Alan Sears: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 1: {{short description|American lawyer}} {{Infobox person | name = Alan Sears | image = | | | | | | | |
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}} '''Alan E. Sears''' is an American lawyer. He served as the [[president (corporate title)|president]], [[Chief executive officer|CEO]], and general counsel of the [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] until January 2017. Sears was also the staff executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, popularly known as the [[Meese Commission]]. ==Education, faith, and family== Sears graduated with a bachelor's degree from the [[University of Louisville]].<ref name="Legatus"/> He earned a Sears was raised in the Baptist church, but converted to Roman Catholicism in 1988 before marrying his wife, Paula.<ref name="Register" /> Line 46 ⟶ 41: ===Government=== Sears served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office for western Kentucky. During his time as a federal prosecutor Sears served as staff executive director of the [[Meese Commission|Attorney General's Commission on Pornography]] also known as the [[Meese Commission]]. This commission was established by Attorney General [[William French Smith]] at the direction of President Reagan in early 1985. The commission became popularly known as the [[Meese Commission]] after [[Edwin Meese III]], Smith's successor, announced the names of its eleven members in May 1985. Although he was not a voting member, Sears was influential on the commission and vigorously supported strengthening anti-obscenity laws.<ref name="Legatus">{{cite news |last=Ferrisi |first=Sabrina Arena |date=1 November 2014 |title=Fighting the good fight |url=http://www.legatusmagazine.org/tag/pope-john-paul-ii/ |newspaper=Legatus |location=United States |access-date=14 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="E1">{{cite book |last=Vaughn |first=Stephen |date=2006 |title=Freedom and Entertainment: Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media |url=https://archive.org/details/freedomentertain0000vaug |url-access=registration |quote=alan sears pornography. |location=United Kingdom |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/freedomentertain0000vaug/page/126 126] |isbn=0521676541 |access-date=13 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="Register">{{cite news |last=McFeely |first=Tom |title=Alliance Defense Fund's Chief Convert |url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/alliance-defense-funds-chief-convert/ |newspaper=National Catholic Register |location=United States |access-date=14 April 2015 |archive-date=4 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504173454/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/alliance-defense-funds-chief-convert |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sears served as associate solicitor under Secretary [[Donald P. Hodel|Donald Hodel]] at the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]].{{ ===Alliance Defending Freedom=== Sears led the [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] (ADF), a [[Christian right]] legal advocacy group<ref name="Eckholm" /> founded in 1994,<ref name="Register" /> for more than twenty years. Under his leadership, the ADF won a string of victories in lawsuits on behalf of the conservative Christian movement.<ref name="Eckholm">Erik Eckholm, "Legal Alliance Gains Host of Court Victories for Conservative Christian Movement", ''New York Times'' (May 11, 2014).</ref> By 2014, the ADF had an annual budget of $40 million and more than 40 staff attorneys, and had "emerged as the largest legal force of the religious right, arguing hundreds of pro bono cases across the country."<ref name="Eckholm"/> Sears retired as ADF's president and CEO in 2017.<ref>[https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/press-release-details/adf-founder-alan-sears-named-2017-wilberforce-award-recipient ADF Founder Alan Sears named 2017 Wilberforce Award recipient], Alliance Defending Freedom (press release) (May 23, 2017).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Chronicle of Philanthropy|url=https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Ex-Clinton-Foundation-CEO/238957|last=Stricklan|first=Anais|date=January 27, 2017}}</ref> However, he continued to be an employee of ADF until 2020, when he earned $800,000 in the role of "Founder."<ref name = irs2020>{{cite web | url = https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541660459 | publisher = ProPublica | title = IRS Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax | date = May 18, 2021 | access-date = March 21, 2022 | archive-date = April 25, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220425042116/https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541660459 | url-status = live }}</ref> In June 2017, Sears was named a knight of the [[Order of St. Gregory the Great|Papal Order of St. Gregory]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/breaking-news-alan-sears-religious-liberty-advocate-named-papal-order-st-gregory|title=Alan Sears, religious liberty advocate, named to Papal Order of St. Gregory|journal=Catholic Business Journal|access-date=2017-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915114107/https://catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/breaking-news-alan-sears-religious-liberty-advocate-named-papal-order-st-gregory|archive-date=2017-09-15|url-status=dead}}</ref> ==Writing== Sears has co-written two books with Craig Osten, both published by the [[Southern Baptist Convention]]'s media and distribution division [[LifeWay Christian Resources#Publishing|B&H Publishing Group]].
Sears and Osten also co-wrote ''The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values,'' published in 2005.<ref>{{cite book | title = The ACLU vs. America| last1 = Sears | first1 = Alan | last2 = Osten | first2 = Craig | date = 2003 | url = https://books.google.com/books/about/The_ACLU_vs_America.html | access-date = August 12, 2023}}</ref>
▲This 2003 book was described by the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] as "an anti-LGBT call to arms that links homosexuality to pedophilia and other 'disordered sexual behavior.'"<ref name="SPLCRL">{{cite web|title='Religious Liberty' and the Anti-LGBT Right|url=https://www.splcenter.org/20160211/religious-liberty-and-anti-lgbt-right#adf|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Council|accessdate=14 May 2016|date=11 February 2016}}</ref> The book was accused of claiming that allowing same-sex marriage was a part of a secret agenda by activists to “lead young men and women into homosexual behavior”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/jeff-sessions-religious-liberty-task-force-part-dangerous-christian-nationalist-ncna895941|title = Opinion | Jeff Sessions' new "religious liberty task force" is a dangerous sham}}</ref> and trap them in a homosexual lifestyle. The book also accused gay-rights advocates as trying to create a nation of “broken families and broken lives.”<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/us/legal-alliance-gains-host-of-court-victories-for-conservative-christian-movement.html|title=Legal Alliance Gains Host of Court Victories for Conservative Christian Movement|newspaper=The New York Times|date=12 May 2014|last1=Eckholm|first1=Erik}}</ref> ==Bibliography== Line 75 ⟶ 68: ==External links== * {{Cite web |url=http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/leadership |title=Alliance Defense Fund's Biography for Alan Sears |access-date=2011-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621183251/http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/leadership |archive-date=2012-06-21 |url-status=bot: unknown }} * {{C-SPAN| {{Alliance Defending Freedom}} | |||