FAITH August 2017
JUSTICE Vo l u m e X , I s s u e I I
Trial by Fire
Citing the demands of “tolerance,” Atlanta officials torch the career of one of the nation’s most esteemed and accomplished firefighters 52 Supreme Court Victories! What This Means for You PAG E 2
Can One Family’s Worst Nightmare Bring Freedom to Parents across Europe? PAG E 9
How My College Tried to Silence My Pro-Life Group PAG E 1 5
Refuse to Be Intimidated: Ben Shapiro on Why He Keeps Showing Up PAG E 1 7
Alliance Defending Freedom
CONTENTS COVER STORY 11
Trial by Fire
Citing the demands of “tolerance,” Atlanta officials torch the career of one of the nation’s most esteemed & accomplished firefighters
COLUMNS 2 Minutes With Michael
Closing a Circle With a Supreme Court Victory 3 News and Quick Takes
Case Updates From Around the World 5 Special Feature
Stay Better Informed on Today’s Hot Topics With Freedom Matters Podcast 7 Opinion
Freedom’s Future: Why Now Is the Time to Take a Stand 9 Alliance Profile
Can One Family’s Worst Nightmare Bring Freedom to Parents Across Europe? 15 My View
How My College Tried to Silence My Pro-Life Group 17 Q&A
Ben Shapiro on Why He Keeps Showing Up
Letters to the Editor Just wanted to thank you for sending me the 10th Anniversary Edition of Faith & Justice. I sat down last night and read it all in a few minutes and it expanded greatly and wonderfully my understanding of ADF. I have known about you for many, many years, and have prayed broadly for you for a very long time through just the limited understanding of who you are, but I want to pray with better understanding, to be a part of what you are doing in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. … We homeschooled our children way back when it was a new concept, and attended some homeschool seminars where we heard Mr. Farris speak, and he greatly encouraged us and so many — that he had our back, because he knew the law, and homeschooled his own children. So thank you, ADF, for all you do to support and defend faith and freedom in this perilous hour that we live in, nationally, and internationally. May God pour out His richest blessings upon you! — Sandra K. Rockledge, FL Thank you for the excellent 10th anniversary issue of Faith & Justice. It was quite uplifting. I have followed many of the stories and was very glad for updates. — Robin G. Wow! This edition was fantastic! I really liked the layout, the story choices, the paper quality — just everything about it! — Cynthia H.
Facebook.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom Twitter - @ AllianceDefends Instagram.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom YouTube.com/AllianceDefends Questions? Comments? Please contact the editor: editor@ADFlegal.org 15100 N. 90th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
ADFlegal.org
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800-835-5233
August 2017
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Vol. 10, Issue 2
Editor Emily Conley
Senior Writer Chris Potts
Art Direction/Photography Bruce Ellefson James Choe Jonathan Marshall
Contributors Chris Potts Emily Conley Kristen Waggoner Michael P. Farris Norvilia Etienne
Minutes With Michael
Closing A Circle With A Supreme Court Victory By Michael P. Farris, President, CEO and General Counsel
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hat goes around, comes around,” the old wisdom goes … and if you live long enough, you get to see some of the circles close. A big circle closed for me earlier this summer with the Supreme Court’s great decision in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri. Not only was this our first win at the high court since I came on board as president of Alliance Defending Freedom in January, but it was an echo — almost a legal descendent — of the first case I ever argued at the Supreme Court, 32 years ago. I was 34 years old that day, and so nervous, stepping to the podium before the justices to argue Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind. Those next 30 minutes marked the most exhilarating experience of my young professional life. At issue was whether the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause prohibited state vocational rehabilitation money from being used by my client to pay for his training as a pastor. The Court ruled unanimously that it did not. But my client’s state Supreme Court balked at implementing that ruling, insisting the state’s constitution actually required such discrimination. Photography by Ian Reid
The High Court refused to hear a second appeal on the case, so incredibly — for three decades— federal law said state social programs were not required to discriminate against religious people, persons, or programs — but could if they wanted to do so (a terrible misapplication of federalism).
O
ur Trinity Lutheran case presented an important opportunity to reverse that too-longstanding discrimination. ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman argued that excluding the church from a Missouri preschool safety program violated the organization's constitutional Free Exercise and Equal Protection freedoms — no matter what the state’s constitution says. In a 7-2 vote, the Court agreed. For me, that’s cause for celebration on so many levels: for our clients, of course; for the many ADF team members who worked so hard for this goal; for the affirmation of that long-ago decision that was such turning point for me. But most of all, because we know this decision is the direct result of the flood of faithful prayers offered up nationwide by our ADF friends and allies. That’s how our alliance works — and why it works so well. You stand with us, as we stand with our clients, as our clients stand for religious freedom. It’s a circle God has blessed so richly, for nearly 25 years now, and so we pray —in the words of that great old song: “May the circle be unbroken.”
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Michigan
News & Quick Takes
Donald Vander Boon, the owner of a meatpacking business, was threatened by the USDA with the closure of his business if he kept an article in his company’s breakroom that supported marriage between one man and one woman. ADF is working with Donald to defend his rights against the USDA.
Case Updates From Around the World
Minnesota A group of parents and students ADF represents known as Privacy Matters ended its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, and a Minnesota school district after the two federal agencies and the district took action to respect the privacy of all students in sex-specific locker rooms and restrooms. The families filed their lawsuit in September of last year because a male student was using a girls’ locker room.
