The Real Agenda Behind Liberty Counsel’s ‘Religious Liberty’ Campaigns
The name sounds comforting, doesn't it? Liberty Counsel. It brings to mind our founding fathers, freedom, the constitutional protections we hold dear as Americans. And when they tell you they're fighting for religious liberty and traditional family values, it feels like they're on your side.
But if you're a parent trying to do right by your child while staying true to your faith, you need to know what Liberty Counsel is really fighting for—and it's not what they're telling you.
Quick Summary: What You Need to Know About Liberty Counsel
Founded in 1989, Liberty Counsel calls itself a defender of religious freedom but has been designated as an extremist organization
They supported making private, consensual relationships between adults a criminal offense and defended those laws internationally
They were involved in a case where a mother kidnapped her own child to prevent court-ordered custody with the child's other parent
They've manufactured fake controversies to raise money
Their leader has called for revolution when courts rule against them—rejecting our entire legal system when it doesn't go their way
Like ADF, they oppose laws protecting minors from "conversion therapy" despite overwhelming evidence these practices cause harm
A Deceptive Foundation
Liberty Counsel was founded by Mathew "Mat" Staver and his wife Anita, with close ties to Liberty University and its law school. They present themselves as a nonprofit organization providing free legal help to Christians whose religious expression is being trampled by secular society. On the surface, that mission resonates with many of us who feel our values are under attack.
But look closer at their actual work, and a troubling pattern emerges. Their leadership has made baseless claims comparing people who experience same-sex attraction to those who harm children. They've opposed basic protections for vulnerable people under the guise of defending faith. And they've used religious dogma not to protect families, but to restrict the rights and dignity of folks from all walks of life.
This isn't religious liberty. It's religious dogma weaponized for political power.
The "Conversion Therapy" Crusade
Like their colleagues at Alliance Defending Freedom, Liberty Counsel has been a vocal opponent of laws protecting minors from "conversion therapy"—the discredited practice of trying to change who someone is attracted to or how they see themselves inside.
In 2003, Liberty Counsel filed a brief in *Lawrence v. Texas* calling for the Supreme Court to uphold laws criminalizing private, consensual behavior between adults. In their brief, attorneys including Mat Staver himself argued that states should keep "the power to enact statutes that proscribe [sic] harmful and immoral conduct." They made unfounded medical claims to justify their position, using fear and pseudoscience instead of actual evidence.
The Supreme Court disagreed, striking down these laws as unconstitutional. But Liberty Counsel's position was clear: they wanted the government involved in the most private aspects of people's lives, dictating what folks could and couldn't do in their own homes.
Now ask yourself: is that small government? Is that individual liberty? Or is it the exact opposite—government intrusion into private life, justified by one group's interpretation of scripture?
Made-Up Crises
In 2000, Liberty Counsel threatened to sue a public library in Jacksonville, Florida, because the library held a party featuring readings from Harry Potter books and gave children certificates referencing "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" – the fictional school from the beloved children's books.
Mat Staver claimed this violated the First Amendment, arguing that "Witchcraft is a religion" and the library was endorsing it. Never mind that the witchcraft in Harry Potter is entirely fictional. Never mind that millions of Christian families around the world read these books with their children without any threat to their faith.
Liberty Counsel was willing to waste taxpayer money and harass a public library over a children's book party.
This wasn't about protecting religious freedom. It was about imposing one narrow view of faith on everyone else, even when it meant attacking harmless community events that brought joy to children.
In 2005, they issued angry press releases about an elementary school in Wisconsin that allegedly "changed the lyrics" of "Silent Night" for a school play. The Washington Post investigated and found that the school hadn't changed anything—the play itself featured the original lyrics. But facts didn't matter. Liberty Counsel had created a narrative of persecution that they could fundraise off of.
This pattern repeats constantly. Create outrage over threats that don't exist. Rally faithful supporters. Raise money. Launch legal campaigns. Whether the threats are real becomes irrelevant—what matters is keeping folks scared and angry enough to keep writing checks.
When Liberty Counsel Calls for Revolution
As equal protections for all Americans advanced through the courts, Mat Staver's words became increasingly extreme. In March 2015, he stated that he would personally encourage folks to disobey any Supreme Court ruling supporting marriage equality, declaring that "collectively, we cannot accept that as the rule of law."
Think about what he's saying: when the highest court in the land rules in a way Liberty Counsel disagrees with, they believe Americans should simply ignore it. This isn't a defense of religious liberty – it's a rejection of our entire legal system when it doesn't align with their agenda.
Staver has compared people advocating for equal treatment under the law to terrorists. He's called for what amounts to a new revolutionary war over civil rights protections. And he's done all of this while claiming to defend traditional American values and the rule of law.
