In regard to Mr. Butler's charge

that The Rutherford Institute is not dedicated to the defense of civil

liberties and human rights "in the comprehensive sense," Mr.

Butler has only to visit The Rutherford Institute's website, www.rutherford.org ,

to see how far off track he is. The Institute has a long history of standing

in defense of the U.S. Constitution.

And while we do handle a number

of cases involving religious freedom issues, our volunteer attorneys have

also provided pro-bono assistance to individuals whose civil liberties

have been violated, whether in regard to free speech, parents' rights,

sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, equal access, privacy, and

search and seizure, among others in other words, all the freedoms guaranteed

in the Bill of Rights.

Furthermore, while I commend

Mr. Butler on his championing of the ACLU our organizations have worked

together on a number of issues, and we have great respect for their work

we disagree on the degree to which individuals should be able to express

their religious beliefs in public.

In that capacity, attorneys

for The Rutherford Institute defended the constitutional right of the

parents of Columbine victims to express their religious beliefs in a memorial

to their children when the alleged threat of ACLU intervention caused

the school to restrict those rights and would do so again, should the

need arise.

While Mr. Butler certainly

has a constitutional right to express his opinions freely, I would suggest

that before he makes any more scurrilous accusations, he should research

the object of his attacks a little more thoroughly.

Nisha N. Mohammed

Media Coordinator

The Rutherford Institute

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