Steve Tennes, an organic farmer in East Lansing, owns a family farm that was denied permission to sell produce at the local farmers market because city officials saw a post on Facebook he’d written about his Christian belief on marriage. ADF is representing Steve against the city.
Kentucky Arizona ADF sued the Department of the Interior on behalf of an experienced Christian geologist who was denied permission to conduct research in the Grand Canyon because of his beliefs about the Earth’s beginnings. In response to the lawsuit, the park finally agreed to issue the permit, 44 months after the geologist's original inquiry.
California On March 20, ADF asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a California law that forces pro-life pregnancy care centers to provide free advertising for the abortion industry. ADF attorneys are representing a pro-life pregnancy care center network and two pregnancy centers in the case. ADF attorneys are suing a Fresno State University professor who instructed students from his class to join him in defacing and erasing a pro-life group’s sidewalk chalk messages. While erasing the messages, the professor claimed, “College campuses are not free speech areas.” Watch a video of this incident: ADFlegal.org, search keywords "Fresno State".
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On May 12, a Kentucky appeals court issued a ruling that affirms printer and ADF client Blaine Adamson’s freedom to decline orders that would require him to promote a message in conflict with his religious beliefs. The Lexington Human Rights Commission appealed that decision, but this is an encouraging victory for conscience.
Iowa ADF attorneys settled a lawsuit with officials at Iowa State University on April 4, ending unconstitutional policies at the school that expressly warn that “engaging in First Amendment protected speech activities” may be punished as “harassment.” The university required students to affirm the policies before they were allowed to graduate. Thanks to this victory, students at Iowa State University can once again freely exercise their constitutionally protected right to free speech without fear of losing their degrees.
Russia American missionary Donald Ossewaarde was hosting a Bible study in his Russian home when police arrested him. Because he was not leading the study in a state-registered venue, he was charged with violating the country’s “anti-terror” laws. ADF International lawyers are supporting his case at the European Court of Human Rights, working to break the stranglehold many European states are exerting over the freedom of churches and Christian worship.
Sweden Pennsylvania Without any notice to students or parents, the school district of Boyertown secretly opened its schools’ sex-specific restrooms and locker rooms to students of the opposite sex. On April 18, three high school students joined another student and his parents in a federal lawsuit filed by ADF allied attorneys against the school district for violating the privacy rights of the students.
Washington D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in the Trinity Lutheran case that the government cannot exclude churches and other faith-based organizations from a secular government program simply for being religious. The church-run preschool in Missouri was denied a grant for a playground surface, and this much-anticipated decision has ruled the government’s discrimination against the church is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court also agreed to hear the case of Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips. In July of last year, ADF asked the High Court to take Jack’s case and rule that the government cannot coerce him to create artistic expression that communicates a message with which he fundamentally disagrees. ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner will argue the case in the fall.
The Swedish Appeals Court ruled on April 12 that the government can compel medical professionals to perform abortions or force them out of their profession. Ellinor Grimmark trained to work as a midwife in a government-run facility, and as a Christian who recognizes the sanctity of every life, she was disturbed to learn these facilities would require her to participate in abortions. Though Swedish law claims to recognize freedom of conscience, Swedish courts have ruled unanimously that Grimmark must help kill babies in the womb, or find another line of work. Allied attorney Ruth Nordström is supporting her case before her final appeal, the European Court of Human Rights.
United Nations On the eve of World Down Syndrome Day, ADF International worked with the Jerome Lejeune Foundation, the Order of Malta, and DownPride to host an event at the United Nations asking the international community to speak up for the rights of children with Down syndrome. Sadly, starting in 2018, the British National Health Service will offer a blood test that will supposedly give an expectant mother a 99% indication of whether her baby has Down syndrome. Already in the U.K., 90% of mothers terminate their pregnancies after receiving such a diagnosis, and in Denmark, the rate is 98% — making Down syndrome an automatic death sentence for an innocent human life.
The 18th edition of the 2017 Blackstone session, which began in early June, is the largest class yet. The class consists of 150 domestic interns and 10 international interns. Eighty-five percent of the domestic interns—128 total— attend top-50 law schools. About Blackstone: ADFlegal.org/Blackstone 4
Special Feature
Freedom Matters Podcast
How You Can Stay Better Informed on Today’s Hot Topics By Emily Conley
“C
an you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?” The show is about to begin. Bob Trent, Media Relations Director at Alliance Defending Freedom, patiently unplugs and replugs wires into a soundboard to attempt to connect today’s special guest, while the two other hosts of the Freedom Matters podcast — Kerri Kupec, Legal Counsel and Communications Director; and Eric Finley, Senior Director of Media Communications — wait with headphones on and notes at the ready around a small table nearby. Finally, Bob emerges victorious from the jungle of wires to rejoin his co-hosts, and the show is on in three … two … one … “Hi, I’m Bob Trent, host of Freedom Matters, the Alliance Defending Freedom podcast.” Today’s special guest is Casey Mattox, ADF attorney and Director of the Center for Academic Freedom. He wastes no time summarizing a recent case about a student who was arrested at Kellogg Community College for handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution. Questions, commentary, and occasional jokes fly between the podcast hosts and guest. “The goal of the podcast is to create original content to help frame our cases and issues for our audience by giving them a peek inside our world,” Bob later explains. “The podcast allows them to hear directly from people they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access — people like our clients, our attorneys, journalists, and politicians — in a way that feels very personal.” “‘Authentic’ is kind of a buzzword,” agrees Eric, “but that really is the kind of show we want to create. We laugh, make jokes, interrupt each other … it’s not overly produced. It’s a group of real people sitting around the table having a conversation.” Past guests have included Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and former Congressman Frank R. Wolf, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, who served 17 terms in Congress. “Our guests are experts on their topics, but our rotating cast of hosts also draws upon so many years of personal experience and fascinating stories. One of our occasional hosts — Jordan Lorence — has been litigating religious-freedom cases for decades, and another — Kerri Kupec —works extensively with national media outlets and thought leaders across the country," Bob says. "They can carry a show by themselves.” Eric, who has a background in Christian radio and voice talent work, fills in from time to time to help host the show. Others who also step in include Alison Howard, Director of Alliance Relations; Kellie Fiedorek, ADF Legal Counsel; and Jon Gabriel, Editor-in-Chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Arizona Republic. The podcast started a little over a year ago, and each week’s 30-minute episode already reaches an audience of about 30,000 on Facebook. But Bob has much bigger plans for the show. “Next, we plan to start livestreaming video of the podcast on Facebook," Bob says. "Then we’d like to go to three, or even more, shows a week. There’s no shortage of content or topic ideas; it’s just a matter of bandwidth at the moment. We’d also like to take it to the radio, to stations across the country.” Back in the studio, Casey is just wrapping up the discussion on a plan to defund Planned Parenthood. “It’s remarkable how far we’ve come,” says Bob in closing. At the current rate the Freedom Matters podcast is growing, he’ll be saying that again, and soon.
