicuous locations in Riverside County, acting as a mobile billboard. “It’s not just a clinic,” he said. “It’s a ministry. We share the gospel with them. Our slogan is ‘GO serve women, GO save lives and GO share Jesus.’”

Before going to the extreme of shutting down the mobile clinic and disenfranchising hundreds of clients who receive free services through their non-profit community clinic, Scharpen chose to seek out the services of Advocates for Faith & Freedom and Tyler & Burch, LLP.

We have decided to file a lawsuit in Riverside County Superior Court with the hope of finding justice in a neutral forum. In fact, the free speech clause under the California Constitution has been interpreted by courts to provide even greater protection to speech than does the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (See Press Release, complaint and preliminary injunction below)

Bringing a free speech case in state superior court is not the normal course of action for most religious liberty legal organizations because federal court has typically been the favored forum. However, we decided to bring this case in state court in order to take an alternative strategic approach to another case we already filed in federal court in San Francisco.  Along with our co-counsel, the ACLJ, we filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Living Well Medical Clinic, Inc., Pregnancy Care Center of the North Coast, Inc., and Confidence Pregnancy Center, Inc.

We believe it is important to protect pro-life clinics because they typically provide safe options to pregnant women with resources to support a mother through pregnancy, parenthood and/or adoption. However, if the Reproductive Fact Act is allowed to remain the law of California, these important clinics promoting life will also be forced to promote abortions.

By enacting this law, Scharpen said, “the state is overstepping its authority by requiring privately funded ministries to act as agents of the state by promoting a state-mandated message promoting abortion.”

“We as clinics shouldn’t be required to provide information about services that we don’t offer and that women have the ability to find through other means,” he said.

Scharpen said he has always been prolife but never advocated on behalf of the unborn until he was preparing a sermon in early 2013. The Lord, he said, directed him to preach on abortion.

Later that year he purchased a clinic RV from an Ohio non-profit organization that provides similar RVs to ministries throughout the country. The clinic was officially launched in August 2014 after securing a medical license from the California Department of Public Health.

“As a pastor and as a businessman I did not think I would be involved in running a clinic,” he said. Now he’s fighting for the right to operate the privately held clinic in a manner that reflects the clinic’s religious beliefs.

Scharpen added, “This lawsuit has even broader implications. If the California state government gets away with telling pregnancy clinics what to say and even how to say it, then ALL faith-based businesses are at risk of being bullied into delivering the government’s mandated speech.  We must stand up and fight this unconstitutional law for the benefit of all people!”

We are excited about the opportunity to advocate for the life of the unborn. We will be faced with challenging the unlimited resources of the State of California, who will be represented by the State’s Attorney General. Numerous nongovernmental advocacy organizations will likely come join the defense of the State providing a well-funded defense and numerous attorneys.

We anticipate that we will provide over $200,000 worth of free legal services and will incur thousands of dollars in court costs and other expenses on this case alone. We would greatly appreciate any financial support you can provide to help us win this case. Thank you in advance for your prayers and support!

Read Press Release here.

Here Comes Common Core... What's the big deal?

Dear Friend,
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote, “Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil.” Our Founding Fathers recognized government as a necessary evil and, therefore, carefully crafted the American government with a separation of powers so no one branch of government became too powerful. Additionally, our Constitution provides the federal government with certain powers and the states with certain powers. Thomas Paine’s words ring truer now than in 1776, because the federal government’s “Common Core” curriculum interferes with States’ rights and violates federal laws prohibiting such control. 

Control of educational curriculum is a state right; not a federal right. Under Common Core and its financial incentives, the federal government is attempting to do what it legally cannot. The federal government, by financial incentives (our tax dollars), is attempting to take away power reserved for the states. A large part of the American government’s success lies in its inherent restraints on government power known as “checks and balances.” This means the federal government must not overstep its authority by ignoring the laws adopted by Congress.  We, as citizens, should be gravely concerned when any branch of our government ignores laws restraining it and, in this case, treads on the rights of States.

