Faith and Freedom Sunday

Faith and Freedom Sunday coordinators originally thought they might have 500 churches praying for religious liberty in the United States on Sunday, Sept. 30. "Well," says Alan Sears, president of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the ministry behind the effort. "Guess what happened on Sept. 11?"

Instead, more than 6,700 churches have pledged to join together in prayer this weekend. "God knew what was going to happen on Sept. 11," says Sears. "None of us had a clue. And here we had this whole thing set up to call people to pray to restore our heritage, to bring back the rule of law.

"We're overwhelmed by the response," Sears adds.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a Christian legal organization that works to protect and defend traditional family values, religious freedom, and the sanctity of human life. It was founded in 1994 by the leaders of 30-plus ministries, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, Larry Burkett of Crown Financial Ministries, D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries, Marlin Maddoux of International Christian Media, Don Wildmon of American Family Association, and William Pew (deceased), a Christian businessman who had a passion for sharing his faith in Christ.

Faith and Freedom Sunday will focus on the religious heritage of the United States, which, according to Sears, is very much forgotten and lost. "People don't have much knowledge of our founding religious principles, so pastors will do an educational sermon, then they will call people to pray for our court system and our whole legal system."

The coordinators chose Sunday, Sept. 30 because it is the day before the United States Supreme Court starts its fall session. "Considering the way Supreme Court decisions influence the culture, it's critical that we lift up the court's next session in prayer," Sears says. Key issues are at stake.

For instance, says the ADF, evangelists in Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, Texas, New York, Montana and South Carolina have been jailed - or threatened with arrest - for passing out free Christian literature on a public sidewalk. Christian student groups across the country have been prevented from holding a Bible club in public school facilities simply because of the content of their religious instruction, while other secular groups are allowed to meet.

"Some will find it hard to believe, but here in the United States a Christian nurse was disciplined because she simply shared the gospel with a patient dying of AIDS who specifically asked for spiritual guidance," Sears says. "Another was reprimanded for not wanting to assist with abortions. We have also seen religious broadcasters threatened with highly discriminatory guidelines proposed by the Federal Communications Commission that were retracted only after a firestorm of protest."

The ADF is therefore calling people of faith to assert themselves, even to the point of filing a lawsuit, to protect their right to worship, pray, evangelize, and otherwise live out their faith.

Law and "justice" have been hotly debated topics since the recent attack on America, says Sears. "One of the things that I thought of with this horrible set of tragedies is the rule of law. Throughout the Bible, God demands justice. He demands that countries have just systems. When a nation denies justice to its people, what happens?

"In these countries where the name of Christ is an illegal thing, where people can't even know about the gospel, where public worship is stopped and oppressed, you just start extrapolating," says Sears. "Why would people have this kind of hate and anger in their heart? Well the whole system in their country denies justice, justice at every level, but particularly in the area of religious liberty. When that is denied, the hearts of men cannot know the truth and they develop the kind of hatred we have seen."

Next year, ADF coordinators hope to extend Faith and Freedom Sunday to include prayers for religious freedom around the world. Bill Bright said in an ADF video that the United States has been centered on evangelism for the last 40 years. "But we were silent in the legal area. And we let them take our rights away. America is the country that essentially finances evangelism. If we allow religious freedom to be eradicated here, what happens to the rest of the world?" Bright asked.

A few congregations already held their Faith and Freedom Sundays this past week due to variations in church calendars. Abilene Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga. is one of them. Pastor William F. Harrell says it was a huge success. They invited Dr. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention, to speak.

According to Harrell, Land emphasized the importance of having faith in God and defending our rights, "not only from people outside the United States but also people from within our country who would limit our freedoms and who abuse freedom."

Abilene Baptist had already signed up to pray before Sept. 11, says Harrell, "because I think we need this kind of emphasis in our churches more and more. And if religious leaders and preachers don't lead their people to be people of faith, and godly citizens, who's going to lead them to do it?"

Sears referred once more to the large number of participants: "My vision was a lot smaller than God's as usual, and I'm just humbled. Prayer is the communication system He set up between us. I don't know what God will do with this beyond this year, but we're going to redouble our efforts. Our goal is to grow this thing, to get as many churches in America every year recognizing and praying for this special purpose on this day."


For more information on Faith and Freedom Sunday, please call 1-800-TELL-ADF (1-800-835-5233).