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Subscribe to listen to weekly episodes of expert news and commentary on current events.
iPhone or iPad Open the podcast app. In the bottom right-hand corner, click the search icon. Then type in “Freedom Matters.” Once you’re on the page, click the “Subscribe” button.
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ADF Asks ABC News to Retract Defamatory Story and Issue an Apology It’s easier to call people names than challenge their arguments. The Southern Poverty Law Center released false accusations against Alliance Defending Freedom in February 2017, referring to the organization as a “hate group.” And ABC News repeated those claims in a July 12 article titled “Jeff Sessions addresses ‘anti-LGBT hate group’ but DOJ won’t release his remarks,” the day after Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a speech at an ADF event on the importance of preserving religious freedom for all Americans. “For ABC News to essentially cut and paste false charges against Alliance Defending Freedom by a radically left-wing, violence-inciting organization like Southern Poverty Law Center is a discredit to ABC News
and to the profession,” Kerri Kupec, ADF Legal Counsel and Director of Communications, says. “Americans’ trust in media is cratering, and the blatant bias and lack of professionalism that ABC attempted to pass off as news can only serve to confirm and intensify that distrust.” “Alliance Defending Freedom is one of the most respected and successful Supreme Court advocates in the legal profession, having won seven cases at the high court in the last seven years,” says Kupec. Rod Dreher, Senior Editor at The American Conservative, calls the ABC News article “genuinely shocking” in his essay titled “ABC’s Outrageous Anti-Christian Smear.” “You should be aware that if they say this about ADF, they must also say it about any church that upholds orthodox Christian teaching on sexuality,” he writes. “SPLC calls it ‘hate’— and again, ABC News repeats that vicious smear, because no doubt they think it’s true.”
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
ADF has called for ABC News to retract the story and issue an apology. “Southern Poverty Law Center spends its time and money attacking veterans, nuns, Muslims who oppose terrorism, Catholics, Evangelicals, and anyone else who dares disagree with its far-left ideology,” writes Kupec. “Meanwhile, ADF works every day to preserve and affirm free speech and the free exercise of religion for people from all walks of life and all backgrounds because we believe freedom is for everyone.” Sessions’ full remarks are available online at TheFederalist.com.
EMBRACING The Call Everyone says they want to change the world.
We’re looking for people who actually will. Review our open positions: ADFlegal.org/Careers
If you are looking for significant ways to serve the Body of Christ, the ADF Ambassador program may be right for you. ADF Ambassadors serve the ministry by introducing others to the vital work of Alliance Defending Freedom. Email AMBLeadership@adflegal.org for 6 more information.
Opinion
Religious Freedom Why Now is the Time to Take a Stand By Kristen Waggoner
A
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs. We are likely to see pitched battles in courts and Congress, state legislatures and town halls. But the most important fight is for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans.
s American Christians, it’s other civil liberties and human easy for us to believe that— rights. The loss of one brings because we are not yet facing about the loss of others. the cruel physical persecutions In other words, we all sink that our brothers and sisters or swim together. So if you supabroad are enduring, our port conscience and freedom freedom to live out our faith only when your beliefs are unremains fundamentally “safe der threat, you’re missing the and secure from all alarms.” interconnectivity of these pilBut a more polite perseculars of our democratic republic. tion — the marginalization of We honor men like William believers — has begun to take Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoefroot on American soil. The fer, and Martin Luther King Jr., consequences are proving dibecause they stood against not sastrous for Christians all over only unjust laws, but also the the country. Although the U.S. false beliefs shared by their Supreme Court has explained neighbors, bosses, professors, that honorable and reasonand even their fellow churchable people believe marriage is men. Because these men valthe union of one man and one ued conscience above popularwoman, those folks nonetheless ity, they moved the law and the face financial ruin and even jail culture in the right direction. U.S. Supreme Court Justice time for seeking to speak and May we all seek to do likewise S a m u e l A l i t o live consistent with that belief. in our day and culture. Two ideas are particularly At Alliance Defending Freeimportant to remember, amid this growing hostility dom, we are fighting for this precious freedom every day toward people of faith. First, religious freedom and — not just for the sake of principle, but to ensure that right-of-conscience protections benefit everyone. the Truth will continue to go forth. And whether that They allow all of us — the Christian, Sikh, Jew, ultimately happens will depend, at least in part, on us. and even the atheist — the opportunity to explore The wind is rising. And God placed us here for meaning and purpose in life and to order our lives this season. He will use us as instruments to influence consistent with the answers we find. Freedom for one the hearts and minds of others, but only if we submit is freedom for all. as vessels willing to speak uncomfortable truths and Second, civil liberties travel together. Countries take bold stands. that protect religious freedom enjoy more vibrant God chose for each one of us to live at this moment democracies, female empowerment, and robust freein history. He has divinely placed each of us in a family dom of the press and economic liberty. In contrast, … a neighborhood … a job … a state … specifically countries without religious freedom typically experiso that we can daily influence others for Him. To be a ence more war and violence. All this confirms that witness bearer of Truth. our First Amendment freedoms serve as a linchpin to Not someday. Now.