Everyone—not just parents—should oppose Common Core because it negatively affects the nation’s youth in two ways:

1. The math curriculum puts students almost two years behind their peers, potentially forcing them out of the university system and into the already impacted community college system, leaving our universities scrambling for foreign students who can qualify;
2. The questions students must answer on tests has an anti-conservative indoctrination and a socialism/communism agenda.  Common Core is about lowering the academic standards for American children and the indoctrination of an anti-American agenda.

Furthermore, Common Core collects our children’s data without proper parental consent. It is possible this data will be available to unknown sources. Common Core testing allows the educational system to ask if guns are in your home, if parents have served in the military, and other information not necessary to the academic pursuits of students.

What can parents do? Use an Opt Out Form to remove your children from the Common Core testing. As long as California has Common Core, students may not Opt Out of the curriculum entirely, but may Opt Out of the testing for religious reasons. If all students opt out of Common Core testing, the system will fail to accomplish its hidden agenda.  All citizens can write their political representatives encouraging them to get rid of the Common Core curriculum in California.  States like Texas and Alaska have not adopted Common Core for the reasons stated above.  Lastly, when you go to the polls, make sure you know your candidate’s view on Common Core.

There are many Opt Out Forms by great organizations, one source we recommend is TruthinAmericanEducation.com. You may also contact our office (888-588-6888 or email: info@faith-freedom.com), and we can send you an Opt Out Form.                              In His Service,                                                             Marty Nicholson                               Legal Counsel

 

Is Jesus Allowed in School? The Courts to Decide!

Dear Friend,

            Hostility towards religion, particularly Christianity, in public schools has increased dramatically in the past few years. Cases involving students being ridiculed and even reprimanded because of their Christian faith are on the rise.
 
            As some of you may recall, Isaiah Martinez, a first grader in West Covina, Calif., brought Christmas gifts to school to share with his classmates. The gifts were candy canes with attached notes describing the legend of the candy canes. The legend tells the story of the candy maker who created candy canes to represent the life of Jesus Christ.
 
            When Isaiah’s teacher saw what the note on the candy canes said, she confiscated them. After speaking with the principal, she told Isaiah that Jesus is not allowed in school. She then removed the notes at the direction of the principal and handed the candy canes back to Isaiah to distribute to the class.  The teacher then threw the notes in the trash.

            “Jesus is not allowed in school?”  Isaiah was understandably confused and embarrassed by what happened in class that day. Fortunately, his parents reached out to us to learn if the school and administration’s actions were warranted.
 
            We immediately sent a letter to the West Covina Unified School District demanding that the school apologize for how Isaiah was treated and demanded that it adopt a policy prohibiting school officials from discriminating against or intimidating Christian and other religiously-affiliated students, as is appropriate under the First Amendment of our Constitution.
 
            The school conducted an investigation and substantially confirmed the facts as we presented, but the school district believed that their discriminatory actions were warranted. We then appealed to the school board requesting once again that Isaiah be allowed to hand out the candy canes and that they adopt a revised policy. After the school board denied our appeal, we appealed to the California Department of Education to no avail. The school has neglected to correct its actions, and after exhausting all options to avoid a lawsuit we were left with no choice but to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. By filing suit, we will be asking the court to protect Isaiah's rights and the rights of others like him from having their faith censored.

            It’s unfortunate when these situations arise and must be brought before a judge in order to rectify injustice. Please join us in prayer as we take Isaiah’s case to trial and pray for the strength and protection of Isaiah and his family. In return, we are more than happy to pray for you and your families, and welcome your prayer requests. Send prayer requests and any questions to info@Faith-Freedom.com.
 
            If you’re tired of the way that Christians are marginalized in our country, and the increasing hostility towards Christians, please consider making a donation today. Your gift will go directly toward cases like Isaiah’s, and it will make an impact on the culture targeting people of faith today. We’re constantly stunned by the cases that come our way – primarily young students experiencing humiliation and discrimination simply because of their Christian faith. We ask for your support to continue our work protecting our First Amendment right to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

 In His Service,,

 

Robert Tyler

General Counsel

  
 
            We are grateful for your support and words of encouragement for our team and clients. Isaiah and his family are blessed to receive the comfort and guidance of their pastor, Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, who also serves on our Board of Directors.
 
