Liberty Institute

The Liberty Institute is a conservative Christian advocacy and legal defense organization in Texas, USA founded in 1972 under the name Free Market Foundation.[1][2] [3]

Overview

It was founded in 1997 by a Texas coordinator from the Rutherford Institute.[1] It is linked to Focus on the Family.[4] It supports Christian religious activities in schools.[5][6][7][8][9]

It has grown rapidly since adding a legal division, and has campaigned for candy-cane pens with a religious theme to be allowed in public schools, to stop a report on an investigation into Sarah Palin being published, and filed numerous legal cases in Texas courts concerning First Amendment and religious issues.[10] [11]

In 2011 it filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs alleging that the department had censored prayers and the use of the words 'God' or 'Jesus'. The Department's response was that its regulations stated that there is no censorship but that the religious preferences of the families of the deceased are respected and that at times families have complained about volunteers and the Veterans of Foreign Wars had included religious references in services even though the families had requested that there be none. The Department's response said "Defendants believe that it should be the family’s choice and decision what to have read in accordance with their faith tradition, if any, because it would be improper for others to impose their own religious preferences on a Veteran’s family, especially during this meaningful event.".[12]

References

  1. ^ a b Ann Southworth, 'Lawyers of the right: professionalizing the conservative coalition', Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 30;196 [1] [2]
  2. ^ Cal Jillson, Texas Politics: Governing the Lone Star State, Routledge, 2011, p. 60 [3]
  3. ^ "History". :Liberty Institute. http://www.libertylegal.org/about.php?category=9&article=17. Retrieved 15 August 2011. 
  4. ^ http://link.focusonthefamily.com/email/CRM/06/ppu_20110610.html
  5. ^ Robert Murray Thomas, God in the classroom: religion and America's public schools, Praeger, 2007, p. 199 [4]
  6. ^ Joshua Dunn (ed.), Martin R. West (ed.), From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary's Role in American Education, Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2009, p. 196 [5]
  7. ^ Denyse O'Leary, By Design or By Chance? The Growing Controversy on the Origins of Life in the Universe, Augsburg Books, 2004, p. 136 [6]
  8. ^ Mike S. Adams, Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor, Harbor House, 2004 [7]
  9. ^ David Limbaugh, Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christians, Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2003, p. 114 [8]
  10. ^ Haag, Matthew (24 July 2010). "Plano's Liberty Institute expands reach from candy cane pens to Palin, prayer, cross on federal land". Dallas Morning News. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/plano/headlines/20100724-plano_s-liberty-institute-expands-reach-from-candy-cane-pens-to-palin-prayer-cross-on-federal-land.ece. Retrieved 15 August 2011. 
  11. ^ Byrd, Don. "VA Responds to Houston Cemetery Allegations". Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. http://www.bjconline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4540&Itemid=134. Retrieved 15 August 2011. 
  12. ^ Wise, Lindsay (uly 18, 2011). "VA denies censorship at Houston National Cemetery". Houston Chronical. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7658895.html. Retrieved 15 August 2011. 

External links