Ed Vitagliano
AFA Journal news editor
March 2015 – For Bill Becker, it started in 2003 with a question.
“You’re a lawyer,” his pastor said. “Why did the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors vote to remove the image of a cross from the county’s official seal?”
Becker had been aware of the culture war against Christianity – such as the “War on Christmas” and the legal attacks against the public display of the Ten Commandments.
As for his pastor’s request for a legal explanation of the local issue, rather than an ideological one, Becker said he was forced to confess ignorance. With the exception of law school and bar exam questions, he had absolutely no constitutional law background.
His pastor asked him to look into the legal issues and then conduct a Bible study class on it.
Becker’s interest in the controversy soon piqued. As he researched the ACLU’s attack on the Los Angeles County seal, he told AFA Journal, “It made my blood boil.” The image of a cross in the seal – along with other imagery – was simply representing a historical fact: Los Angeles was founded by Franciscan missionaries and named after St. Mary of the Angels, the church where St. Francis of Assisi ministered.
There was something else driving Becker, too. As the county board of supervisors held hearings, he said he was amazed at the number of people, including Jews and atheists, who pleaded with county officials not to remove the cross.
“Those citizens who took the time to head downtown and confront our government leaders were driven by a passion I hadn’t before tasted but which left a lasting impression on me,” he said. “Inspired by their civic bravado, I made a decision to take my pastor’s proposal to lead a Bible study class one step further: If the ACLU could sue to remove the cross, then I could sue [the ACLU] to keep it.”
Becker did exactly that. Since he had no experience handling this type of litigation, he began making phone calls to those who did.
“Like many people, I had been completely unaware that lawyers were standing boldly against the Left’s agenda,” Becker said. “In short order I would be introduced to the leaders of a nationwide network of lawyers whose purpose it is to serve God’s glory and defend America’s cherished Judeo-Christian values. I felt called to join them.”
Even though Los Angeles’ officials ignored the opinions of a vast number of local citizens, and even though Becker’s lawsuit eventually lost, there was no turning back for the attorney. Defending America’s religious foundations and preserving religious liberty would become his passion – and his fight.
“The experience [with the Los Angeles county seal] had awakened a sleeping lion within me,” he said. “My career took a sharp and sudden turn. Soon, I would be representing Christians who had lost their jobs because their employers would not accommodate their Sunday morning worship conviction; Messianic Jews who would be jailed for distributing gospel literature; a 7th grade student who was told to replace her pro-life t-shirt with a ‘less offensive’ t-shirt; and others who were discriminated against simply for expressing their Christian values.”
Then in 2013, after building a decade-long record of pro bono service dedicated to protecting those values, Becker formed Freedom X, a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal and educational organization. The organization’s name, “Freedom X,” is an abridgment of the term “freedom of expression.”
“Our job is to take a stand for righteousness, to bring it into our schools, our offices, our places of leisure, and even our places of worship,” he said. “We do so at great risk, but it is a risk we must take. Freedom X will represent any believer whose faith is challenged or whose livelihood is put in jeopardy.”
Freedom X currently is in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the ban of a 60-year tradition of displaying Nativity scenes in Palisades Park in Santa Monica, California, at Christmastime. It is also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a 9th Circuit ruling allowing public schools to ban the wearing of American flag apparel on Cinco de Mayo, a case with enormous implications for preserving the meaning of our flag as a symbol of freedom and national unity. 
To learn more about the legal cases in which Freedom X has been and is involved, or to contact the organization for information or legal aid, visit freedomxlaw.com.
