Michael Farris

Michael Farris is one of the most consequential architects of the Religious Right's generational strategy: the project to raise children within a conservative Christian worldview and prepare them for careers in government and law. His work spans three decades and three interlocking institutions. Farris co-founded the Home School Legal Defense Association in March 1983 with attorney Mike Smith, at a moment when home schooling was illegal or legally precarious in most U.S. states. Within a decade, HSLDA's combination of legal defense and aggressive grassroots legislative lobbying had achieved the legalization of homeschooling in all 50 states by 1993. HSLDA did not merely protect parental rights — it served as the organizing infrastructure of the Christian home school movement, providing families with a membership model that bundled legal protection with ideological community. In 1998 Farris incorporated Patrick Henry College, which opened in September 2000 in Purcellville, Virginia, primarily for graduates of Christian home school programs. The college's explicit mission was to train the next generation for government leadership from within a thoroughly biblical worldview. The results were measurable: in spring 2004, seven of the nearly 100 White House interns came from this college of about 240 students. PHC alumni went on to Bush administration offices, Republican congressional staffs, and conservative legal organizations in numbers disproportionate to the school's size. Farris also founded Generation Joshua in 2003 (as a division of HSLDA) — a political mobilization program for homeschooled teenagers built around his 'Joshua Generation' framework: the idea that the parents' generation (Moses) had laid the foundation, and their children (Joshua) would 'take the land' — which critics read as a call to political power over American institutions. From 2017 to 2022, Farris served as CEO and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, the Religious Right's most powerful legal organization, connecting the educational pipeline he had built to the litigation strategy aimed at reshaping constitutional law. Farris is a documented member of the Council for National Policy and has maintained close personal and strategic relationships with Jerry Falwell Sr., Pat Robertson, and Phyllis Schlafly. Critics such as Katherine Stewart describe his vision as dominionist in structure — not through immediate theocratic takeover (as Rushdoony advocated) but through cultural transformation via education producing political transformation over generations.

Themes this entry appears in

• Christian Nationalism
• Dominionism
• Anti-LGBTQ
• Political Strategy
• Education

Connections from Michael Farris

• influenced → Homeschool-to-PHC-to-Government Pipeline (2000) — Michael Farris founded the Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983 and Patrick Henry College in 2000, designing PHC for homeschool graduates and around government careers. In spring 2004, The New York Times reported that 7 of roughly 100 White House interns came from the four-year-old college.
• founded → Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) (1983) — Michael Farris co-founded HSLDA in March 1983 with attorney Mike Smith and served as its chairman, building it into the organizational infrastructure of the entire Christian home school movement.
• founded → Patrick Henry College (2000) — Farris incorporated Patrick Henry College in 1998 and opened it in September 2000 as the capstone institution of his educational pipeline — a college primarily for Christian home school graduates aimed at placing movement-formed leaders in government.
• influenced → Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) (2017) — Farris became CEO and general counsel of ADF in 2017, connecting the educational pipeline he had built (HSLDA, PHC) to the Religious Right's primary legal litigation organization. He served until 2022.
• influenced → Council for National Policy (1990) — Farris is listed as a member of the Council for National Policy in its 2014 directory, connecting his educational infrastructure (HSLDA, PHC) to the CNP's broader Religious Right political coordination network that also includes Dobson, Robertson, and Falwell Sr.

Sources

• The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism — Katherine Stewart (2020), pp. 68–95
• Jesus and John Wayne — Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020), pp. 247–249
• God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America — Hanna Rosin (2007), pp. 1–50
• The Christian Nationalism of Michael Farris — R.L. Stollar (2021)
• Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States — Sara Diamond (1995), pp. 290–295