American Freedom Coalition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Freedom Coalition (AFC) is a group which seeks to unite conservatives on the state level to work toward common goals. According to its president it had 300,000 members in 1988. [1] According to the International Relations Center's informational website Rightweb: "Among the values promoted by the AFC are a strong defense, opposition to abortion and pornography, anticommunism, religious freedom but with an emphasis on including "moral and religious standards" in government and other social institutions, the right to own property, and minimal governmental interference in the marketplace."[2]
Its president is Robert Grant, who is also founder and chairman of the lobby group Christian Voice. Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference served as AFC vice-president until his death in 1990, and two former Congressmen (Richard Ichord and Bob Wilson) are cochairmen. Other national officers of American Freedom Coalition are former U.S. Congressmen Billy Lee Evans, Walter H. Judd, John LeBoutillier, Eldon Rudd, and Roger H. Zion; retired U.S. Senator Carl T. Curtis, former Defense Intelligence Agency head Gen. Daniel Graham; former senior policy adviser to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Joseph Churba ; and former U.S. ambassador to Honduras and Colombia Phillip Sanchez.[3]
The coalition, while independent, receives support from the Unification Church. Grant, whose organization cooperates with organizations of the Unification Movement such as CAUSA and the American Constitution Committee, defends his organization from charges of a "conspiracy" or "secret links" with the Unification Church, maintaining that the AFC "is not a church coalition, nor does it seek to emphasize the concerns or doctrines of any particular church."
Nonetheless, some evangelical Christian leaders are uncomfortable with the group because of the Unification Church link.