            We are very fortunate to have Pastor Jack as our keynote speaker for Justice 2014! Please mark your calendars…  
 

Justice 2014 Annual Gala and Fundraiser “Understanding the Times”

Saturday, September 27th at 5:00 pm

Held at Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa 3050 Bristol Street, Costa MesaKeynote Speaker: Pastor Jack Hibbs

Entertainer and Emcee: Comedian Robert G. Lee Honored Guests: Tim and Beverly LaHaye

Get involved with Advocates for Faith & Freedom! This is your opportunity to support the work of Advocates. This event helps us raise funds to support our free legal services through dinner ticket sales, live auction, and silent auction. We hope you will join us – please visit our Justice 2014 page for more information and to purchase your ticket or table.

Presenting the Gospel while "Under Oath"

Dear friend, More and more, we are experiencing governmental lawyers who seem to have no religious affiliation, no exposure to Christianity, and no knowledge of some of the most basic Christian principles like the “Great Commission.”  To many governmental lawyers, the concept of a Christian spreading the Gospel is almost putrid to their senses.

I am writing my thoughts as I ponder upon a deposition currently ongoing in one of our cases. Our client was questioned by an attorney from the California Attorney General’s Office and I anticipate, based on her questions, that she will eventually argue that our client’s attempts to share the Gospel is not protected religious speech because it is offensive to some members of the public.

Here’s the “silver lining” that is apparent in the deposition transcript: The deputy attorney general has been questioning our client about hell, sin, salvation, good works, and sexuality. She has also questioned whether our client’s group believed that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and salvation. How do think our client responded? He shared the Gospel message in love and compassion to the governmental lawyer!

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:11-12

Far too often, we are experiencing governmental officials who seem to think it is their job to sanitize the public from exposure to a Christian perspective. As our American culture becomes more and more secularized, it is going to be more and more important for us to educate public officials and to defend the First Amendment in courts so that Christianity is not censored in all public arenas.

This is why it is our stated mission to “defend the First Amendment right to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The good news is that we have had significant success in this arena! From the acquittal of Christians sharing their faith on public property who were criminally charged to students sharing their faith in public schools.

Let us give you some more good news from California! We were recently contacted by Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute and Pastor Rick Moore of Calvary Chapel Laguna Niguel. Pastor Rick was attempting to rent city facilities from the City of Laguna Niguel in order to launch his new church. However, when Pastor Rick contacted the City, he learned that although the City rented their facilities to nonprofit organizations, the City could not rent to religiously based organizations because of a discriminatory provision embodied in the City’s ordinances.

With help from Advocates for Faith & Freedom and Liberty Legal Institute, we were able to properly advise Pastor Rick and warn the City Council about the unconstitutionality of the policy prohibiting the temporary rental of property to religious organizations. After a public hearing last month, the City Council voted unanimously to eliminate the discriminatory policy so that churches could rent City facilities just like other nonprofit organizations.

Thank God for this Victory!

Although we recognize that our culture is embracing a radicalized and secular culture, we are excited that God has placed each of us on this earth “for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)

Please remember to pray for us as we continue to work in this ministry of protecting our First Amendment right to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you have the ability, we would greatly appreciate your financial support for the ongoing costs we incur to protect religious liberty. In His Service,

Robert Tyler General Counsel

  

Another Victory! Bible Accepted into Public School's Library

Dear Friend, Recently, Advocates for Faith & Freedom was contacted by Gary Nelson regarding his third grader, Victoria, who attends an elementary school in the Temecula Valley Unified School District. The family was disheartened a couple of years ago—when Victoria was in first grade—and was not allowed to donate a Bible to the school-sponsored book donation program. 

Because of the media attention received on the Brynn Williams case, in which Brynn was not allowed to finish her Christmas presentation because she tried to quote a Scripture, Mr. Nelson was moved to contact Advocates after realizing Victoria’s rights had been violated.

