Broken Engagement: Faith & Justice Summer 2018

FAITH JUNE 2018

JUSTICE Vo l u m e X I , I s s u e 2

Michigan city officials overreach in trying to force a farmer to forego his faith

Broken Engagement Church Alliance Unites Congregations Facing Legal Issues PAGE 5

John Stonestreet: Christians’ Responsibility To A Changing Culture PAGE 17

Michael Medved: God’s “Invisible Hand" In U.S. History PAGE 21

Alliance Defending Freedom

CONTENTS COVER STORY June 2018 Vol. XI, Issue 2

11 Broken Engagement

Michigan City Officials Overreach in Trying To Force a Farmer To Forego His Faith

Editor Chris Potts

Senior Writer

COLUMNS

Chris Potts

2 Minutes with Michael

Bruce Ellefson Jonathan Marshall

Art Director/Photography

The Second Time Around

Contributors

3 News & Quick Takes

Case Updates from Around the World

Michael Farris Tom Intorcio Saul Juarez Charles Snow John Stonestreet

5 Special Feature

Church Alliance Unites Congregations Facing Legal Issues

9 Alliance Profile

Tim Newton of the ADF Honor Corps

Facebook.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom Twitter: @ADF_Magazine John Stonestreet

17 Opinion

Christians Can’t Let Themselves Be Irrelevant to a Changing Culture

19 My View

How Illinois and the City Of Elgin Ganged Up on Four Innocent Men

21 Q&A

Michael Medved on Seeing the “Invisible Hand” in America’s History — and Destiny

Instagram.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom YouTube.com/AllianceDefends

Questions or comments on this issue?

Email Editor@ADFlegal.org.

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Referral to websites not produced by Alliance Defending Freedom is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement.

Michael Farris answers questions from reporters on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, following oral arguments in the NIFLA case on March 20.

Minutes With Michael

The Second Time Around

By Michael P. Farris

Thirty-three years is a long time between Super Bowls.

S

tanding to argue the case of National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra on March 20 felt a little like that. The last (and only other) case I argued at the U.S. Supreme Court was in 1985. Happily, we won that one. But in the three decades since, I’ve started a college, raised six more children, and become the grandfather of 22 wonderful kids.

I’ve also argued a lot of other legal cases in a lot of other courts —but, of course, the Supreme Court is different … as the Super Bowl is different from any other football game.

So, when the nine justices filed into the room that cold, rainy spring morning, my heart was beating about as fast as any heart can. I opened my mouth, nervous, fully prepared to be interrupted before I finished the first 30 seconds of my remarks.

B

ut nothing was asked until I’d finished my opening. By the time questions started coming, I was no longer nervous. Instead, in quiet recesses of my mind, even as I respectfully volleyed with the justices over the finer parts of the laws in question, I was keenly conscious of two things: One, I was thoroughly prepared. Not one question really surprised me. Thirty-two years before, I walked into that same courtroom with very little rehearsal, too young and inexperienced to know how much I didn’t know. This time, I went through 11 external moot courts (simulated arguments before a roomful of fellow attorneys) with lawyers outside Alliance Defending Freedom, and even more internal run-throughs with our own legal team.

In fact, the day of the actual oral arguments, I met at 7:30 with three ADF attorneys who grilled me once more, before I headed for the court.

I felt ready for anything the justices might ask.

And two, I was deeply aware of how many, many people were praying for me in those moments. Tens, even hundreds of thousands of people— family, friends, churches, fellow attorneys, the staffs at countless pregnancy care centers nationwide. That’s a remarkable feeling—you can almost sense the Holy Spirit carrying you along on that gracious tide of prayer.

WATCH: You’ll find more

coverage of Mike Farris’

day at the Supreme Court at ADFlegal.org/fj­— Farris

A

t the close of arguments, as the justices filed out, I turned to see the beaming faces of our ADF friends and attorneys, who’d done so much to get me ready for this moment. My friend Jordan Lorence, who was with me in court all those long years ago. My wife, and my mom— who celebrated her 88th birthday the day before the argument—who were also there in 1985. I thought of all those faithful, praying people.

And in that moment—as in every moment since—I felt very hopeful for the outcome of NIFLA.

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News & Quick Takes Case Updates from Around the World

San Francisco, California ADF represents March for Life’s interests in the case of State of California v. Azar, a legal challenge brought by that state and others against exemptions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion-pill mandate.

All Americans should have the freedom to peacefully live and work consistently with their deeply held convictions without fear of government punishment.

‘‘

ADF Senior Counsel Greg Baylor

Cincinnati, Ohio Miami University of Ohio has agreed to change unconstitutional policies that authorized officials at its Hamilton campus to require students to post signs “warning” others about their group’s pro-life display. ADF attorneys filed a federal lawsuit against the university on behalf of the campus chapter of Students for Life; in a settlement, the university has agreed to revise its policies to respect the free speech rights of all students, regardless of their viewpoint.

Last year, Students for Life sued school officials after they shut down the group’s annual “Cemetery of the Innocents” display, claiming it might cause “emotional trauma” for those viewing it.

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A federal district court ruled in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v.

United States Department of Health and Human Services that Massachusetts is not able to sue to challenge recent HHS rules that exempt pro-life organizations from the Affordable Care Act’s abortion-pill mandate. (The mandate— adopted by the Obama administration— forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs under threat of heavy financial penalties.)

Under the Trump administration, the HHS has issued interim rules exempting nonprofit religious and pro-life organizations from the mandate.

Massachusetts had hoped the federal court would force these now-exempted groups to comply with the original mandate. ADF attorneys filed a friendof-the-court brief on behalf of March for Life and Dordt College in Iowa.