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Watch a video of moving stories about ADF clients who made a choice to fight for freedom’s future at ADFlegal.org/FJ-Freedom
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Alliance Profile
The Home School Legal Defense Association Can One Family’s Worst Nightmare Free Parents Across Europe to Educate Their Children According to Their Values? By Emily Conley
W
hen Mike Donnelly answered the phone, his heart sank. At the other end of the line that day in August 2013 was Dirk Wunderlich. That morning, Dirk and his wife, Petra, and their four children had sat down to their first homeschool lesson of the year at their home in Germany, when about 40 social workers and police officers surrounded their house and threatened to break down the door with a battering ram. Once they entered the house, social workers announced that because the family was homeschooling, they were taking the children. The children, crying and clinging to each other, had to be carried out of the house. Petra rushed to hug and kiss the youngest, but the social workers pulled the four-year old away, telling Petra, “It’s too late for that.” “In a lot of cases in Germany, children are not returned,” Mike says, himself a homeschooling father of seven and Director of Global Outreach at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). “I was very much afraid that that was going to happen in this case, and that we were going to be fighting for many years to get the kids back.” This wasn’t the first time the Wunderlichs had faced every parent’s worst nightmare. Mike’s relationship with the Wunderlichs began in 2009, when the family had fled Germany and was living in France. Although homeschooling is legal in France, social workers had removed the children from the home for three days at the prompting of German authorities. Solving the homeschooling problem in Germany was the reason Mike first took on international cases in 2007. After studying international relations and economics in college, living in China for ten months, and serving in Operation Desert Storm. “I left the army to go to law school because I wanted
to become a high-powered international business lawyer,” Mike explains. “When I got into law school, I realized what that would require — basically working 80 hours a week to make partner, and I realized that was not going to be feasible if I was going to have a family. So I changed gears and started a company … When I was recruited to leave that company and come work at HSLDA, and then take everything I’d experienced and all my interests in international, to then be given the opportunity to do international outreach — it was like God saying, ‘I didn’t want you to do it there; I wanted you to do it here.’” For over 30 years, HSLDA has defended the rights of homeschooling families and seen the movement grow in the U.S. from the fringe to mainstream, with about 2.5 million children educated at home today. “I think God has given each parent the responsibility to determine what’s best for their children,” Mike states. “When you look at the homeschool story in America, it is the testimony of God’s providence and blessing on a community. It’s a miracle when you look at the odds the homeschool community faced and triumphed over, and I’m confident that God wants the same thing for homeschoolers all around the world.” Homeschooling is a small but growing movement in Europe and around the world, and HSLDA is strategically trying to keep ahead of that growth so that authorities will respond positively when situations arise. Since they first began taking international cases in the early 2000s, HSLDA is now part of a network spanning about 80 countries around the world. “This idea that governments can and should oppress parental rights — it’s something that we’ve got to fight everywhere,” states Mike. “Mike Farris [co-founder of HSLDA
It’s a miracle when you look at the odds the homeschool community faced and triumphed over, and I’m confident that God wants the same thing for homeschoolers all around the world. 9
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Mike Donnelly
The German homeschooling family with their attorneys outside of the European Court of Human Rights. From the left: Dirk Wunderlich, Hananjah, Machsejah, Mike Donnelly, Joshua, Robert Clarke, Serajah, and Petra Wunderlich.
and now ADF CEO] used to say, ‘If we don’t defend these rights everywhere, we won’t have them anywhere.’ So that’s my motivating force — that we really need to help others.” In his years of working on international cases, Mike says he’d seen dozens of cases like the Wunderlichs’: Christian families who simply wanted to follow God’s call to them as parents and direct the education of their children. What made this case unique was the extreme lengths the government was willing to go to stop them. “They are the most peaceful, kind, loving, family you could meet,” Mike says. Over the years, Mike has spent time with the family at home and has had many deep conversations with Dirk about what God was calling them to do. “I’d become kind of hardened to the tragedy of Germany, and the tragedies I’ve seen over the last ten years of doing this internationally. I’ve dealt with so many families having their kids taken away … in the U.S. too, we deal with it all the time … it’s just, you know,” Mike pauses, “traumatizing, in a way.” But this time, something changed. HSLDA launched a public advocacy campaign, rallying families around the world to petition the German government. After three weeks, the children were returned. The family was forced to enroll the children in public school for a year, but as their case proceeded to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), they began homeschooling again — so far without interference. “It was a miracle; it really was.” Mike says. It was followed by a second miracle when their case was accepted by the highest court in Europe. With final submissions made to the Court in April 2017, the Wunderlichs’ long wait for justice could be almost over.