The elementary school offers a “Birthday Book Program” in which students may elect to celebrate their birthday by donating a book to the school library on their birthday. The donated book has the student’s name inserted on the front inside cover.  The school then formally recognizes the student at the Friday Flag Salute Assembly.  The student is called up in front of the entire school so that he or she can hold their book up and get a picture taken with their donated book.

On Victoria’s birthday, she brought her favorite book to school to donate…the Bible.  She handed the Bible over to her teacher and said, “John is my favorite book!”  The teacher smiled and accepted the book with a thank you.  A few days later, the teacher handed the book back to the student’s father, Gary Nelson, explaining, “The principal said students cannot donate the Bible. It cannot be in the library,” reported Mr. Nelson.  That Friday Mr. Nelson had to explain to his daughter that her book had been rejected by the school and that she could not be recognized at the assembly.  The family was upset because they felt that not only had the Bible been rejected, but so was the student.

Advocates’ attorneys wrote a detailed 9-page letter to the school district explaining that the Establishment Clause “mandates governmental neutrality” not only among different religions, but also “between religion and non-religion.” Here, the principal’s rejection of the Bible as a viable donation towards the school library was a message of disapproval towards religion. After our attorney met with Mr. Nelson and the school principal, the principal apologized and Victoria was finally recognized at the next assembly and was allowed to donate her favorite book, the Bible, to her school library.  

This case is yet another example of District employees lacking knowledge of First Amendment rights, as well as lack of proper policies and employee training.  Victoria had the right to give the school the Bible under the book donation program, the school had the right to receive it, and students now have a right to go to the library and read it.  We Praise the Lord for this victory!

We are grateful for the Williams family and their courage to stand up for Brynn’s rights!  Mr. Nelson commented that had it not been for the Williams’ coming forward, the Bible would not be in Victoria’s school today.   “I teach my children that Jesus does not hit singles and get on first base…He only hits home runs!” He went on to say, “Because TVUSD “pushed back” on the Williams case, it caught my attention in the media and this issue got resolved too!  All for His glory!”

Update on First Graders Brynn Williams and Isaiah Martinez

Brynn Williams tried to read John 3:16 during a Christmas presentation in her class but was stopped by her teacher before she could read the Scripture. Isaiah Martinez was told that “Jesus is not allowed in school” by his teacher and watched as his teacher tore off his Christmas message attached to the candy canes he  intended  to give to his classmates.   In both of  these  cases, we  filed  complaints with each of their school districts hoping to persuade the school boards to adopt policies that will educate and train school officials about the First  Amendment  liberties afforded  to students and to implement a policy that prohibits school officials from expressing religious hostility and intolerance toward religion. We are in the process of negotiating with each of the school districts. If the districts refuse to respect our demands, we will likely file federal lawsuits to compel each district’s compliance.

Will you stand with Advocates? Here’s how you can help:

• Pray with us, for our students, teachers, and administrators.
• Give a financial gift so that we can continue in this work.
• Let us know if you experience or hear about any hostility towards religion in the public schools.

We thank you for your faithfulness and your prayers as we press on in this mission!

In His Service, Robert Tyler General Counsel

On a Personal Note...

Maybe you noticed that our February newsletter didn’t come at the end of the month as usual.  Well, both Jen and I were very busy during the month of February.  Jen and Jordan Bursch were blessed with the birth of their first child, Harper Grace Bursch.  She was a real miracle in the making after beating the odds of some medical complications. Please  pray for God’s continued blessings on this beautiful and healthy gift of life.

Meanwhile, I spent time on my sixth mission trip to Hinche, Haiti, with my wife and three of our four children. We had another wonderful 

opportunity to support the local work of the Haiti Endowment Fund and its numerous churches and Christian schools in the outlying areas of Haiti’s Central Plateau. Religious liberty and Christian values appear to be well respected in Haiti. Though Haiti has a long history in Voodoo, Christianity  is now  welcomed throughout this poverty stricken  nation.

"We atheists laugh at you Christians..."

Dear Partner, We have experienced a tremendous number of inquiries of Christians seeking pro-bono legal help in the last 60 to 90 days for many legal assaults on the Christian faith. Our legal team has sprung into action and successfully protected a number of those Christians with our rapid response, as you will see when you read further in the newsletter.