The Trump administration’s HHS has issued new rules exempting employers who—based on their religious or moral convictions—oppose being required to provide contraceptives or abortion pills in their health plans. California— later joined by Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Virginia—filed a federal lawsuit to challenge these exemptions. With the help of ADF attorneys, March for Life intervened in the case to help defend the new rules.

On December 21, 2017, a federal judge granted the states’ request to block implementation of the new federal exemptions. In January, ADF attorneys appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and in April submitted their opening brief, asking the court to reinstate the new HHS rules.

Boston, Massachusetts

Atlanta, Georgia In February and March, ADF attorneys with the Center for Academic Freedom filed two separate lawsuits against Georgia’s Kennesaw State University (KSU). In the first, ADF represents Ratio Christi, a Christian apologetics organization. When members applied for a permit to host pro-life displays, administrators relegated the group to a tiny speech zone that comprises less than 0.08 percent of the 405-acre campus.

Meanwhile, administrators gave preferential treatment and access to an LGBT group, allowing it to reserve the entire “Campus Green,” including the portion denied to Ratio Christi. The ADF lawsuit challenges the university’s discriminatory policies, which give officials unlimited discretion to grant or deny permits, even on the basis of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

In the second lawsuit, ADF seeks to secure equal access to funds and facilities for Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), after KSU imposed unconstitutional security fees on the group for a March 7 event featuring conservative Katie Pavlich.

Strasbourg, France Russia introduced an “anti-terrorism law” in 2016 and then cited it in closing down all Jehovah’s Witness centers and the religious group’s administrative center in that country. ADF International has filed an intervention at the European Court of Human Rights, supporting the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ case and calling for religious freedom in Russia, in keeping with that country’s constitution. The implications of this case could have far-reaching impact on Christian pastors and missionaries—already under state investigation in Russia—as well as for the court’s 47 member states.

United Nations, New York The plight of women living in rural areas was the focus of this year’s session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations.

Washington, D.C. In February, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys sent a letter to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., calling for a thorough investigation into the apparent misappropriation of donations made to Love Saxa, a pro-family student organization. The letter details how the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university systematically took private donations intended for Love Saxa and illegally deposited them into the accounts of at least two other student organizations, including an LGBT student organization.

Each year, the Commission issues an influential document assessing that status, and ADF International played a leading role in keeping this year’s document free from radical language on abortion “rights” and other references antithetical to national laws protecting life. ADF International also worked to keep the Commission focused on “how to best help women in dire living situations overcome poverty, violence, and other hardships,” says Elyssa Koren, Director of UN Advocacy for ADF International.

The ministry’s on-the-ground work with allied lawyers in India has verified that women and girls there face extreme challenges to the right to life—including an issue impacting millions of women in rural areas: sex-selective abortions.

“Girls are killed before they are born for the simple fact that they are not boys,” Koren says. “Mothers are being pressured into having abortions because, in rural areas, boys are still valued more than girls.” ADF International urged Member States to bring attention to the real issues facing rural women and girls, instead of focusing on controversial agendas that polarize the debate and infringe on national sovereignty.

The result was an outcome document from this major conference that achieved significant wins for pro-life forces at the UN.

San Jose, Costa Rica In January, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights claimed that Latin American countries were obligated under the American Convention of Human Rights to 1) legalize same-sex marriage and 2) allow citizens to change their name based on their self-proclaimed gender identity without due process—even though these actions are not protected under the American Convention.

ADF International attorneys are coordinating with allies within various national parliaments to provide training on how best to protect the longstanding regard for marriage in their constitutions.

A public university is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, but that marketplace can’t function properly if officials can charge a group … just because they don’t like what the group is saying.

‘‘

ADF Legal Counsel Travis Barham 4

Special Feature

Church Alliance Unites Congregations Facing Legal Issues

By Chris Potts

“If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

1 Corinthians 12:26

L

ike any good pastor, Jeremy Tuinstra felt a compassionate concern for the underprivileged of his community.

Trouble was, there weren’t that many underprivileged in his community—at least, not in the immediate vicinity.

So, Pastor Tuinstra and his Redemption Community Church congregation decided to move their premises to a place where the need seemed greater: the downtown area of nearby Laurel, Maryland. Buying property there was not inexpensive, but the church had a plan.

Redemption bought and renovated a storefront building, with the dream of converting it into a not-forprofit coffee shop, relaxing and affordable enough for those who carry heavy problems and light wallets. (The church would donate any proceeds from the venture to other local ministries.) Then, on Sundays, church members planned to just rearrange the furniture and convert their café into a worship center.

Trouble was, Laurel city officials didn’t take to the idea.

They began aggressively blocking the church’s efforts at every turn, first rezoning the entire area to exclude not-forprofit businesses, then rezoning it again to make churches jump through multiple legal hoops in order to be authorized to hold services. When Redemption tried to circumvent all that by making the shop a for-profit business (closed Sundays for services), the city lowered the boom: a cease-and-desist order that threatened to charge the congregation $250 a day—if they used their own building.

That was when Pastor Tuinstra decided he was glad he’d joined the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Church Alliance.

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Pastor Jeremy Tuinstra’s efforts to lead his church in an outreach to the underprivileged drew surprising opposition from local city officials.

We can, and we should, stand together as the Body of Christ.

‘‘

ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley

The Church Alliance empowers churches of any denomination and any size to serve freely, proclaim freely, and live out the Gospel freely.

‘‘

ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley

T

he Church Alliance has penetrated many complicated stories and tangled city code issues to identify the way our freedom to worship Jesus has been threatened,” says Tuinstra. The Alliance, he adds, provided “legal options when we felt up against the wall, a voice when we felt devoiced, and legitimate standing when we felt pressured to submit to city threats.”

ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley, Director of the Center for Christian Ministries, says that’s a crucial assistance now available to countless pastors and congregations all over the country.

“The Church Alliance empowers churches of any denomination and any size to serve freely, proclaim freely, and live out the Gospel freely,” he says.

For years, ADF has worked to help churches struggling with encroachments on their religious freedom—including unconstitutional state regulation (as in Pastor Tuinstra’s situation), zoning laws, equal access violations, and tax exemption challenges. But with the Church Alliance, Stanley says, ADF has been able to expand those resources.

Now, Stanley says, “We have more capacity to confront those issues and really gather the Church together in a unified front, to protect religious liberty so that the Gospel can go forward.”

The “united front” aspect is especially important, he says, as U.S. churches face an increasingly hostile popular culture and more aggressive opposition from government at all levels. “

WATCH: Learn more about the work and benefits of

the Church Alliance at ADFlegal.org/fj—Church.

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Is your church prepared?

MEMBERS RECEIVE:

A religious liberty audit, including review of your church’s organizational documents.

—

Direct access to religious liberty lawyers to answer questions and offer legal advice.

—

Legal representation in cases involving your church’s religious liberty.

FIND FOCUSED AND PRACTICAL LEGAL HELP:

ADFChurchAlliance.org

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We have more capacity to confront those issues and really gather the Church together in a unified front, to protect religious liberty so that the Gospel can go forward.

‘‘

ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley

“At any given time, we’re dealing with about 50 different issues,” he says.

“Churches are being marginalized, they're being challenged, their religious liberty is not being respected—not just by the culture, but by people within government who have the ability to make laws and to enforce those laws. We see that on a daily basis.” And, he adds, they’re seeing it all over the country.

“These issues are rural, suburban, and urban,” Stanley says. “It’s not confined to a geographic location. It is really pervasive and systemic.

“Which is why what happens to a church in Washington State will affect me in Florida. What happens to the church in Columbia, Missouri, will affect me in Texas. We are all united together as the Body of Christ, so we can, and we should, stand together as the Body of Christ.”

I

n America’s changing legal and social culture, “the Number One thing many churches don’t understand is that religious freedom issues are not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when,’” says Christiana Holcomb, ADF Legal Counsel with the Center for Christian Ministries. “There's a general expectation that, ‘Well, that might happen to somebody else, but surely not to my small congregation.’ And that simply isn’t the case. Religious freedom disputes are no respecter of persons, as we can see with Redemption — a tiny congregation of 15-20 people.”

In many of those disputes, the best offense is a good defense. Congregations that join the Church Alliance,

Holcomb says, benefit from “having a constitutional law attorney with significant experience in religious freedom review their bylaws, governing policies, and documents— everything from their statement of faith to employment policies to facility-use policies—and ensure that the church is in the best legal position it can be to defend its religious freedoms.”

In its first six months, Stanley says, the Church Alliance has seen rapid growth, as more and more churches coastto-coast awaken to the hard realities of the current culture.

“Especially with small churches, where pastors often really don't have legal counsel within their church or know where to turn, we’re seeing a real, palpable sense of relief when they understand that they can call on the resources of ADF at any time, and have access to that, when, before, they weren’t able to—just because we didn't have the capacity to support that at ADF. And thank God, now we do.”

VISIT: ADFChurchAlliance.org to learn more

about how your church could benefit from the resources of the ADF Church Alliance.

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Alliance Profile

Tim Newton

To be a member of the Alliance Defending Freedom “Honor Corps,” an Allied Attorney volunteers to contribute at least 450 hours of pro bono work—that’s one full work day a week for a year— to clients mired in ADF issues. You don’t do that without … well, defending a lot of freedom.

T

im Newton earned his place in the honor ranks arguing on behalf of public officials and employees facing charges of workplace discrimination, homeschool students and homeless shelters, citizens wanting their birthright liberties and a refugee from China yearning to embrace those same freedoms. He never set out to give tens of thousands of dollars in free legal help to his fellow Christians.

“I’ve just tried to help out where and when I could,” he says.

E

arly on, Tim wasn’t too crazy about the idea of being a lawyer. He started out in psychology, but found it unfulfilling.

He knew he had “a certain aptitude” for the law, but “was kind of afraid of it, Tim Newton early on.” He enjoyed reading about America’s Founders, though, and recognized the key role attorneys played in shaping the nation. “I started to realize,” he says, “what the foundations of the law were in this country.”

He began to build a new career on those foundations.

Law school at the University of South Carolina led, in 2006, to a position with Murphy & Grantland, P.A., a Columbia, S.C. firm, where Tim has specialized in insurance litigation. His work on a brief defending public prayer brought him into contact with ADF. He attended an ADF Academy in 2012, listening with many of his peers as ADF announced that the

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Supreme Court had upheld the Affordable Care Act, with its disturbing implications for religious freedom.

“That was a blow,” he remembers, but like many others, he rose to the challenge by pledging his commitment to work alongside the ministry as an Allied Attorney.

After that, the opportunities to defend Christians being hounded for their faith quickly accumulated.

T

here have been setbacks and triumphs. Tim has made something of a name for himself defending the rights of homeschoolers, advocating successfully for students who’ve wanted to join public school football teams, enroll in their ROTC programs, and play in their orchestras. But victory for the girl who hoped to play cello in the band came too late; by the time a judge ruled in her favor, she was in her final high school semester, and ready to move on. “That one was tough,” Tim says.

The timing worked out better for Ting Xue, a Christian from China (where he was a member of a secret house church) who applied for asylum in the U.S. to escape the brutal religious persecution in his own country. After asylum was initially denied, Tim wrote an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court that underscored “the severity of the persecution … and what these Chinese Christians were actually facing.” Xue was thereafter granted asylum by the U.S. government.

