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Like many local governments, the City of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, tries to assist citizens in publicizing upcoming community events. Grand Rapids does this through its Readerboard, a large electronic marquee on which nonprofit organizations may advertise their activities, subject to certain restrictions. Among these restrictions, as one local Christian organization discovered, however, was an outright prohibition against any ads that contained religious content. Believing this type of... read more
Over the last several weeks, the Organization for Legal Aid (OLA), the Pakistani office of our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), has worked diligently to secure justice for a Christian family whose teenage son was murdered by local police officers. In October 2017, we first reported the tragic circumstances surrounding Arslan Masih’s death. Because the accused were police and that Arslan was a Christian, the authorities were ready to look the other way but... read more
Over 30 years ago, even before the creation of the ACLJ, our Chief Counsel, Jay Sekulow, presented arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Board of Airport Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc . You can listen to that argument here . Jay represented Alan Snyder, a minister for Jews for Jesus, who was told by airport police that he couldn’t distribute free religious literature in the pedestrian walkway of Los Angeles International Airport’s central... read more
In a big victory for America and our ally Israel, and a fitting tribute to an American soldier, one of the most heinous misuses of U.S. tax dollars ever has come to an end. For years, the “pay for slay” program used American aid money to subsidize terrorists at war with Israel. The Palestinian Authority (PA) utilized hundreds of millions of free U.S. tax dollars as it recruited and rewarded new jihadists to murder Americans and Israelis. The American people should not be paying for terrorism. read more
We recently secured an important victory on behalf of a student attending a community college in Oregon when the school rightly recognized his First Amendment right to address curricular assignments from a religious viewpoint. The situation arose when, after multiple back-and-forth communications involving faith, the professor read the student’s latest assignment, an essay on friendship, in which the student alluded to the intimately close friendship one might have as a Christian with Jesus. read more
This week, the ACLJ secured another victory for a church experiencing difficulties in the zoning process. Several weeks ago, Soul Food Café Mission, Inc. (SFCM), a faith-based religious organization, contacted the ACLJ regarding difficulties it was experiencing in obtaining the appropriate zoning approval to operate as a church and food ministry. SFCM reaches out to those hurting and in need with love, compassion, and hope through the sharing of the gospel and by meeting the immediate needs... read more
The ACLJ has secured an important victory on behalf of a Christian student at a university in the West, ensuring that he was able to finish his courses and graduate. With our assistance at a crucial meeting between the student and university officials, the student was able to demonstrate that he had engaged in no wrongdoing and was found not responsible for the allegations against him. Just before Christmas, the student engaged in an in-class debate in which he expressed views supportive of the... read more
For years, the free speech rights of pro-life pregnancy centers have been under vigorous attack. With the aid and support of NARAL Pro-Choice America, state and local governments have been imposing on pro-life centers a requirement that they post a notice saying either that they do not offer abortions, or that the government will pay for eligible women to have an abortion. When New York City tried to compel pro-life centers to post a notice, and make other written and verbal statements, read more
When Hurricanes Irma and Harvey struck Texas and Florida, churches and houses of worship stood on the frontlines of recovery. Yet, when they asked the federal government for support, they refused . Three months ago, we engaged this issue – calling for an end to the discrimination and penalties aimed at churches and other houses of worship. We noted that it was unfair that these institutions be excluded from federal relief funding. Now, the government has changed its tune and ended its... read more
This is the latest installment in a year-end series looking back at a few of the numerous victories by the ACLJ in 2017. After a months long, multistage legal advocacy battle, the ACLJ helped free two Christian pastors who were wrongfully imprisoned in Sudan because of their faith. When pastors Kuwa Shamal and Pastor Hassan Abduraheem were arrested and falsely imprisoned for their Christian faith, we launched a massive legal advocacy campaign cross the globe. The pastors faced possible death... read more