“The Wunderlich case was really a breakthrough moment from a longtime collaboration between HSLDA and ADF,” says Robert Clarke, Director of European Advocacy for ADF International and counsel of record on the Wunderlich case. “HSLDA is well respected for their work on homeschooling cases, and we’ve been able to work with them very effectively across Europe, connecting families with lawyers and also helping with the appeals to the European Court of Human Rights. We were very excited to support and assist in the ways that we could. We have the expertise at the European Court of Human Rights, so we worked with Mike Donnelly, and worked with the family to file the case.” “It’s so much better to have a robust, competent partner in Europe who has the credentials, experience, and know-how to be able to advance the cause,” says Mike. “I’ve worked very closely with Robert Clarke, Paul Coleman, and the great Vienna staff who do such great work to move this forward.” The stakes are high, says Robert. “The precedent this case could set could have a very wide impact. We hope that it will say that the authorities went way too far in ripping this family apart, using force in the middle of a family is not appropriate, and that homeschooling by itself does not endanger children.” “Regardless of the outcome,” states Mike, “I know we will have done the very best that could have been done, and that’s because of ADF International and their support.” When looking to the future of homeschooling in Europe, Mike is confident and hopeful. “When parents, no matter who they are, no matter what they believe, care enough to want to take on the task of educating their children, that’s something that God will bless.”
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Trial by Fire
Citing the demands of “tolerance,” Atlanta officials torch the career of one of the nation’s most esteemed and accomplished firefighters By Chris Potts
L
ong before he started school in a government projects neighborhood of Shreveport, Louisiana, back in the early ‘60s, little Kelvin Cochran had already learned the three most crucial, deeply formative lessons of his life. One, he didn’t want to be poor. Living in a “shotgun house”* propped on cinder blocks, he and his brothers and sisters watched their struggling single mom decide each month which utility bill to pay. Early on, Kelvin remembers, he mastered the ability to feel his way in the dark … and to calculate bathtub and toilet schedules based on how many pots and pans still had some water left. For the Cochrans, life was food stamps and four boys to a bed, mayonnaise sandwiches and sugar water. Kelvin knew not everybody lived like that. He didn’t want to live like that one minute longer than he had to.
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Two, he wanted family to be different when he grew up. He looked up at the handful of kind, accomplished men around him at Galilee Baptist Church … saw how they dressed and spoke, treated each other with respect, loved on their wives and children. The boy with no dad so ardently wanted all of that: for his mom, for his brothers and sisters, and for himself. The third lesson came one lazy Sunday afternoon after church, when Miss Mattie’s house across the street caught fire. For a five year old, the fire itself was quite a show — but then the great, red, shining fire truck pulled up, and men in strange, bulky coats and helmets leaped out, pulling hoses and shouting orders and turning those powerful torrents of water on the blaze. For Kelvin Cochran, it was love at first sight. The color and commotion and adventure, sure — but something more than that, too. Half a century later, a kind of wonder still warms his voice as he remembers those men in action. “They were helping somebody,” he says. In that moment, he decided to become a fireman — and a public servant. He would go on to become unusually good at both. It would be a long time before he learned that even the best firefighters sometimes come up against infernos they can’t control.
Photography by Brandon Camp and CityGate Films
H
e was cooking tamales in the kitchen at El Chico’s when the first dream came true. A chief with the Shreveport Fire Department called to say officials had reviewed his application and were offering him a job, “if you’re still interested.” Kelvin looked down at an apron covered in hot sauce and chili. “Yes, sir, I am,” he said. “That’s the moment that I said, ‘I made it,’” Kelvin smiles. “Everything after that was just gravy.” Not all of the gravy tasted good. For the next few years, he earned promotion after promotion, but still suffered the indignities that were a sad fact of life in the Deep South of those days. Unlike other professionals, firefighters work together in 24-hour shifts, and many of his white peers didn’t care to share close quarters with a black man. Back then, Kelvin slept on a designated bed, so no white fireman would have to lie on the same mattress he did. He used a designated knife, fork, and plate, so no one would accidentally
get his "germs." Someone was always supervising whoever washed dishes to make sure the water was extra hot, to boil away Kelvin’s “cooties.” The racial slurs were hard-edged and relentless. None of it took Kelvin by surprise. He’d had no illusions about what stood between himself and his dream, and he met all the bigotry and resentment with professionalism. “I never saw myself as a victim of circumstances — an underdog,” he says. “I saw [this] as just a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate that race is not a factor if a person really has a calling on their life to do what firefighters are called to do. “As challenging as race was in those days, my mother never, ever taught us or instilled in us any bigotry, any racism, any hatred. Hatred, she said, isn’t going to change someone’s heart. Love — forgiveness — is going to change people’s hearts.” His greatest fear, he says, was never an out-of-control fire. It was being asked to do something and finding he was unprepared for the job.
“That drove me,” he says, “because, as a minority, it magnifies. It’s an opportunity for somebody to say, ‘I told you they couldn’t do this job.’” No one ever had cause to say that about Kelvin. He just worked too hard. In those days before GPS and cell phones, he quietly memorized all the streets, block numbers, and fire hydrant locations in his part of the city. Soon, the station drivers all wanted him at their ear when responding to a call — Kelvin knew every address, and the fastest way to get there. Gradually, guys at the station laid off the racism and began embracing him as a colleague. And officials quickly saw his leadership potential. Promotion to Captain usually takes 12 years; Kelvin made it in four. Assistant Chief often takes 25 years. Kelvin made it in 10. Even among firemen, he was particularly good at climbing the ladder. And that took care of Dream No. 2: Kelvin wasn’t rich, but he wasn’t poor anymore. Now, all that remained was Dream No. 3 — a family, and the woman to build it with.