Tim says American Christians are facing growing threats to their own religious freedom, due mainly to their reluctance to defend those liberties. It’s why he’s giving his life to that defense.

“Obviously, we can’t prevent everything,” he says, “but being out there and doing our part can improve the situation in a measureable way. I just try to do the best I can, to my ability.”

S U P P O R T T H E F U T U R E O F A D F.

“

”

Victory Comes Down to a Matter of Supplies.

–Alan Sears, ADF Founder

Twenty-five years ago, more than 30 Christian leaders came together to found Alliance Defending Freedom to keep the doors open for the Gospel and to protect your right to freely live out your faith. Over that past quarter-of-a-century, ADF has been blessed with a rich history of commitment to living out the Gospel and serving God and the Body of Christ to preserve our God-given freedoms for generations to come.

As part of that commitment, after years of prayer and intensive planning, the ADF Governing Board of Directors approved the launch of the ADF Foundation (“Foundation”) in 2016.

The mission of the Foundation is to build and manage an endowment for the ministry of ADF, to ensure that it can remain strong to advocate for religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family. As God blesses this endowment, ADF will have more financial security, flexibility, and means to maintain its operations and respond to opportunity without impacting the annual budget or needed reserves. What does this mean for you, our dearest ministry friends?

It means that most future donations made to ADF by you can be allocated to the ultimate mission of ADF, while enhancing our services and programs to aggressively fight for our freedoms.

As ADF Founder Alan Sears reminds us, “Victory comes down to a matter of supplies.”

While we know that only through dependence on Christ (John 15:5) can we achieve ultimate victory, it is critical for ADF to have adequate

supplies for the battle, as no army has ever emerged victorious by sitting on the sidelines.

As Alan has said, “For too long, we lost by default, by not showing up with the resources needed to win.” The objective of the ADF Foundation is to ensure that the pipeline of supplies remains fully filled, so ADF can remain engaged for victory.

WITH THIS ENDOWMENT IN PLACE, ADF CAN WALK INTO COURTROOMS AROUND THE WORLD WITH FULL CONFIDENCE, while also expanding its services to ensure that future generations will enjoy the right to freely and boldly live out their faith.

Would you please prayerfully consider your commitment to secure a future of freedom for those yet to come? Whether it be through a legacy gift or an outright gift, as God directs, your generosity will make an eternal impact on lives across the globe. For more information, please contact the ADF Foundation at 1-844233-6692 or visit the ADF Foundation website: ADFFoundation.org.

D O N AT E N OW B Y C H E C K O R C R E D I T C A R D : 1 - 8 4 4 - 2 3 3 - 6 6 9 2 | P. O . B o x 1 2 1 3 0 , S c o t t s d a l e , A Z 8 5 2 6 7 10

Cover Story

Broken Engagement East Lansing officials overreach in trying to force a farmer to forego his faith

By Chris Potts

E

ven allowing for the mosquitoes and humidity, late summer is a grand time for farmers in south-central Michigan.

The blueberries and cherries are picked, the peaches and apples are being harvested, and the pumpkins are nearly ready for autumn pies and jack-o-lanterns.

Diana Tennes was exactly where she likes to be on an August weekend—working her family’s booth at the East Lansing Farmer’s Market. The Country Mill booth is a popular place during the summer-long market season, teeming with long-time customers who know exactly how good the farm’s products are. The Tenneses’ fresh doughnuts, cider, and apple butter are much in demand, and they sell the only organic apples in the area. Children can’t get enough of the apple cider slushies Diana and her booth crew keep on hand.

In fact, the Tenneses themselves are well-near as beloved as their foodstuffs. Over the last 15 years, Country Mill’s owners—Diana’s brother-in-law Steve and his wife Bridget— have become a fixture of the community. In the autumn, they offer families hayrides and corn mazes, cider and doughnuts. Schoolchildren regularly tour the farm, learning where the best-tasting stuff on their dinner plates comes from. The farm hosts birthday parties, church events, and weddings.

The Tenneses have also established a reputation as a charitable family. Last year, at their annual “Pick A Peck For People” event, church and scout groups harvested some 10,000 pounds of apples in just four hours for the local foodbank. Active in civic groups and at their local Catholic church, Steve and Bridget coach youth basketball and soccer teams and are widely recognized for their generous treatment of migrant farm workers, who live on the farm rent-free.

Indeed, Country Mill and its owners have been so popular that East Lansing city officials posted their enthusiasm for the farm on its Facebook page, and the Tenneses enjoyed a standing

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God has spoken to me through this, showing me not to be afraid of being rejected or misunderstood …

‘‘

D i a n a Te n n e s

invitation to participate in the city’s farmer’s market—as well as a growing number of requests from other markets throughout their part of the state.

“It’s positive for the farm,” Diana says. “Customers see that it’s a family business, and they get to know us and what we do. We love our customers and they’ve loved us.”

But that happy engagement with the community was about to change. Diana’s phone rang. It was the City of East Lansing’s Parks and Recreation director—the man in charge of the farmer’s market. “I would like for you to clear up a rumor,” he said. His voice sounded oddly formal.

What came next would reverberate throughout the Tenneses’ tight-knit community—and raise serious questions about the nature of freedom in America today.

B

ridget Tennes grew up in Nebraska, in a family of ranchers, but she knew—and announced—early on that one day, she would marry a farmer. She met him through ROTC in college. She attended St. Mary’s and became an army nurse; Steve went to nearby Notre Dame and became an engineering officer for the Marine Corps.

