History
The Australian Christian Coalition (ACC) was founded in 1995 by John Gagliardi, a lay leader of a large Pentecostal church in Brisbane. Gagliardi had held journalistic positions as editor of the Townsville Bulletin and as anchorman for the Channel 10 news. Co-founders were John McNicoll, a retired Baptist Minister turned lobbyist in Canberra, and John Miller. Miller worked with a number of community and government organisations and held leadership positions within his independent, community-based church.
The organisation changed its name to the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) in March 2001. According to the ACL's website, "The vision of the Australian Christian Lobby is to see Christian principles and ethics accepted and influencing the way we are governed, do business and relate to each other as a community. The ACL aims to foster a more compassionate, just and moral society by seeking to have the positive public contributions of the Christian faith reflected in the political life of the nation." ABC described the ACL as “a conservative Christian lobby group providing Biblical solutions for social issues”. The ACL has been described by writer Chrys Stevenson as "extremist Christians" and "dominionists", distinctions which the ACL deny and have countered.
The ACL is an Australian Public Company, Limited By Guarantee and files political expenditure returns with Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). They publish magazines such as Viewpoint, which they provide to Australian parliamentarians at no charge. They also periodically issue media releases and communicate with supporters via email newsletters.
Read more about this topic: Australian Christian Lobby
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