It seems that the root cause behind this assault is the evil unleashed in the spiritual realm. We know that God has called us to stand in defense of the many Christians doing great work in the spread of the Gospel and also, for those Christians who are mere victims of arbitrary anti-Christian bigotry by persons in power.

            Has our legal ministry become more visible in the last 90 days, or is it a sign of the times?

Although we’ve had some recent media attention, I really believe the phone calls and emails are a sign of the times—that our services are needed now more than ever. Here are just a few of the cases we are working on that have come into our office in the last 90 days:

            “We atheists laugh at you Christians. And in 100 years, no one is going to believe in God because the science will prove he doesn’t exist.” This is the statement from one 7^th grade teacher in Massachusetts who felt she had the unfettered right to show such visceral hostility toward her students in a social studies class. Similar comments were made on other days but we don’t have time to go into them here. Imagine the effect this hostile communication will have on future generations. One mom complained to the school principal, but the anti-Christian comments didn’t stop. That same mom called on us for help, and we have agreed to file a lawsuit against the school district and the teacher, if the family is willing. While bullying is a hot topic within today’s schools, the bullying most often overlooked is the bullying that some school administrators and teachers unleash on their own students just because the students have or express a Christian worldview. We need to find more cases like these so we can set legal precedent against religious hostility expressed in the classroom by public school teachers. These children are the future and we can’t allow generations to be lost due to the atheistic influences of a hostile public school environment.

            Do Christians still have a right to share the Gospel out loud in public?

We were recently contacted by Michael Marcavage, a minister on the East Coast and publisher of Christian News Network. He regularly engages in street evangelism and has had significant difficulties sharing the Gospel in public—and in this case, along the Atlantic City Boardwalk. This minister was told he needed to apply for a permit as a “street performer” and pay a fee for street evangelism. First, he is not a “street performer” as defined by the city ordinance. Second, the Constitution gives him the right to free speech, and the fee for our right to speak freely in open public forums like a boardwalk  has  already  been  paid by the sacrifice of our brave men and women in the armed forces  who have lost their lives fighting for our liberty. While not  all of us are “cut-out” for street evangelism, we need to protect our right to free speech in public or else our public square may begin to look more like China’s Tiananmen Square.

            We will be filing a lawsuit in New Jersey to secure these rights. From the beginning, our mission has been to defend the First Amendment right to free speech, which includes spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. More recently, we’ve experienced the need to defend not only the right to express our faith, but to defend the right to practice our faith in our daily lives.

We’ve received calls about everything from children chided for reading the Bible as part of a homework assignment to ministers threatened by county officials for refusing to marry same-sex couples.  A reoccurring theme we’re noticing with all this activity: hostility towards a Christian worldview. 

The good news is we’ve had much success. Many of these recent issues have been resolved without even having to file a lawsuit. The important thing is that we are here to take their phone calls and take legal action, which many times simply requires us to send a letter explaining the constitutional protection afforded to our clients.

            While we are trying to help as many people as we can, we simply do not have enough financial resources to help all of these clients defend their religious liberties and fight anti-Christian hostility.

Many of you have asked us about our Justice Gala this year. As you may remember, we normally hold an annual fundraising event known as “Justice” in the fall. This year, we made a strategic decision to skip this event for a few reasons: putting on a Justice Gala each year is a large financial commitment, and it often impacts the resources we have to commit to our primary mission to defend the First Amendment right to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to our new clients.

            Right now we have more inquiries than we can commit to financially, and in order for us to be able to fully handle all the cases coming in WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Typically, about 400 people attend our Gala, and while it’s an educational and often inspiring event, we realized that we could make a greater impact toward our core mission if we could apply the full amount of your donations to the new cases we’ve taken on recently.

Our strategy and hope is that everyone who would normally purchase a ticket or contribute by buying an auction item will make a gift to this campaign. In doing so, 100% of your donation will go directly towards our ministry and new cases—defending religious liberty. If 400 of you could make a donation of $150 (the price of a Justice ticket), we could raise the funds necessary to more aggressively pursue these opportunities and ensure that Christians retain the right to live out their faith in their daily lives!