They’d been dating for six months when she was transferred to Hawaii, and he moved several mountains of military red tape to join her there.

“God’s hand was in it,” Bridget says.

When the two captains emerged from their respective services (she was promoted first, she likes to remind him), they came home to the farm Steve was raised on, some 22 miles outside East Lansing. Soon after, Steve’s father passed leadership of the property to the couple, who continued to put the “family” in family farm.

“It’s a great place to raise kids,” Steve says. Each of his and Bridget’s six young children has a section of the farm in their own name—that’s three apple orchards, one cherry orchard, and two blueberry patches. Like most farm youngsters, they have been raised to work alongside their parents, helping not only with the crops and the usual chores, but setting up chairs for the weddings and learning to work the cash register at the farmer’s market booth. They also have a front porch seat from which to appreciate their parents’ commitment to the community.

“You form relationships with the people who come here,” Bridget says. Sharing the farm’s resources and ambiance “makes this other people’s farm, too. They may not have ‘Grandpa’s farm’ anymore, but they have this one, and it’s beautiful to see local kids moving over and under the trees … to see whole families together, building a sense of service. Learning ‘this is what it means to give back.’”

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You put your beliefs out there — come out and say, ‘This is who we are, and this is what we believe’ — you put a bullseye on yourselves.

‘‘

S t eve Te n n e s

The Tenneses tend some 20,000 apple trees on 120 acres, but their income is considerably boosted by the 40plus weddings they host on the farm each year. Because of their religious beliefs, they do not host same-sex ceremonies.

Family and friends—some of whom identify as LGBT—had long warned them of the dangers of making that distinction in the current political climate.

But Steve and Bridget’s beliefs stem from deep faith convictions. So, they “prayed and hoped for the best,” and after someone posted on Facebook asking them about their religious beliefs on marriage and wedding services, Steve wrote an honest and polite reply: “Due to our personal religious beliefs, we do not participate in the celebration of a same-sex union.

We have and will continue to respectfully direct wedding inquiries to another mid-Michigan orchard that has more experience in hosting same-sex weddings. We welcome all customers for our other activities and products on the farm. We have friends, family, and business associates in the LBGT community. We respect other people’s beliefs and we can only hope that others will respect ours.”

As it turned out, not everyone did.

Taking particular offense at the Tenneses’ position was the city who, on the same Facebook page, was on record as endorsing their farm and its products: East Lansing.

The mayor directed his city’s Parks and Recreation director to confirm the Tenneses’ policy—and, if they weren’t willing to reverse it, to disinvite them from the local farmer’s market.

That led to the phone call to Diana, who sets up and runs the Country Mill booth in five local communities, including East Lansing. She, in turn, contacted her brotherin-law, who was shocked to find that the nearby city would attempt to dictate his religious beliefs … and the policies of a business more than 20 miles outside its legal jurisdiction.

“You put your beliefs out there—come out and say, ‘This is who we are, and this is what we believe’—you put a bullseye on yourselves, which I didn’t realize,” Steve says.

“You hear about these kinds of things happening, but it’s not real. You can live quietly, and do good things, and never realize what’s going on.”

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R

ealization came quickly, once East Lansing officials turned up the pressure. Despite the city’s clear desire for Country Mill to drop out of the farmer’s market, the Tenneses continued to set up their booth. They could hardly afford not to, with a whole crop of peaches picked and threatening to rot, unsold. They kept coming back for the remaining few weekends of the season, receiving some hostile phone calls but no formal complaints.

Steve and Bridget did decide to stop hosting weddings for a while, considering how best to explain their business policy to the community. But as ongoing communications with the city made it clear it was not their policy, but their beliefs officials objected to, the Tenneses decided to begin offering their wedding services again. Their business, after all, is also their home.

“We live on the farm,” Steve says. “It’s a family business, and we all live at the family business.” City officials, he says, basically told him, “You can believe what you want—you just can’t live it out.” But “there’s a word for that, when you say one thing and live another. It’s called hypocrite.

Bridget Tennes

The financial costs of standing up to the government can easily destroy a small family business – and the emotional cost can destroy a family.

‘‘

S t eve Te n n e s

“We don’t just compartmentalize our beliefs to a worship service in our church on a Sunday,” he says. More than that, Steve and Bridget want their children to understand the importance of not compromising their faith—no matter what it costs them.

“It would have been far easier to take people’s money, but that would not have let us teach our children our beliefs,” Steve says. “In our faith, the last thing that occurs in our [Mass] every week is that we are encouraged to go out and live our faith and share the Word.” That means having to say ‘no’ to some things, he tells his children. “But to say, ‘We can’t host your ceremony’—that doesn’t mean ‘we don’t love you.’”

“These are life lessons I never thought I’d have to teach my kids so young,” Bridget says. But as news spread, and her children began to come home wounded and confused by the taunts and accusations of some of their peers, she found herself asking hard questions of her own.

“It’s one thing when it’s just Steve and I, but when your kids are being attacked, too … what’s your point of faith? Are you going to hide, or are you going to stand for Him no matter what?”

She and Steve soon faced the disapproval and rejection of some of their own friends and family.

“It’s strange when people who don’t even know us say, ‘I support you,’” Bridget says, “while people who do know us will not.”

“There are people that just want to tear you down because you’re a Christian,” Steve says, “and sometimes, it’s people you know. It’s humbling.”

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hat winter, East Lansing officials went about changing their farmer’s market guidelines. Under the new directives, no business owner was allowed to decline services for certain reasons, or to post any statement indicating that potential customers would be “unwelcome” because of certain characteristics. As a result, no business—even one based outside the city limits—would be permitted to participate in the market if it operated in a way consistent with Christian beliefs on marriage … or even publicly held and affirmed those beliefs.

