Editing Alliance Defending Freedom (section)

===Founding===
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 125
| footer            = Co-founders of Alliance Defense Fund, the predecessor to Alliance Defending Freedom
| image1            = Bill and Vonette Bright.jpg
| caption1          = [[Bill Bright|Bill]] and [[Vonette Bright]]
| image2            = James Dobson 1.jpg
| caption2          = [[James Dobson]]
| image3            = 
| caption3          = [[D. James Kennedy]]
}}

The Alliance Defense Fund was founded by members of the [[Christian right]] movement to prevent what its founders saw as threats to religious liberty in American society.{{ r | bennett | eckholm }} ADF was incorporated in 1993<ref name= corp/> by six conservative Christian men, most of whom belonged to [[evangelical Christian|evangelical]] movements.<ref name="nbc" /> The co-founders were [[Bill Bright]], who also founded [[Campus Crusade for Christ]]; [[Larry Burkett]]; [[James Dobson]], founder of [[Focus on the Family]]; [[D. James Kennedy]], founder of [[Coral Ridge Ministries]]; [[Marlin Maddoux]]; [[Mark D. Siljander|Mark Siljander]]; and [[Alan Sears]].<ref name="church-honor" /> ADF is a tax-exempt [[501(c)(3)]] organization.<ref name="irseo" /> 

In its early years, Alliance Defense Fund funded legal cases rather than litigating directly. It particularly targeted the work of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], which its founders saw as contributing to an erosion of [[Christian values]].{{ r | eckholm | vile-adf | McFeely | aclu-agenda}}