Religious liberty attorney Michael Farris has joined the National Religious Broadcasters as general counsel, the evangelical Christian trade group said Tuesday.
Mr. Farris, who stepped down last year after five years as president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, has taken on the part-time position to help defend member broadcasters and ministries from challenges including social media “deplatforming,” in which those holding traditional values are often blocked from reaching online communities.
“In the case of Twitter, we know that there was direct cooperation with the Government and Twitter” to restrict the social media activities of some groups and individuals, Mr. Farris, who remains a consultant to ADF, said in a telephone interview.
“The clear implication is that that’s likely with some of the other major media companies. And so when the government and such entities have a regular cooperative relationship, the First Amendment applies, even to the private agency. And so that transforms the bias of a social media company into a constitutional case,” he said.
The ADF has chalked up a string of successes at the Supreme Court and in other venues in cases involving religious liberty. It secured a victory for Colorado baker Jack Phillips and has argued on behalf of Denver website designer Lorie Smith, who wants to protect her business from being compelled to create products for same-sex couples.
NRB president and CEO Troy Miller told The Washington Times the group’s members face pressure from social media firms over expressing evangelical views.
“We’ve just seen the hostility towards religious freedom expand from the government sector, into particularly the corporate sector, and more specifically into social media, which is the medium to communicate today. That hostility has seen a number of our members deplatformed,” Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Farris said he had served on the NRB’s general board and its executive board, and saw an “unmet need” for a general counsel that occurred after attorney Craig Parshall left the post on April 29, 2020. The association has used outside counsel since then, Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Farris said the group will “definitely [play] a more activist role in amicus briefs and the like,” as opposed to undertaking “major litigation.”
Founded in 1944, the National Religious Broadcasters lists advocacy for Christian communicators as one of its three chief goals, along with equipping ministries to share their messages and offering training and encouragement to members.