Suddenly, some school tours stopped coming to the farm. Nearby Michigan State University—a reliable customer for more than a decade—canceled its monthly orders. And for the first time in years, Country Mill was not invited to participate in the East Lansing Farmer’s Market.

“The farmer’s market allows our family to act as ambassadors for Country Mill,” Steve says. “It’s another way we engage the community, to let people learn about the farm.

To say we can’t come not only hurts our bottom line, but inhibits our ability to interact with people.”

It was time, he knew, to seek legal help. He contacted Alliance Defending Freedom, where even Legal Counsel Kate Anderson, a veteran of the ministry’s Center for Conscience Initiatives, was taken aback at the city’s open determination to punish the Tenneses for their religious beliefs.

WATCH: Enjoy a more

in-depth visit with the Tennes family at ADFlegal.org/fj—Tennes

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“Steve and Bridget aren’t doing anything inside the city that the city has any complaint about,” she says.

“They’re acting entirely within their rights, entirely legally, and the city has admitted that. And yet they want to throw them out of a market and not allow them to sell their apples— simply because they don’t like something about their beliefs and how they live them out … 22 miles from the city. “[It’s] a significant attack on the freedom of speech and the freedom of belief,” Anderson says. “We’re looking at a city trying to marginalize everybody who disagrees with their view on marriage—and that bridges across faith traditions.

“Selling apples to everyone at a farmer’s market has absolutely nothing to do with the Tenneses’ particular religious beliefs. The city is saying: ‘We do not want you to take part in our city, we’re going to bar you from community life, we’re going to hurt your economic freedom—all because we disagree with your belief.'

“It’s an attack on that one belief,” Anderson says, “but it’s bigger than that. We’re talking about giving the government power to pick and choose what people can believe, and then letting the government give favor and public benefits only to people who agree with them. That’s dangerous.”

ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit against the city, charging officials with violating the Tenneses’ First Amendment protections. They also requested a preliminary injunction that would allow the family to participate in the East Lansing Farmer’s Market while the case worked its way to trial. By the time a judge heard arguments on that motion, Country Mill had been out of the market for nearly four crucial months—a serious financial blow. Recognizing that, the judge quickly granted the injunction, forcing East Lansing to let the Tenneses back into the market.

The ruling, Steve says, “gave us the freedom to reconnect with our customers.”

“The court is very well aware of the First Amendment violations here, and very concerned about how the city has approached this,” Anderson says. “And the court seems particularly aware of and concerned about both the freespeech and the free-exercise issues. That’s evident in the preliminary injunction ruling, which found that Country Mill is likely to succeed in this case.”

Anderson anticipates asking for a summary judgment this fall (in which a judge rules on the facts without going to trial); if the court declines to grant that, the case will go to trial next spring.

This spiritual war is going on, and ADF is on the front lines.

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S t eve Te n n e s 15

We’re talking about giving the government power to pick and choose what people can believe, and then letting them give favor and public benefits only to people who agree with them. That’s dangerous.

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ADF Legal Counsel Kate Anderson

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he ongoing legal showdown has impacted all of “We would never have been able to fight this fight on the Tenneses. After the injunction allowed Country our own,” Bridget says. “I am so grateful to ADF. We can’t Mill to return to the farmers market, protesters began even tell you how much we’ve appreciated the support and appearing in small but persistent numbers. “Boycott encouragement. God does provide.”

Country Mill—they practice hate and bigotry!” one person “The Tenneses are some of the kindest, most generous chanted. One family returned many weekends to pass people,” Anderson says. “They have a true heart for their around flyers denigrating the Tenneses. community, and it’s striking every time you’re in contact Facing the crowds from her booth every weekend, with them: the love that they have for their employees, for Diana says she found herself becoming anxious about their customers … their desire to truly use their farm as a people … wondering if a difficult customer was 'having a gift God gave them to be able to feed and to give opportunities bad day—or against us.' to their community.”

“To see customers I’ve dealt with for years—even Even so, Bridget says, that wasn’t enough. taken pies to their houses—turn against me,” she says. “To “This whole experience has made us more … intentional,” hear them say, ‘Great job,’ to the protesters … to have she says, “in how we integrate our faith into our life and people I’d built close relationships with change so quickly work every day. You don’t have to hide it. You either run … it’s tough. Because I haven’t changed.” away from God, or you celebrate, get stronger.” Her family But many have made it a point to show their support, she chose not to run away, and as hard as things have been, she says. A lesbian couple has offered consistent encouragement, says, “It’s still worth it. We are doing the right thing.” and Diana’s son reminds her that even the protesters “are Her husband quietly agrees. doing what they feel is right.” She says she’s asked the Lord “Our faith is worth fighting for,” he says. “It is.” to “put His finger” on the areas in which she needs to grow, and “God has spoken to me through this, showing me not to be afraid of being rejected or misunderstood.”

So, “it’s my job to focus on my love for my customers, and the rest belongs to God,” she’s decided. “I don’t want to miss what He wants to teach me through this.”

“When you’re a small business being attacked by a larger organization,” Steve says, “it’s tempting to just walk away, because the financial costs of standing up to the government can easily destroy a small family business—and the emotional cost can destroy a family.

“But God always gives us what we need.

Through ADF, we’ve been able to meet other people going through the same thing, and to see that we’re not alone. This spiritual war is Steve Tennes going on,” he says, “and ADF is on the front lines.”

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Opinion

Christians Can’t Let Themselves Be Irrelevant to a Changing Culture

John Stonestreet leads the morning devotional at an Alliance Defending Freedom Summit on Religious Liberty.

