\n\tIn a world inundated with worthy causes, one of the greatest challenges for nonprofits today is finding a way to make their voices heard. Getting a message
\n\tout—let alone having it resonate—is difficult enough, but it is particularly daunting when you choose the fast-paced, short-attention-spanned environment
\n\tof social media to deliver it. And yet the American Center for Law and Justice\u2019s Be Heard Project has been incredibly successful in doing just that. Since
\n\tthe advocacy campaign launched in September 2013, the ACLJ has gained more than 20,500 unique \u201clikes\u201d on the campaign\u2019s dedicated Facebook page,
\n\tapproximately 1,400 followers on its Be Heard Twitter account, and, most important, has been enormously effective in bringing attention and action to the
\n\tneeds of several individuals imprisoned for no other reason than their minority religious beliefs.<\/p>\n
\n\tA little background: The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is a d\/b\/a for Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, Inc., a tax-exempt,
\n\tnot-for-profit, religious corporation as defined under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. A socially and politically conservative advocacy
\n\torganization, the ACLJ was established in defense of constitutional liberties secured by United States law. The ACLJ Web site notes that the organization
\n\tis \u201cspecifically dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights. The center\u2019s purpose is to engage
\n\tlegal, legislative and cultural issues by implementing an effective strategy of advocacy, education, and litigation to ensure that those rights are
\n\tprotected under the law.\u201d* Founded in 1990, the advocacy organization has participated in numerous cases before the Supreme Court, federal court of
\n\tappeals, federal district courts, various state courts, and international tribunals around the globe; all in cases regarding freedom of religion and
\n\tfreedom of speech.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2012, before the creation of the Be Heard Project, the ACLJ launched \u201cTweet for Youcef,\u201d a social media advocacy effort that permitted people to grant
\n\tthe organization access to their Twitter account to send a single tweet a day to the individual\u2019s followers on behalf of Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian man
\n\twho had been sentenced to death for apostasy and refusing to convert from Islam to Christianity and refusing to renounce his new faith.<\/p>\n
\n\tAccording to Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the ACLJ, \u201cthe campaign ultimately reached more than 3 million individual Twitter followers
\n\ton a daily basis, spanning more than 160 countries, and allowed people all over the world immediate access to the plight of Pastor Youcef, and to activate
\n\ttheir individual networks to advocate on his behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFollowing the eventual release of Pastor Youcef, it became clear to the ACLJ that the Internet provided a portal through which the world could access ways
\n\tto engage on behalf of the persecuted church. It was from this background that the ACLJ advocacy team birthed the idea for the Be Heard Project. Resonating
\n\twith the Pew Forum\u2019s 2013 statistics that 60 percent of American adults use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and 67 percent of 18- to
\n\t24-year-olds engage in political or civic activities on these sites, the Be Heard Project has been exclusively online. The ACLJ recognized an audience with
\n\tuntapped potential for action and immediately went to work. Says Barrans, \u201cAs the world, and especially the younger more tech-savvy generations, tune in to
\n\tglobal persecution of religious minorities, we at the ACLJ recognized the value in establishing the Be Heard Project as a way to engage people in new and
\n\tinventive ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Be Heard campaign Web site offers multiple ways for individuals to get involved, including real-time petitions and pregenerated Facebook posts and
\n\tTwitter tweets. There are call-to-action videos featuring such popular Christian musical artists as Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Toby Mac, Michael W. Smith,
\n\tthe Newsboys, and Steven Curtis Chapman; a short ACLJ-produced documentary entitled \u201cLet My People Go\u201d was just recently released. It provides
\n\tbehind-the-scenes, in-depth coverage of the powerful stories of the persecuted victims and those fighting for their freedom.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn addition to the dedicated campaign Web site, there is also a Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube Channel. The ACLJ employs an in- house media
\n\tteam that produces their video and social media content on behalf of the cases they represent. Barrans notes that while the talent and time necessary to
\n\tcreate these advocacy tools is significant, their influence is substantial. \u201cThe videos we\u2019ve produced have received hundreds of thousands of views on
\n\tYouTube and Facebook. These views directly raise awareness, and viewers frequently respond to our request to take direct action for the persecuted. The
\n\tengagement has been very encouraging, and continues to confirm the need for the Be Heard Project.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Be Heard Project excels at \u201cputting a face on the facts.\u201d The home page of the campaign Web site features \u201cCurrent Cases,\u201d which spotlight the personal \n\tThe campaign is currently focused on the plight of Saeed Abedini, an American citizen and Christian pastor who in July of 2012 was arrested and imprisoned \n\tThe outpouring of interest and support for Pastor Saeed has been tremendous. The Be Heard Web site states, \u201cA petition [was] started in Saeed\u2019s name, and \n\tThroughout this advocacy push, the Be Heard Project has encouraged social media users to post, tweet, and retweet their support for this American husband \n\tThe Be Heard Project utilizes several advocacy strategies to engage the public, including allowing members to write letters to prisoners of conscience, \n\tWhen asked why the campaign was needed, and to clarify its goals and objectives, Barrans offered this response: \u201cThe Be Heard Project model of advocacy \n\tHighlighting individual stories is an effective strategy to motivate engagement. It not only draws positive attention to the individual case, but also \n\tThere have been several \u201cwins\u201d for the Be Heard Project, and the ACLJ has gratefully celebrated those successes with their public. There is the case of \n\tConcerned citizens pressured their national leaders to get involved, and the embassies of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the \n\tBarrans describes the future of the Be Heard Project as \u201cbright.