I’ve lived out inclusion. I’ve lived out tolerance. Tolerance is still a two-way street.
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Chief Kelvin Cochran
H
e found her in the phone book. Convinced it was time to settle down, Kelvin decided it would be easier to reignite an old flame than to kindle a new one. So he began flipping through his mental dating files, convinced that the right girl would still make his heart skip a beat. His heartbeat remained steady all the way back to fourth grade, and memories of a little girl named Carolyn Marshall. He had to go through every Marshall in the Shreveport directory—twice—before he found her again, and then astonished her by proposing almost immediately. But the fireman knew she was his match, and
his sincere, unswerving pursuit soon lit the flame in Carolyn, too. Within six months, they were married. “What impressed me about Kelvin,” his wife, Carolyn says, “is that he has a heart —a love— for people. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want Kelvin in their corner. He’s a very courageous person, extremely smart — thank God — and just a man after God’s heart, [trying] to live a lifestyle that would be pleasing in the sight of God.” Together, Kelvin and Carolyn raised three children, trying to pass along the faith that had sustained each of them during their similar, im-
poverished childhoods. Early on, the family initiated Saturday morning “come to Jesus” meetings, where everyone brought their Bible to the kitchen table and talked through how faith and Scripture had sustained them through the trials of the previous week. “We started that when they were very, very young,” Carolyn remembers, “because we knew that, in this life — it’s not easy. You’re going to need something to hold you, to sustain you. We have to trust Him for everything, and that’s how we try to live our life from day to day. And that’s how we’ve raised our children.”
* Shotgun house (from page 11): Only three rooms—front, middle, and back—and a shotgun fired through the front screen door would send its pellets straight through the back screen door without interference.
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n 1999, Kelvin became the first African-American fire chief of Shreveport. Over the next eight-and-a-half years, no firefighter deaths or even serious injuries were recorded on his watch. Fire protection services improved, and civilian deaths dropped, too. When Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans in 2005, Kelvin’s department was the first outside support on the scene. In 2006, he was appointed to the International Association of Fire Chiefs and was in line for the leadership of that group when he was recruited to become the Fire Chief of Atlanta in 2008.
A key reason for his astonishing success was his ability to establish, early on, the expectations of both the city officials he served and the firefighters he worked with. He had a knack for securing the trust and enthusiasm of widely diverse groups, uniting them behind common goals, priorities, strategies — and holding their feet to the fire, so to speak, when the time came to put those agreedupon ideas into action. “Sometimes, people who were part of the process on the front end want to change the rules,” Kelvin says,
“but if you maintain integrity — stay true to those beliefs and values — then they eventually work everything out for good.” He was just settling into the job in Atlanta when, in 2008, President Barack Obama asked him to serve as U.S. Fire Administrator, the nation’s highest office for a firefighter. Kelvin took the job. But ten months later, when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed personally recruited him to come back to his city, Kelvin happily returned. “We had a great professional relationship,” Kelvin says. Until they didn’t.
You shouldn’t be judged for your beliefs. You should be judged on whether or not you do a great job.
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ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot
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he mentoring Kelvin had received as a fatherless boy growing up in Shreveport from the men at Galilee Baptist sowed a lifelong commitment to men’s ministry. Always involved and a leader in his church, in 2013 he wrote a book for Christian men called Who Told You You Were Naked?, based on the question God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:11). Among other things, the book delved briefly into the matter of sexual morality and God’s design for marriage. Though the book was written on his own time and published at his own expense for a small circle of friends, Kelvin checked with Atlanta’s ethics officer to ensure there’d be no problem. She gave the okay. Word got around at work about the book, and Kelvin obliged some of his colleagues who asked for a copy, including the mayor. A year passed. Kelvin learned that some city officials had heard of the book and taken offense. The chief received a 30-day suspension, while the city looked for evidence that he had discriminated against LGBT persons in his department or the community at large. They didn’t find any. By their own admission, Kelvin was innocent of
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any infraction. So they fired him, anyway. City Councilman Alex Wan, who identifies as LGBT, said the firing “sends a strong message to employees about how much we value diversity and how we adhere to a non-discriminatory environment.” But Kelvin and his Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys find it hard to see how firing a man for his thoughts communicates that particular message. “To be terminated for being intolerant is hard to take,” Kelvin says, “when there’s so much that the City of Atlanta itself has in my track record that shows I’ve lived out inclusion. I’ve lived out tolerance. Tolerance is still a two-way street, and we cannot surrender to the redefining of tolerance in our country. We have to stand for our faith.” “You shouldn’t be judged for your beliefs,” says ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “You should be judged on whether or not you do a great job. And the fact is, [Kelvin] was doing a fantastic job. He had led the fire department to achieve a level of preparedness that they’d never achieved in Atlanta before. He’s never
discriminated against anyone … he just believes what the Bible says.” “The city has basically taken the position that if you are serious about your faith — particularly on the issue of marriage and sexual activity — that you are somehow not fit to lead others,” says ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “That is a remarkable position, given the number of people, even in this day and age, that still hold to the view of marriage as between one man and one woman. And yet, according to the city, they’re not fit to hold public employment.” Indeed, Cortman says, one need no more than imagine the response if the situation were inverted — a devout Christian mayor firing a fire chief whom he learns supports same-sex marriage and homosexual behavior — to see the sheer duplicity of the City of Atlanta’s position. “If the test now is that, if you disagree with those above or below you, you can no longer work in your position … under that standard, the mayor himself would have to resign. Because there are certainly many, many people who work in the city who disagree with the mayor’s stance on this issue.”