By John Stonestreet

U

ntil quite recently, Christianity was considered to hold a helpful, or at least relatively harmless, presence in our culture. Increasingly, that’s changing, and not for the better. Today, the moral vision of life and the world offered by the Christian faith, as well as those who hold to it, is seen as an obstacle to our culture’s progress, even as an evil to be resisted and silenced.

With the subtitle of their book Good Faith, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons identify the challenge followers of Christ face in this cultural moment: “Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme.”

According to their research, 60 percent of Americans think that sharing faith with others is “extremist,” and 42 percent believe that people of faith are “part of the problem” in our increasingly polarized and angry society.

Though religious freedom is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, fewer than half of those surveyed by LifeWay Research think that religious freedom should take precedence over sexual freedom.

Ultimately, Christians today face increased cultural pressure to accept a radically privatized view of their faith. “I believe,” Chuck Colson warned in 2010, “the [Obama] administration is seeking to redefine the meaning of religious freedom, shrinking it to mean nothing more than the right to worship privately.”

Events have proven Colson right. There is a broad trend pushing against religious liberty. We need only look at the case of three Alliance Defending Freedom clients—cake artist Jack Phillips, florist Barronelle Stutzman, or promotional printer Blaine Adamson.

How ought Christians respond to the challenges of this cultural moment?

F

irst, we must have conviction about Christian truth. When early Christians proclaimed that Christ had risen from the dead or called him “Lord,” they weren’t articulating private beliefs. These were not “true for me, but not for you” platitudes. They stood on these statements as truths, independent of whether anyone believed them.

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Christians today face increased cultural pressure to accept a radically privatized view of their faith

‘‘

John Stonestreet

We must keep a Christian witness in the public square, even if it is a public square that increasingly doesn’t want us there. Loving God and loving neighbor, as Christ commanded, requires us to be there.

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John Stonestreet

Second, we must have clarity about our culture that only comes from a Christian worldview. Christian truth is a lens through which we can make sense of the chaotic events and confusing ideas all around us.

Finally, we must have confidence that, ultimately, the Kingdom of God is unassailable and unstoppable. It’s tempting to lose hope in light of the dramatic cultural shifts we’ve experienced. It’s tempting to think we are on the “wrong side of history.”

But we must keep a Christian witness in the public square, even if it is a public square that increasingly doesn’t want us there. Loving God and loving neighbor, as Christ commanded, requires us to be there.

All of this is why the ADF Church Alliance (see p. 5) is so necessary.

Pastors and parishioners alike face daunting threats to their rights of conscience. The Church Alliance gives local churches direct access to the expertise they need to respond to challenges to religious freedom, while staying on mission for Christ.

The Colson Center has long partnered with ADF, and we are honored to aid the Church Alliance by bringing solid worldview analysis to Alliance members.

LEARN MORE

John Stonestreet is the President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and co-host of the daily commentary BreakPoint. www.breakpoint.org

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My View

How Illinois and the City of Elgin Ganged Up on Four Innocent Men How do you prove that your life has changed?

City officials in Elgin, Illinois say you can’t.

By Saul Juarez

M

y brother, Elias, our friends Oscar and Ruben Sanchez, and I just spent seven years fighting a lawsuit by Illinois officials determined to prove we are members of a gang of violent street thugs known as the Latin Kings. Once upon a time, for Oscar, Ruben, and Elias, that was true. But it was never true of me, and it has long since ceased to be true of the others.

After I became a Christian in 2007, I was understandably worried about the body and soul of my brother, Elias, who was then part of the Latin Kings. I started working on him to come to church and quit the gang. He did. He paid the price.

Nobody leaves a gang without taking a beating for it, and for two long minutes, my brother took the most savage blows his fellow gangbangers could bludgeon him with. Then, bloodied and bruised, he began speaking to them about Jesus.

O

ur friends Oscar and Ruben were also Kings, but they saw what a real change knowing Jesus had made on my brother. Soon, the two of them began coming to church with us.

“The preacher is up there preaching, and it feels like every word was, like, stabbing me,” Ruben told a reporter. “Like it was meant for me. Like someone told

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him my whole life.” Soon, Ruben and his brother both left the Latin Kings, too—and Oscar, who had kept time for the two-minute beating of my brother, endured a brutal beating of his own. He said it was worth it.

“I see that lifestyle as like a dark pit, somewhere you don’t want to be,” he said. “I’m not the (most) righteous man in the world, but at the same time, I know I don’t want to be there.”

All of us had a feeling that maybe a lot of young men didn’t want to be there, and we began sharing our faith and our stories with boys in local Elgin schools.

We committed ourselves to anti-gang efforts, even joining some local police officers to speak out against gang violence.

Then, we were swept up in a dragnet. Despite our new lives and anti-gang efforts, our state’s attorney included us among 81 alleged gang members he sued on behalf of the city. The suit invoked a state law designed to keep gang members from gathering in groups of two or more, and so block any crimes they might be planning.

Trouble was, my brother and the Sanchezes were long out of the Latin Kings by the time the lawsuit was filed. Our attorneys at Mauck & Baker (Allied Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom) presented clear

It makes me wonder: what exactly do the leaders of Elgin have against people doing good?

Romans 13 tells us that governing authorities are not to be a terror to good conduct.

‘‘

Saul Juarez evidence of that to the government—including letters and depositions from our pastor and people from our church. Even the police affirmed that none of us were active with the Kings anymore. But state and city officials refused to drop our names from the lawsuit.

T

hat was the end of our freedom to go into schools and talk against the gangs. As far as the state and city were concerned, we were still public enemies.

And now they could restrict our freedom to speak out against the very things they were accusing us of doing. We couldn’t share our faith with gang members without looking like we were still one of them.

