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The ACLU is the American Civil Liberties Union, which was run for its first 30 years by a Unitarian socialist named Roger Baldwin, who helped found it in 1920 in response to the [[Espionage Act]] and [[Sedition Act]].  During most his tenure at the ACLU Baldwin was sympathetic to the communist movement, only breaking off ties on the eve of World War II.   

The ACLU is the American Civil Liberties Union, which was run for its first 30 years by a Unitarian socialist named Roger Baldwin, who helped found it in 1920 in response to the [[Espionage Act]] and [[Sedition Act]].  During most his tenure at the ACLU Baldwin was sympathetic to the communist movement, only breaking off ties on the eve of World War II.   

Some conservative Christians claim that the ACLU has used the legal system to purge Christianity from public life, so much so that some conservatives refer to it as the "Anti-Christian Liberties Union."  For example, the ACLU has made numerous demands and filed lawsuits to remove the Ten Commandments and Christian crosses from public places and symbols. However, the ACLU has defended Christians in a number of cases. One prominent example was where the ACLU fought to allow a Christian student to have a Biblical passage on the student's yearbook page.[http://www.aclu.org/studentsrights/expression/12845prs20040511.html]

Some conservative Christians claim that the ACLU has used the legal system to purge Christianity from public life, so much so that some conservatives refer to it as the "Anti-Christian Liberties Union."  For example, the ACLU has made numerous demands and filed lawsuits to remove the Ten Commandments and Christian crosses from public places and symbols. The ACLU also opposes and has stopped prayers at graduations and football games.

In Pennsylvania, the ACLU was involved in the recent [[Dover trial]] where the ACLU sided with the plaintiffs who argued that the [[Intelligent design]] was inherently religious and unscientific.

In a very rare example of an ACLU chapter siding with a Christian student, the ACLU of Michigan (which has no connection with other ACLU organizations) defended a Christian student seeking to have a Biblical passage on the student's yearbook page.[http://www.aclu.org/studentsrights/expression/12845prs20040511.html]

 

Typical of ACLU litigation was its expenditure of millions of dollars on the [[Dover trial]] in order to prohibit an elected school board from introducing public school students to concepts or books concerning [[Intelligent design]].  At the end of this case the trial judge, who copied extensively from the ACLU's brief in writing his opinion, approved an order requiring the school board to reimburse the seven-figure ACLU legal expenses.  The judge also prohibited any mention of [[Intelligent design]] by teachers in the public school.