Pervasive Religious Hostility in U.S. Irrefutable According to New, Extensive Survey

Family Research Council and Liberty Institute Release 'Survey of Religious Hostility in America,' Containing More Than 600 Alarming Attacks on Religious Faith

TAMPA, Fla. - Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council, two organizations committed to protecting and advancing religious liberty rights in the U.S., have joined to release The Survey of Religious Hostility in America - a compilation of more than 600 documented incidents of hostility to religion that have occurred in the United States most of them over the last 10 years.

The organizations' presidents, Kelly Shackelford and Tony Perkins (Perkins will serve on the Republican platform committee) will present the survey and its findings on Monday, August 20 at 1:00 PM EST during platform week of the Republican National Convention at the Marriott Waterside Hotel, Tampa, FL.

Shackelford said: "America today would be unrecognizable to our Founders. Our First Liberty is facing a relentless onslaught from well-funded and aggressive groups and individuals who are using the courts, Congress, and the vast federal bureaucracy to suppress and limit religious freedom. This radicalized minority is driven by an anti-religious ideology that is turning the First Amendment upside down."

Perkins said: "As dark as this survey is, there is much light. The secularists' agenda only advances when those who love liberty are apathetic. Let this be a call to stand for religious liberty in the United States."

WHO:

Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO, Liberty Institute

Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

WHAT: Press conference to release The Survey of Religious Hostility in America

WHERE:

Grand Ballroom foyer, outside of the Grand Ballroom on the second floor of the Marriott Waterside Hotel, Tampa, FL

WHEN: Monday, August 20, at 1 PM ET

The public can view and download for free The Survey of Religious Hostility in America in its entirety at www.religioushostility.org, beginning Aug. 17.

The Survey of Religious Hostility in America grew out of testimony Shackelford, along with a number of Liberty Institute's clients, provided to the U.S. Senate about the growing religious hostility in America . Because the opposition insisted these select testimonies were simply isolated incidents, Senators Kennedy and Cornyn asked Liberty Institute to provide additional information, which led to the development of the first hostilities document.

While the survey provides irrefutable evidence of growing numbers and severity of offenses to religious freedom in U.S. churches, schools and in the public arena, it also shows that those persons and organizations that stand up for religious liberty are winning.