\u201d The advocacy campaign continues to gain support and followers who engage the issue of \n\tThe <\/strong>ACLJ is currently working on a system to implement even more social engagement, and open up the Be Heard Project to additional \n\tA 2013 Pew Forum study reported that 43 percent of social networking site users say they have decided to learn more about a political or social issue In a world inundated with worthy causes, one of the greatest challenges for nonprofits today is finding a way to make their voices heard. Getting a message out—let alone having it resonate—is difficult enough, but it is particularly daunting when you choose the fast-paced, short-attention-spanned environment of social media to deliver it. And yet the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-6324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-september-october-2015","tag-september-october-2015"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tPutting a Face on the Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tstories of the individuals the ACLJ is aiding. Each case details the tragic unfolding of events, regular updates as time progresses, pertinent statistics
\n\t(name of prisoner, days in captivity, country being held, reason for detention, and current number of petition signatures), and various ways to take action
\n\t(donate, sign, share).<\/p>\n
\n\tfor proselytization threatening the national security of Iran by gathering with other Christians in private homes. Mr. Abedini had returned frequently to
\n\tIran to visit family and finalize the board members for an orphanage he was building there. He has been in prison for more than 1,000 days.<\/p>\n
\n\tit quickly received overwhelming media attention. Secretary of State John Kerry has called for his release, the White House has called for his release, and
\n\tthe House of Representatives held two emotional hearings that highlighted Pastor Saeed\u2019s plight. Multiple nations have called for Saeed\u2019s release, and ACLJ
\n\tattorneys have argued his case before the United Nations. Saeed\u2019s petition has accumulated over 918,000 unique signatures.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tand father, tagging each message with #SaveSaeed or #PastorSaeed. Both have appeared in the top list of trending hashtags on Twitter and Facebook. To keep
\n\ttheir public informed and maintain the momentum of their efforts, the ACLJ posts regular updates on Saeed\u2019s health and spirits, the conditions of his
\n\tincarceration, and quotes from his desperate wife.<\/p>\n
\n\tCampaign Strategies, Goals, and Objectives<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\twrite letters to government officials both here in the United States and in the countries in which Christians are persecuted, share videos that highlight
\n\tthe persecution issue on their social media platforms, etc.<\/p>\n
\n\tpersonalizes the stories of the persecuted. We recognize that statistics and numbers, though they are compelling, rarely motivate action. For this reason
\n\twe try to connect people to the real-life nature of an individual persecuted for their faith, even if that individual lives in a country halfway across the
\n\tworld.\u201d She continued, \u201cThe goal of Be Heard Project is to motivate and encourage the next generation—to inform people far and wide about the issue of
\n\treligious persecution—and to provide them a mechanism to actively engage their community and government to defend religious freedom\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tbrings awareness to and advocacy for the broader issue of religious freedom as a fundamental human right. For this reason, Barrans says that while the
\n\tproject will continue to share individual cases on its platform, the ACLJ hopes that all of its participants and their advocacy will contribute to broader
\nchange in laws that discriminate and\/or persecute religious minorities and promote the rule of law in countries in which religious persecution thrives.\t<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tSuccess and Next Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tYoucef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian man sentenced to death for his conversion to Christianity, and whose plight sparked the creation of the Be Heard
\n\tProject. The international outcry initiated by the attention ACLJ brought to the case led to his unexpected acquittal and release from prison. And there is
\n\tMariam Ibraheem, the Sudanese woman sentenced to death in 2014 for her lifelong Christian faith. Once again, the spotlight shone on this issue by the ACLJ
\n\tand other human rights organizations ignited international protests demanding her release.<\/p>\n
\n\tNetherlands issued a joint statement expressing \u201cdeep concern\u201d about the case, urging Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion (AFP 2014). The
\n\tEuropean Union called for revocation of the \u201cinhuman verdict,\u201d and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Sudan to repeal laws banning Muslims from
\n\tjoining other faiths. Ibrahim\u2019s release from Sudanese custody and escape to the country\u2019s U.S. embassy can be described only as extraordinary. The
\n\tgovernment\u2019s acquiescence can only be credited to the international firestorm of publicity the case received.<\/p>\n
\n\treligious freedom. Says Barrans, \u201cWe\u2019re pleased that this project has been successful. We will continue to think creatively and dream of innovated ways to
\n\tengage individuals on this most critical issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tcollaboration. Concludes Barrans, \u201cWe are currently fighting on behalf of many persecuted Christians around the world, and we are taking the cases to the
\n\tpublic for engagement and action as often as we can. The Be Heard Project is a major focus of the work at the ACLJ, and the persecuted church needs a
\n\tstrong voice. We continue to stay focused on bringing justice to the persecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tbecause of something they read about on a social networking site. Eighteen percent of users say they have decided to take action involving a political or
\n\tsocial issue because of something they read on those sites. Clearly this is a medium that nonprofit advocates would be woeful to ignore, and the Be Heard
\n\tProject provides a successful blueprint for initiating involvement. Describing her husband\u2019s harrowing ordeal, Naghmeh Abedini admits, \u201cThe journey has
\n\tbeen difficult, but knowing that the Lord has used this for the furtherance of the gospel and to bring more awareness on religious freedom issues worldwide
\n\thas made the journey easier to bear.\u201d The Be Heard Project\u2019s innovative methods and relentless commitment to justice are a happy combination that is again
\n\tset to prevail for freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"