If you can’t commit to a $150 donation right now but would like to contribute to our mission, we gratefully welcome any and all gifts! We’ve set a goal of $60,000 in order to pursue the astounding amount of cases God has supplied us with, and we would be grateful if you would join us in reaching that goal!

For those of you who regularly attend and enjoy our galas, don’t fret! We’ve already started planning for our regular Justice Gala in 2014!

We’re humbled by your tremendous support over the years, and now—as we see the culture war raging more than ever—we thank you in advance for your help in reaching our fundraising goal to support the many new cases coming into our ministry.  On behalf of the entire Advocates team and our Board, have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!

In His Service,

  

Robert Tyler

General Counsel

Christianity Under Fire

Dear Partner, Over the past couple of decades, Americans have watched as their individual and religious freedoms have slowly been eroded, taken away, or replaced by governmental mandates and legislation.

The situation we are currently facing reminds me of the frog that is placed in a cold pot of water.  When the water slowly heats up, the frog has become so comfortable there that he doesn’t even realize that he is being boiled alive! 

As Christians in America, we have a lot of freedoms for which we should be continually grateful.  Our Constitution promises us that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

However, it is our responsibility to stand up for these liberties that we enjoy and make sure that they do not slowly disappear!  Our present actions will directly affect the future reality for generations to come – this fact alone should prod us forward in defense of what we believe and what makes this Nation so great.

Here at Advocates, I regularly see examples of how our fundamental constitutional liberties are being challenged:

Hostile Attacks on Christianity in the Courtroom – Such as the case of Chad Farnan, a high school student who endured almost daily anti-Christian and anti-religion rants from his Advanced Placement (AP) European History teacher.  We took this case to court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals eventually ruled that the teacher could not be held responsible, simply because there was no law or clear precedent that a teacher is liable for his or her statements in the classroom.

Even though the final decision in this case is not what we had hoped for, I am extremely proud of Chad and honored to have fought with him.  We believe that this case was vitally important because, for years, we had heard from teachers who were being admonished or even disciplined for having Bibles on their desk, wearing a Christian-themed t-shirt, or praying with a student.  We felt that it was imperative to stand up for students on the other side of the coin – those whose religious ideologies were being attacked consistently in the captive arena of the classroom.

Silencing Christians – Three men, including a pastor, went  to their local DMV to read the Bible aloud to passers-by, something that they had done previously as a ministry.  On this day, however, the men were arrested by an officer who, after ripping the Bible from the pastor’s hands, said that the men could not “preach to a captive audience” and eventually charged them with “trespassing.” We are defending these men because we believe that, as Americans, we possess freedom of speech.  Even if we would choose a different method for sharing the Gospel, we believe that Christians must defend their right to spread the Good News.  If we don’t protect this right now, we very well might find our options for sharing the Gospel greatly restricted in the near future.

Why We Christians Must Take a Stand – You may have heard of the recent incident at Florida Atlantic University, where a professor  instructed his students to write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, put it on the ground, and stomp on it. This instruction was given as a classroom “exercise.”

After the media storm that ensued, the university put the professor on academic leave and banned the “stomp Jesus” exercise from all future classes.

This is a great victory, and it happened because Christians were outraged by the incident and spoke up.  What would have happened had local pastors, reverends, and Christians stayed silent?

Sometimes, it can be difficult to take a stand for what we believe to be truth, based on God’s Truth.  It can feel like we are in the minority or that we are alone in the fight.  But, that is not a reason to stay silent.

If we don’t stand up for our God-given liberties and constitutional freedoms – right now – who will?  And, what will the future hold for the generations of Christians to come?

  National Day of Prayer is May 2nd!

On Thursday, May 2, Americans will join together in a collective National Day of Prayer.  This year’s theme is “Pray for America,” based on the following Bible verse:

“In His name the nations will put their hope."   Matthew 12:21

We encourage you to take a moment with your family on this day and pray for America, our president, our legislators, and the hardships that we are facing in today’s economic environment.  Also, let’s remember to bring thanks to God for all of the freedoms that we enjoy in our Nation. God Bless America!

