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This December, Double Your Impact with Our $600,000 Matching Grant

by Jorge Gomez  • 5 min read

December is here, and at First Liberty, this is one of our busiest and most important seasons. Much of our budget and plans are affected by your financial support during year end.

As we enter the final stretch of 2023, there are so many reasons to be hopeful. By God’s grace and your continued support, this has been a tremendously fruitful year. It’s astonishing that for the second year in a row, we secured two wins at the U.S. Supreme Court. And those two are just the tip of the iceberg in addition to all the other wins we secured in federal courts and communities across America.

There’s no denying God is at work. And the best part? We don’t think He’s finished yet.

For us, that means we can’t sit back. The battle is far from over. There’s still a lot of work ahead.

This December, you have a special opportunity to continue making an impact for religious freedom in America.

Your gift this month has DOUBLE THE IMPACT thanks to a $600,000 MATCHING GRANT!

Your support this month can help us maximize the incredible opportunities we have before us.

Right now, we have four cases approaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, we argued these cases in federal appeals courts, which sit just one level below the Supreme Court. A decision could come down at any time. Depending on the result, we could appeal to the nation’s highest court:

• Fire Chief Ron Hittle: After serving as a firefighter for over 20 years, our client was wrongfully fired because he went to a leadership conference that was held at a church. We argued on behalf of Chief Hittle back in March.
• Cambridge Christian School: We argued this case back in June. It involves two private Christian schools who were told they could not pray over the loudspeaker before the kickoff at their state championship football game.
• His Tabernacle Church: In March, our attorneys argued on behalf of His Tabernacle Family Church. First Liberty challenged New York’s discriminatory prohibition on firearms at places of worship, while it allows comparable secular organizations to establish their own policies.
• Spivack v. City of Philadelphia: On Nov. 29, we argued for Rachel Spivack. She worked at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, which required vaccinations, but allowed for religious or medical exemptions. She applied for an accommodation because her Orthodox Jewish faith prohibits her from being vaccinated. But the DA denied her request and fired her. Even worse, 10 other employees were allowed to keep working without being vaccinated.

These are just the cases we’re fighting at the highest level. Over the last several weeks, we’ve had our hands full with several new cases, including:

• California Charter Schools: Federal lawsuit filed to stop California’s religious discrimination
• Jace Yarbrough: Space Force reservist punished for speech at retirement ceremony
• Heather Rooks: Federal lawsuit filed after she was told she can’t quote the Bible
• Coach Hugh Freeze: Defending him from recent attacks for going to a worship event
• White Rock Chapel: Texas city won’t allow congregation to renovate property

And of course, we’re still in the thick of several major cases to stop religious discrimination in the workplace:

• Valerie Kloosterman, fired by University of Michigan Health for seeking a religious accommodation from using biology-obscuring pronouns and referring patients for “gender reassignment” drugs.
• Robyn Strader, fired from CVS MinuteClinic because of her beliefs about when life begins.
• Dr. Johnson Varkey, fired from St. Philip’s College for teaching basic biology and saying that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes.
• Lacey Smith, fired by Alaska Airlines for expressing her religious views and respectfully asking questions about the company’s support for the Equality Act.

Plus, stay tuned because we anticipate announcing some very important cases later this month.

The holidays are often our busiest time of year. We have so many new and ongoing legal battles, and the stakes are higher than ever. Decisions in these cases will affect houses of worship, religious schools, coaches, teachers and public employees. They’ll affect military service members. They’ll affect workers. They’ll impact affect everyday Americans—including YOU, your children and your grandchildren.

We are winning. But we’re not finished. We need your support. Now is the time to press in to ensure our rights remain protected. Can we count on your continued support this December to help keep our streak alive?