ADF chief counsel to speak at World Congress of Families in Amsterdam
Benjamin Bull to speak at event, despite intimidation of participants by opponentsFriday, August 07, 2009
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Alliance Defense Fund Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull will be available for media interviews during his participation Wednesday in an international gathering of pro-family advocates, leaders, scholars, and parliamentarians Aug. 10-12 in Amsterdam. The Alliance Defense Fund is a partnership level member of the biennial event, named World Congress of Families V, whose participants have undergone threats and intimidation in the days leading up to the event.
The theme of this year’s event is “Families: More Than the Sum of Its Parts.” Bull will speak on the subject of the importance of religious liberty and freedom of speech to the family and related international legal issues. He will be available for media interviews Wednesday immediately before his presentation and after 3 p.m. CEST.
“Religious liberty and freedom of speech are essential human rights that should be protected by governments around the world,” said Bull. “Specifically, attacks against any expression of religious beliefs opposing homosexual behavior have often taken the form of ‘hate speech’ and ‘nondiscrimination’ laws designed to silence or destroy religion-based opposition. If such laws are left unchecked, the result--as we have often seen--is the criminalization of orthodox Christian expression and moral teaching.”
The World Congress of Families is self-described as “the premier gathering of pro-family forces from around the globe.” In previous years, the event has been held in Prague, Geneva, Mexico City, and Warsaw. Opponents of this year’s event have attempted to intimidate participants, most recently through the use of vandalism by painting obscenities and anti-Christian slogans on the exterior walls of the Amsterdam offices of EuroCongress, the organization planning the event.
“The pretense of tolerance is clearly over and has been for some time,” said Bull. “These acts of intimidation reveal the hypocrisy of such groups, which often say they want to promote ‘tolerance.’ Nothing could be further from the truth, and those of us participating in this event will not be intimidated by such universally condemned tactics.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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ABOUT Benjamin Bull
Benjamin W. Bull, Esquire, is an executive vice-president at the Alliance Defense Fund who serves as executive director of ADF-Global. He supervises the international activities for ADF primarily from its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A. Bull practices in the area of international human rights law and works to prevent the development of adverse foreign precedents and their importation to the U.S. He joined ADF in 2001 as chief counsel and has practiced in the area of American constitutional law and international religious liberties. Bull is an active member of the bars of Arizona, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has had several cases decided at the U.S. Supreme Court. Bull has practiced law since 1975 and obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina Law Center.