God bless you,

Jennifer Bursch

Associate General Counsel

7 Year Marker: Advocates Gives Us a Reason to Celebrate!

Dear Partner, Looking back over 2012, we have been blessed to play a significant role in protecting our First Amendment right to share the Gospel, in combating hostility toward Christianity, and defending the will of voters. For example:

• We have continued the fight to protect the right of churches to build and expand their ministry in the Temecula Valley Wine Country against politically powerful vintners.

• We worked aggressively to defend students’ rights to express their religion in school and developed a booklet to educate parents, teachers, and students of their rights and warn them of the perils in California public schools (available on our website).

• We continued to fight for the protection of traditional marriage through the defense of voter-backed Proposition 8 in California. Now, this case is at the Supreme Court, where the justices will decide whether to respect the will of voters.

But, this year is our 7 YEAR MARKER – we have been pursuing our goals for seven years! Now, because of the critical times in our culture, we must refine our goals and litigate with greater precision in order to preserve our liberty to share the Gospel. Here’s our strategy:

1. Plan: We will aggressively increase our caseload with more tactical cases that are directly related and central to our purpose: Defending the first amendment right to spread the Christian Gospel.
2. Pursue: (a) We will pursue opportunities to challenge governmental hostility toward Christianity like the efforts to remove Christian symbols from public display; and (b) We will strategically continue to pursue cases that will challenge unlawful land use and building restrictions that are burdening and censoring churches.

You can help us right now to continue defending religious liberty and to pursue our strategy for 2013.  In order to litigate additional cases, we need to bring in $2,500 in new monthly donations by the New Year.  Please help us reach this goal by December 31st.  Whatever amount you can contribute on a monthly basis will greatly help us to take on new cases to preserve our liberty to share the Gospel.  Simply use the enclosed envelope and indicate your monthly gift pledge, or go online at www.faith-freedom.com/7-year-marker-press-on.

Thank you for supporting our mission! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Case Update:  Religious Land Use WIN for Washington, D.C. Church

Our client, the Fishermen of Man Church located in Washington, D.C., was recently faced with the potential of being designated a historic landmark by a local government agency, the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). Though this may sound like a benefit to the church, this landmark designation would have placed burdensome restrictions on the church and its activities.

For example, the church had planned to make some much-needed improvements, including placing an attractive sign on the building to better indicate that it is, in fact, a church. Since it is located in the midst of a commercial district, this signage is a necessity to grow church membership. If it were called a landmark, the church would experience crippling delays and costs while the HPRB and local government carried out the landmark designation, and they would be highly restricted from carrying out their planned improvements.

In addition to these burdens, there is also a moral question surrounding the landmark designation.  In the past, the church location was used as a community movie theater, and – in a divisive time in our nation’s history – it was designated as a “whites only” movie theater.  For the congregation of the Fishermen of Man church, which is predominately African-American, this landmark designation was extremely offensive.

We represented the church at no cost and worked with the church’s local attorney in preparation for the hearing. We also sent a demand letter to the HPRB, explaining that the landmark designation they planned for the Fishermen of Man building would violate RLUIPA, the Religious Land Use and Institution

alized Persons Act, which prevents government bodies from applying regulations to religious institutions that would place a substantial burden on religious land use or regulations that are inequitably applied against religious institutions.  The HPRB then realized the church’s rights under RLUIPA and decided against the landmark designation.  Victory for the church!

 This case represents the strategic opportunities we plan to pursue in the future used to ensure the spread of the Gospel.  There are several more churches in the D.C. area alone that are facing the threat of burdensome landmark designations that threaten their very existence.  In many cases, these regulations censor churches and unreasonably control a church’s daily operations causing many churches to flee to the suburbs. We want to defend these churches’ right to not just exist, but to continue to spread the Gospel of Christ in our Nation’s capital!

We ask that you consider pledging a monthly gift so that we can pursue more cases and victories like this one!

God bless you,

Jennifer Bursch Associate General Counsel