We spent seven years—a good chunk of our lives— fighting that guilt-by-former-association. Finally, early this year, a county circuit court completely dismissed the lawsuit against us.

It’s always great to have a lawsuit go away, and my brother and our friends are thankful. But I can’t help sharing two concerns I still have, as we look to pick up our lives again and go back to the work of reaching those lost in the gang lifestyle—and those who so easily could be.

One: while many good people are working hard to lead young men out of the gangs, my brother and the Sanchez brothers have a strong, unique testimony that’s been forcefully silenced­—for no valid reason—for most of a decade. I wonder how many men and boys we could have reached during that time. How many wouldn’t be gang members—wouldn’t be dead— if not for the stubborn unwillingness of government officials to see the truth and use some common sense.

Two: we’re not the only ones on whom the city has declared war. In recent years, Elgin officials have worked just as diligently—and spent incredible amounts of taxpayer money—to shut down the community outreach efforts of churches, homeless ministries, even a pregnancy center.

Again, it makes me wonder: what exactly do the leaders of Elgin have against people doing good?

Romans 13 tells us that governing authorities are not to be a terror to good conduct. Without their misplaced suspicions and stubborn refusal to drop the case against us, our efforts to turn back the violence of the streets could be going like … gangbusters.

Saul Juarez (pictured), his brother, and his friends have now renewed their outreach to gang members.

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Q&A

Michael Medved

Seeing the “Invisible Hand” in America’s History — and Destiny

By Chris Potts

Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Michael Medved offers his four million daily listeners a remarkable depth and breadth of life experience.

Raised in California, he started at Yale at 16 as a National Merit Scholar and graduated with honors. He attended Yale Law School alongside the Clintons, went on to work as a professional

F&J: Why has God’s involvement in American history become such an important topic for you?

MM: I think you can trace a great many of our cultural, spiritual, personal problems in 2018 to the rejection of the idea that America has a godly purpose in the world, that America is no accident, that this country was shaped by what George Washington, in his first inaugural address, described as the “invisible Hand.”

speechwriter and political consultant, and at 26 became a best-selling author with What Really Happened To The Class Of ’65?

That book, like the dozen that have followed, reflected his sharp turn from youthful liberalism to a thoughtful, steadily deepening conservatism,

All of our great leaders have acknowledged, at one point or another, that there is a Higher Power that guides the United States of America. We’re not just another country … we are what Lincoln called “the last, best hope of Earth.”

Understanding that, it seems to me, is crucial, both for the personal happiness and fulfillment of most Americans, as well as for having a decent politics that helps to shape a more constructive American role in the world.

as well as his renewed embrace of his Jewish faith. Many of his books also draw on his lifelong enthusiasm for the movies; he is as well known for his trenchant film reviews as he is for his insights on national politics and popular culture.

His most recent books—The American Miracle: Divine Providence In The Rise Of The Republic and the forthcoming (2019) This Favored Land: American Miracles In The Modern Era—examine what he perceives as God’s clear hand on the destiny of the United States.

It’s not that we’re the best country that ever existed, though I think we are. It’s not that we are being rewarded because we are so flawless and so good and so pure. We’re not. It is that God has clearly chosen this country as His instrument. It’s an extraordinary role. It doesn’t confer special privileges on our country, but it does confer special responsibilities.

And we have to do a better job of teaching our children about those responsibilities.

We're not just another country ... we are what Lincoln called ‘the last, best hope of Earth.’

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Michael Medved 21

I am so conscious every, single day of how fortunate I am to live in the United States of America.

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Michael Medved

F&J: But, as you’ve pointed out, our public schools —which virtually forbid mention of God—offer our children another rationale for our nation’s success.

MM: The Left has their explanation —that we were uniquely guilty, exploitative and cruel, enslaving people, abusing the environment, committing genocide. They suggest that we became prosperous and powerful because we were worse than other nations, when the truth is—for all the faults and crimes in our history— the world is unquestionably a better place because of America, and American leadership.

My belief in American Providence does not come from a belief in God. Rather, my belief in God comes from the study of the history of this country. From the recognition that a pattern of happy accidents is still … a pattern.

It’s evidence of intelligent design, not random evolution.

F&J: Why do you think it’s so important to those on the Left to think otherwise?

MM: Because it allows them to disbelieve in God. America remains a religious nation. Now, not everybody goes to church or synagogue every week. But about 40 percent of us do. And over 80 percent of Americans say they believe in God, pray regularly, and consider themselves religious.

So, given the fact that this remains the most religious nation in the Western world, the minority that is militantly secular, uncompromisingly secular, has an almost pathological desire to extirpate any signs of this American religiosity.

F&J: And that desire carries over into the growing assaults on freedoms of religion and conscience?

MM: The very idea that right now the exercise of free choice is being trampled on by an expansive, overweening, intolerant, militantly and uncompromisingly secular government against people of faith—it’s an outrage. And it’s a threat to every single one of us—whether you’re religious or not, whether you're Christian or Jewish or Muslim.

I applaud and am proud to be associated with Alliance Defending Freedom, because I don’t know of any organization that does a better job in protecting the religious liberties that are fundamental to the American experience.

Find Michael at www.michaelmedved.com Twitter: @MedvedSHOW Michael Medved

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“ Throughout history, people of faith have stood against the enemies of God, remaining faithful in fulfilling His purpose.

We want our legacy to reflect that we boldly stood for God and His Word (Philippians 2:13), which is why ADF is prominently included in our estate plan.” — Kent & Eloise P.

Pass on a legacy of freedom.

Please contact Lisa Reschetnikow at 844-233-6692 or LegacyGiving@ADFlegal.org to discuss your legacy giving.