ADF: ADF commends new Department of Justice effort to protect religious liberty - Alliance Defense Fund - Defending Our First Liberty

re: "SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A new U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division project designed to strengthen and protect the First Amendment religious freedom rights of all Americans will also help to correct decades of disinformation, according to Alliance Defense Fund President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears, a former prosecutor in the Reagan administration. / “Religious freedom must be protected and secured if we are to remain free as a nation. I commend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Bush administration for this new initiative,” said Sears. “The fact that the Justice Department finds it necessary to launch such a project further confirms what we’ve been aware of for years: our nation’s First Liberty--religious freedom--is in serious danger because of decades of sustained attacks by the ACLU and its allies. The activities of these groups do not accurately reflect the laws of the United States.” /During a speech Tuesday announcing the “First Freedom Project,” Gonzales said, “Nothing defines us more as a nation--and differentiates us more from the extremists who are our enemies--than our respect for religious freedom. Our great country was founded on these principles, and many of us today believe it continues to thrive because of, not despite, them.” / In his statement, Gonzales mentioned several cases litigated by ADF and its allies, including a case in Balch Springs, Texas, where members of a senior citizens’ community center were told that they could no longer pray before meals, sing Gospel songs, or hold Bible studies. When they protested these actions, the city fired their bus driver and threatened to take away their meal service unless they quit. ADF-allied attorneys with Liberty Legal Institute represented the seniors in court, and the Department of Justice launched an investigation into the city’s discriminatory actions. As a result, the seniors’ First Amendment rights were restored. / More information on the First Freedom Project is available at www.firstfreedom.gov..."...