The city has basically taken the position that if you are serious about your faith … you are somehow not fit to lead others.
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ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman
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wo things struck Carolyn Cochran, in the aftermath of her husband’s firing. One, how many of the couple’s Christian friends and associates “faded away,” amid the media uproar. And two, how magnificently her three children rose in support of their father, with phone calls, daily text messages, constant reassurances from Scripture. For Carolyn, it was the realization that
all of those family “come to Jesus” sessions had accomplished their purpose. “All this teaching, everything we poured into them,” she says, “and thinking, ‘Are they getting it?’ They did. When I read those messages from my children, I knew: ‘We’re going to be fine.’” Attorneys for both sides have submitted motions for summary judgment, which means they are
asking a judge to issue a ruling rather than take the case to trial. They will likely present oral arguments this fall. The judge’s ruling is expected soon after. If that decision prompts an appeal, “we’ll be standing with the Chief,” David says, “even if this goes all the way up to the Supreme Court.”
He has a heart—a love—for people. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want Kelvin in their corner.
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Carolyn Cochran
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here’s a scripture in Isaiah (59:19),” Kelvin says, “‘When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God will lift up a standard against him.’” For him and so many other Americans facing similar legal assaults on their faith, he says that, “it’s like the enemy’s coming in like a flood, out of nowhere. But the Spirit of God has lifted up a standard against it: Alliance Defending Freedom. “Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).” Kelvin encourages other Christian professionals, facing similar opposition for their faith, to remember that “this is a yoke, and it's a burden. But because it's His, and because He gives us support through Al-
liance Defending Freedom, it's a yoke that is easy, and it's a burden that is light. The spiritual, relational, and financial support they provide … just gives you a faith and confidence to bear it, to endure.” While his prospects for returning to firefighting seem slim, Kelvin’s main concern is not how this case will wrap up his career. He is more driven to win a decision that will keep other people of faith in government from being punished for their convictions. Even now, with his childhood dream in ashes, the passion that first sparked that dream still burns brightly in his heart. Like every good firefighter, he wants to help somebody.
Watch and share a video of Kelvin Cochran's story: ADFlegal.org/FJ-Chief 14
My View
How My College Tried to Silence My Pro-Life Group By Norvilia Etienne
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hen I was 16, I found out that my life almost ended before I was born. I’d almost been aborted, because of the circumstances surrounding my conception. This new revelation shocked me to the core and compelled me to re-examine my life. My anger turned into thanks — first to God for creating me, then to my beloved mother, who chose life in a difficult situation. Through prayer, I felt that God was calling me to start a pro-life club on my campus at Queens College. Though I resisted at first, a spiritual mentor encouraged me to trust in the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I thought answering that call would be the only barrier I would have to cross in order to start a pro-life club on campus. But I was wrong. The statistics show that women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies, especially during their college years, are likely to opt for an abortion. Despite the pro-abortion rhetoric of “choice,” women who find themselves in this position often feel that abortion is their only option. Young women need alternatives to abortion. They need the moral and material support that is often necessary to choose life. This is where we come in as Christians, to give them the choice of life. To point these women to the beauty and uniqueness of the life budding forth within them. To speak life into their lives and remind them that they are loved and that they are not alone. With this in mind, I started an exclusively pro-life club at Queens College in collaboration with Students for Life of America (SFLA). Any
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student at the college could join, regardless of religious affiliation. Initially, my college’s Student Life Office discouraged us from applying. We pushed forward, closely following the Queens College policy to become an official club on campus. After we submitted our application, we had a scheduled meeting to present the purposes of our club to a campus affairs committee. At that meeting, each of our board members spoke of the impact this club could have on our Queens College community. We mentioned our connection to a local pregnancy resource center and our plan to direct our pregnant students to tangible resources. We mentioned our goal to promote the culture of life at our college by educating our peers on the sanctity of human life. We even showed a video that explained the impact a club like ours could have on a student considering abortion and her baby. Unfortunately, the committee cut our presentation short and told us that we would hear back by the end of the day. The end of the day came and went. Other clubs received approval, but we heard nothing. After a week of waiting, I took matters into my own hands and contacted the head of the Student Development Department on the issue. She assured us that she’d investigate.
Donate to the Center for Academic Freedom’s work to establish a marketplace of ideas on college campuses for students and faculty: ADFlegal.org/FJ-Campus
I thought answering that call would be the only barrier I would have to cross in order to start a pro-life club on campus. But I was wrong.
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Norvilia Etienne The following Monday, we were informed that the committee had denied us official club status. When we asked for their reason for our denial, we were met with more silence. I then reached out to SFLA, which connected me with the attorneys at ADF’s Center for Academic Freedom. We filed suit against the college on January 25, 2017. And through God’s incredible sense of humor, Queens College reversed its decision and granted us official club status on January 27 — the same day of the 44th annual March for Life. I call that day “silent no more.” Since then, we’ve hit the ground running, meeting, holding an event on the college's main quad, and engaging our fellow students
with a pro-life voice they didn’t hear before. Despite our flyers being ripped off their posts, we’ve managed to change some hearts and minds through peaceful conversation. Our aim is to change many more. The case isn’t over. We are still denied equal treatment in student activity funding and even our club status could be taken away at any time under the existing policies. So we continue to press on with the help of ADF. But by God’s grace, the Queens College Students for Life Club is an official club on campus. And I am confident that lives will be saved because of His mercy. A version of this article first appeared on ADFlegal.org/blog on May 2, 2017.
