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Dear John,
Can you believe how fast 2019 has gone by?
In just one week, we’ll celebrate Christmas...and if you’re like me, I always look forward to the holiday season as the perfect time to get together with family and friends to live out our faith.
And what better time to live it out loud than right now? After all, people of faith are enjoying more religious freedom than at any point in the last half century.
That’s because 2019 has been a landmark year for religious liberty in America—a special year of monumental achievements that have helped us reclaim our first freedom.
However, as we begin writing the final chapter of 2019, it appears that even “the most wonderful time of the year” is no exception to the ALL-OUT war on faith.
Anti-faith groups and activists remain laser-focused on attacking our constitutional freedoms, and they’re certainly not afraid to violate your rights in more vicious and brazen ways than ever before, even if it means killing the joy and the spirit of happiness during the holidays.
Judging from what we see in headlines today, it’s clear opponents of religious liberty and their Christmas “stalkings” are getting uglier and more personal each year.
In fact, there’s a profound threat to strip away our religious liberty rights in our very own homes—the most sacred and protected space to live out our faith.
Will you go ALL IN to reclaim our First Freedom?
GIVE NOW and maximize your impact thanks to our Year-End $300,000 Challenge Grant.
Just look at what happened to First Liberty clients Jeremy and Kristy Morris from Idaho.
Their homeowner’s association took a chapter right out of the Grinch’s playbook and told them they were prohibited from setting up a Christmas lights display on their own property. At one point, one of the association’s members bluntly stated they were doing so “because someone in this association doesn’t like Christmas.”
Eventually, Jeremy and Kristy had to go to court. They won the jury trial, but a judge overruled the jury and issued a ruling preventing them from decorating their home for Christmas.
Now, First Liberty is fighting at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse the Idaho judge’s decision.
But they haven’t been the only ones who’ve faced anti-religious hostility during the Christmas season. Here are just a few of multiple attacks that have surfaced in the last few weeks:
- An employee of South Sutter Charter School in northern California told Brooklyn Benzel, a 13-year-old eighth grader, she could not perform an instrumental version of “Joy to the World” at her school because the song is “too religious.”
- An out-of-state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union pressured an Arkansas county to remove a Nativity display from the courthouse lawn, despite the fact it’s been a local tradition for at least 50 years.
- An anti-faith group complained that an inflatable Santa Claus with a sign reading “God Bless America” should be removed from an Army base commissary. They claimed the plastic figure was creating “mandatory situations” where soldiers felt “forced to engage in blessings for Jesus Christ.”
- Chisholm Elementary School in Oklahoma dropped Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus from a nativity display after receiving a threatening letter from an infamous group of atheist activists.
The incidents above—and the countless violations we’ve seen in recent years—are proof that hostile groups will twist and exploit the holidays into a time to persecute people of faith.
The stakes have never been higher for religious freedom in America...and though we have our eyes set on what’s to come in 2020, some of the most important tests of freedom of speech and of religious free exercise are occurring precisely during this time.
That’s why I’m counting on YOU, John, to go ALL IN with First Liberty to reclaim religious freedom...RIGHT NOW!
Thanks to our one-of-a-kind network attorney model, you receive $6 as a return on your investment for every $1 you give to First Liberty. This is how your generous support can have a nationwide impact, and it’s how we can be First in the Fight to confront holiday attacks head-on alongside the most elite firms in the country.
With an unparalleled 90% win-rate for 19 consecutive years, First Liberty is the GREATEST HOPE FOR VICTORY to protect your rights this holiday season.
Will you consider donating at this critical moment and help us reach our $2.8M year-end goal?
Yes, I will make a financial contribution today.
Gratefully,
Kelly
Kelly Shackelford, Esq.
President, CEO & Chief Counsel
First Liberty Institute
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