Grateful Hearts; Empty Seats

This Thanksgiving, the ACLJ team has much to be thankful for. We've been deeply engaged in many of the most critical issues facing our nation, and we've been blessed to win victory after victory.

Seven times we've challenged the ObamaCare abortion-pill mandate, and seven times we've won injunctions.

We re-opened the World War II Memorial when the Obama Administration maliciously closed it in the midst of the government shutdown.

We challenged the IRS directly, not just representing 41 conservative groups in 22 states in federal court, but assisting dozens of groups in gaining exemptions in spite of IRS harassment 

We helped stop President Obama's unconstitutional recess appointments.

We won victories for persecuted Christians even in Pakistan, where we saved Christians from near-certain death.

Away from the headlines, we've won victories here at home, including a recent win after a week-long trial that protected a Christian home for the disabled from blatant government discrimination.

But while we're grateful for these victories, we're mindful that, this Thanksgiving, there is an empty seat in Idaho -- where Pastor Saeed should sit, with his family. Thanks to your unprecedented outpouring of support, his case has been raised at the highest levels, both nationally and internationally. But he remains in prison, and -- even worse -- he was left behind by the Obama Administration when it made the recent nuclear "deal" with Iran.

We will not rest until Pastor Saeed is free.  Nor will we rest in our relentless defense of the persecuted church worldwide.  So, as we sit down to our tables this Thanksgiving, let's remember the empty place in Idaho and the empty places at tables around the world, where families grieve for Christian brothers, sisters, husbands, fathers, and mothers -- all lost in the worst wave of anti-Christian persecution in centuries.

We're grateful, but we're resolved -- resolved that next year a few more of those empty seats will be filled, and even in our own comfort we will not forget the suffering of the persecuted.

May you have a blessed and meaningful Thanksgiving.