American Freedom Coalition

The American Freedom Coalition was created in 1987 as a conservative interest group, taking all the same stands as the religious right (on abortion, pornography, opposition to the environmental movement, strong national defense and militant anti-Communism, etc.).

However, according to AFC's president Robert Grant, the AFC was founded because of the "inability of the christian right to achieve its agenda" and its "fragmentation and its failure to build coalitions with its philosophical allies from other communities." Translation: the religious right wouldn't let the Moonies play in their clubhouse, so they started their own.

The American Freedom Coalition is, essentially, a political front group for the Unification Church. More conventional evangelical Christian figures are also closely associated with them, notably Robert Grant of Christian Voice.

During Oliver North's legal troubles in 1987-88, the AFC put together a fundraising effort to raise funds for North's legal defense and the Nicaraguan Contras. The AFC is closely associated with another Moon front group, CAUSA International (founded 1980), which focused on the more specific issue of anti-Communist foreign policy and support for right-wing movements in Central America.