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Q&A
Refuse to Be Intimidated Ben Shapiro on Why He Keeps Showing Up By Emily Conley
Ben Shapiro is Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Wire, host of The Ben Shapiro Show, nationally syndicated columnist, and author of seven books, including Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth. A Harvard Law grad, Shapiro currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. When California State University, Los Angeles tried to prevent Shapiro from speaking at a campus event and ordered university police to allow a mob of professors and students to physically block students from attending the speech, ADF filed suit on Shapiro’s behalf. In February 2017, the university settled and agreed to drop their discriminatory speech policies.
F&J: Your first book, Brainwashed, was about universities indoctrinating America’s youth, which you published at the age of 20. What changes have you seen since you first wrote it? Shapiro: So, when I wrote the book, it was largely about professors on campus who are cramming their point of view down students’ throats in the classroom. There was a chapter about student groups who are using taxpayer and student dollars to promote a leftist point of view. It really was not about violence; it wasn’t about intimidation on campus nearly as much. That has changed. In the last couple of years, it’s actually turned to violence and intimidation, attempts to shut down events, beating up people who are coming to see events, attempts to intimidate people into silence; that has escalated dramatically in the last couple of years.
Your views are going to be challenged some time in your life, so better to take your kids’ questions seriously.
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Ben Shapiro
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F&J: What do you think is behind that? Shapiro: I think what’s behind that is that there’s a newfound micro-aggression mentality that has taken root at the university level that says that any words with which I disagree are actually violence. The radicalization of the campuses based on political polarization and racial polarization has accelerated dramatically in the last three, four years. F&J: The Cal State LA event isn’t the only time that protestors have interrupted your speeches or tried to prevent you from speaking, and things got out of hand. Do you ever think when you’re invited somewhere to speak, “Maybe this time I’ll just stay home”? Shapiro: That’s never really occurred to me. It’s occurred to my wife more than it’s occurred to me. My wife, she understands that discretion is the better part of valor. But for me it tends to get my adrenaline going. It’s more occurred to me: “How do I go in there and demonstrate that I’m not going to be intimidated?” F&J: What drives you to keep speaking at these events? Shapiro: I think there are a number of people on both the Right and the Left who are interested in hearing a different point of view. So on the Right, I think there are people who feel they haven’t been represented, and they’re excited to hear somebody on campus representing them. I think on the Left, there’s still some open-
Find Ben Shapiro at The Daily Wire: www.dailywire.com Twitter: @benshapiro
versation. Two, sometimes they have something to say that I haven’t thought about, which is always interesting. And three, if they’re there to provoke or to be jerks, then it’s useful to use them as a foil for purposes of the audience, to see how empty some of the worst arguments of the Left are. F&J: As you think about the world that your kids are going to grow up in, what are your hopes for the state of free speech and civil debate to be when they are older? Shapiro: You know, again, I think that it depends on if there’s backlash to everything that’s going on in the country right now, or whether everybody just doubles down. There’s a high level of tribalism that’s broken out in American politics. People on the Left think people on the Right don’t have a right to speak, and in reaction, some people on the Right have said the same about people on the Left. I think if that reactionary nature doesn’t die down, it’s going to be very ugly for our kids. If people react to all this tribalism by saying, “Listen, we all need to take a step back and cool down. We’re all Americans, we can have these conversations without pillorying each other’s character.” If we can do that, then I’m hopeful. F&J: What values are you hoping to pass on to your kids, to help them navigate opposition in the future?
minded people who want to hear a different point of view, and they’re sort of shocked when I go in and I’m not some sort of, you know, fire-breathing provocateur. I’m much more somebody who speaks what I think is the truth, and that if it offends you, it offends you. But I’m not there deliberately to just tick you off. And I’ve gotten so many people on the Left who have e-mailed me over the course of the last couple of years, saying, “I went to your lecture, I was shocked that I actually agreed with most of what you were saying.” F&J: What motivates you to engage with your opposition? Shapiro: I think that it’s totally worthwhile to engage with people on the Left for three reasons. One, that sometimes they’re honest enough to want to have a con-
Shapiro: Honestly, I don’t even think it’s about preparing kids for opposition. I think it’s about preparing kids for life. I mean, your views are going to be challenged some time in your life, so better to take your kids’ questions seriously. I think my parents took my questions seriously, and that’s why I’ve always taken the questions of the Left seriously. That is very important for me to teach to my kids [a Judeo-Christian biblical worldview] and then provide a rational basis for as much of that as is humanly possible. F&J: What gives you hope for the future? Shapiro: Whenever I speak on campus, there’s a huge number of kids who are really inspired [and] interested. On both the Right and the Left, as I say, I think there are curious minds out there that are simply not being provided material by the Leftist university system.
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“ADF has always been there for us, and as God has greatly blessed us, our desire is for ADF to be there for others who so desperately need their help as well. We would like to encourage others to include ADF in their legacy plan.” —Tim & Carole S.
Pass on a legacy of freedom. Please contact Lisa Reschetnikow at 844-233-6692 or LegacyGiving@ADFlegal.org to discuss your legacy giving.