The contradiction couldn't be starker. Liberty Counsel demands that courts uphold their interpretation of religious freedom, but when courts rule against them, they call for citizens to disregard those very same courts. They want the authority of law when it benefits them and revolution when it doesn't.
The Kidnapping Case That Revealed Everything
Perhaps no case better shows Liberty Counsel's true character than their involvement in the Lisa Miller custody dispute. Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel attorney Rena Lindevaldsen represented Miller, who claimed to have walked away from her same-sex attraction and began a custody battle over the child she had with her former partner, Janet Jenkins.
Under Liberty Counsel's guidance, Miller repeatedly denied court-ordered visitations. Then, after legal custody was granted to Jenkins, Miller fled the country with the child—an act of kidnapping that kept Jenkins separated from her daughter for years.
Lindevaldsen later wrote a book about the case, using it to promote the idea that people could leave behind same-sex attraction and that equal protection under the law posed a danger. One of Staver's business associates, Philip Zodhiates, was eventually indicted for conspiracy in helping Miller flee with the child.
This wasn't religious liberty in action. This was helping someone kidnap a child to prevent that child from having a relationship with a parent who had legal custody. All in the name of "protecting" family values.
What This Means for Your Family
When Liberty Counsel fights against laws protecting minors from "conversion therapy," they're not protecting your parental rights. They're protecting the ability of licensed professionals to practice unproven, potentially harmful interventions on vulnerable kids.
Research consistently shows that approaches attempting to change a young person's orientation or how they see themselves don't work. You can't talk someone out of being who they are inside. But you can create profound harm in the attempt—anxiety, depression, damaged family relationships, and self-hatred that can follow a person for life.
Laws protecting minors from these practices exist for the same reason we have laws preventing doctors from prescribing snake oil: to ensure that licensed professionals uphold evidence-based standards of care, not whatever unproven theory they personally believe.
Liberty Counsel calls these protections "government overreach." But protecting children from harmful, ineffective treatments isn't overreach—it's basic consumer protection extended to some of the most vulnerable among us during some of the most consequential moments of their development.
The Broader Threat to All Families
Liberty Counsel's legal strategies don't just affect families with kids who are struggling with questions about who they are. The precedents they're trying to set would give licensed professionals unprecedented power to practice virtually any intervention behind closed doors, calling it "religious liberty" or "free speech."
Do we want a future where a therapist could promote ending a pregnancy based on personal beliefs rather than medical best practices—and call it protected speech? Where counselors could actively encourage deeply harmful behaviors and claim religious freedom? Where the therapeutic relationship, built on trust and professional standards, becomes whatever ideology the practitioner happens to hold?
That's the world Liberty Counsel is fighting to create. And they're using families like yours—families seeking guidance during difficult times—as the vehicle to get there.
Main Takeaway For Those Seeking Support For The Child They Love
Organizations that tear apart families are not the solution. You need accurate information about what works and what doesn't when your child is struggling with difficult questions. You need resources that respect both your faith and your child's wellbeing.
What you don't need is an organization that has threatened libraries over children's books, helped someone kidnap a child to avoid a custody order, called for revolution when courts don't rule their way, and consistently prioritized ideology over the actual needs of families.
Liberty Counsel speaks the language of faith and freedom. But their actions reveal an agenda that has nothing to do with protecting your family and everything to do with accumulating power—legal, political, and cultural power that comes at the expense of vulnerable kids and confused parents looking for help.
Parents who've trusted similar organizations have learned devastating lessons. They were promised that certain approaches would bring peace to their families. Instead, they got broken relationships, deepened pain, and children who felt more alone than ever.
Brandon Boulware, a Christian father who initially sought to change his son, said it plainly: "I spent years trying to change my child instead of loving him as he was. When I finally let go of my fear and let him be who God made him to be, I got my son back."
That's what real faith looks like. That's what protecting your family actually means.
Liberty Counsel would have you believe that loving your child as they are represents a failure of faith. But countless parents of faith have learned otherwise. They've learned that sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is trust that God doesn't make mistakes—and that includes the child standing in front of us, asking for our love and support through a confusing time.
Your family deserves better than organizations that use religious language to justify practices that harm kids and tear families apart. You deserve resources created by parents who've walked this path. You deserve accurate information about what actually helps and what actually hurts.
Most importantly, you deserve to be the primary decision-maker in your child's life—not a legal organization, not someone practicing unproven methods, and not a movement that sees your family as a means to an end.
Liberty Counsel is counting on you not looking too closely at their actual record. They're counting on the appeal of their name and their messaging to override questions about what they've really accomplished and whom they've really hurt along the way.
Don't let them. Your child is depending on you to see through the words and find real solutions that honor both your values and your child's wellbeing. Because at the end of the day, that's what faith is really about—not legal campaigns and political power, but love, protection, and the wisdom to tell the difference between those who actually help families and those who exploit them.