Dear Friends,
I hope that the recent holidays were spent with family and friends, and in remembrance of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to give you a quick summary of how your continued support and God’s faithfulness have played an integral role in PJI’s many victories and important cases. With over 100 active cases, here are just some of the highlights of our growth and our team’s tireless efforts.
Churches
A major feature of our case work is on behalf of people of faith and their places of worship.
- Closed a settlement win for churches unjustly shut down in California.
- Precedent setting victory for New Harvest Christian Fellowship with the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals.
- PJI is representing several churches in the San Diego area in federal court since thegovernment raided and shut down a church preschool because it honored parents’ wishes in regards to the masking of their toddlers.
- PJI Oregon secured a settlement for a pastor and small church whose request to renovate a portion of the church into a parsonage had been unjustifiably denied at the state level.
- In Washington State, our attorneys continue to defend a church that is being aggressively sued by Planned Parenthood for hosting worship services near its clinic.
- In Pennsylvania, our staff attorney is actively engaging with churches seeking to protect themselves from the so-Called Respect for Marriage Act.
PJI Growth
- PJI opened new offices this year with attorneys now in Arizona, Idaho, and North Carolina. This makes an astonishing 27 offices across America!
Religious Asylum
- PJI is representing dozens of believers from around the world seeking safety in the U.S. who have experienced intense persecution. We recently secured the release of several believers who escaped from the Taliban but then were detained in the Middle East for more than a year. They are now free!
Public Policy
- The PJI Center for Public Policy was very active this year, especially in California. We were able to play a major role in defeating anti-parent and anti-freedom legislation, and in limiting the effects of other terrible bills.
Individual Religious Freedoms
- For the first time in our history, PJI is undertaking major class action suits on behalf of large groups of employees whose religious accommodation rights were violated on a massive scale by public employers. We have active cases for employees and students that were denied religious accommodation in Texas, Indiana, New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Oregon. In addition, multiple cases have already been settled on clients’ behalf with positive outcomes.
- PJI Florida is heading to the Florida Supreme Court in an important case on behalf of an evangelist who was criminally charged for sharing the gospel with students outside a high school.
- In Michigan, PJI is battling for Christian transplant patients who were wrongfully removed from an organ recipient list for declining the ineffective COVID-19 vaccines.
- In Iowa, PJI filed suit on behalf of a jail administrator who was unlawfully fired for online posts in which he discussed the Second Coming of Christ and related topics.
- In Washington State, PJI is in court on behalf of a Korean women’s spa which was ordered to allow a biological male to disrobe and be naked in front of mothers and their daughters.
- In Oregon, our staff attorney scored a victory and settlement on behalf of a teacher and administrator whose school district had suspended and then fired them for online posts seeking common-sense solutions to transgender activist demands.
- In South Florida, our staff attorney has recently filed an important federal lawsuit against Miami-Dade County for firing an employee whose online commentary about transgender activism simply mirrored the concerns of millions of Americans.
- In Northern California, we have just finished our briefing at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a peaceful evangelist who simply sought to hand out gospel tracts at the state fairgrounds.
Once again, the above is just a fraction of all that PJI attorneys have been able to accomplish this year, and the battles in which we are actively engaged, thanks to your help. I hope this both encourages and motivates you to keep fighting with us! Right now, we have the biggest opportunity in our 25-year history: a matching grant up to $350,000. This means that some of our most generous donors are inviting you to join them and have vowed to double donations. Your year-end gifts (extending for a short time into January), will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to that $350,000 amount.
I can’t overstate how important it is that we build on our recent wins and momentum, at a time when our country so desperately needs us. No other similar organization is doing what PJI is doing—putting attorneys on the ground from coast to coast. Without question, your donations go further and bless more believers, churches and ministries than anywhere else.
Our attorneys and staff continue to live sacrificially so that every dollar counts. Can I ask you to take a moment right now and write a check or make your online donation, for the largest possible amount that you can afford? Keep in mind that if you can send us $100, it will be doubled by our matching grant to $200. If you can send $1,000 it will become $2,000. And in addition, all new monthly donor commitments, or increases in monthly commitments, will also be doubled for the entire year! We can’t pass up this opportunity!
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On behalf of our thousands of clients, our dedicated staff, and my family, we wish you a blessed and meaningful New Year.
May God bless you richly as you give to His work!
Running the Race,
Brad Dacus, Esq.
Founder and President of Pacific Justice Institute
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