Members from the FFRF New Hampshire chapterWe at the Freedom From Religion Foundation haven’t let frigid weather in our hometown slow us down. Our spirited legal activities are placing us in the spotlight around the country.
“A group of 18 multifaith and nonreligious Texas families filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday in San Antonio federal court to block public school districts statewide from displaying the Ten Commandments,” reports the San Antonio alternative weekly. “Texas districts not directly involved in the previous suits continue to display the Ten Commandments, according to groups representing the plaintiffs in Tuesday’s filing. Those organizations — which include the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation — say a class action is needed to ensure students in all 1,000 districts statewide are free from having Christian doctrine stuffed down their throats.”
A nonprofit media outlet that does a remarkable job of covering the Lone Star State has featured a nice quote from FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor about the case.
Another lawsuit of ours in a neighboring state has had a happy ending after a new state superintendent of public instruction stopped his predecessor’s attempt to foist the bible on public school students (asking for $6 million tax money to purchase bibles).
“Saying the issue is now moot, Oklahoma’s highest court dismissed a lawsuit challenging a requirement that public schools keep Bibles in classrooms and teach from them,” reports an NPR affiliate in Oklahoma. “Attorneys with American Civil Liberties Union, the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State represented the Oklahoma residents.”
Newsweek has mentioned us
The venerable Newsweek has published our reaction to a dubious legislative measure in Ohio.
“The Ohio House passed a bill named after the slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, which allows public schoolteachers to teach about the ‘positive impact of religion on American history,’ particularly Christianity,” the publication reports. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation called it ‘propaganda,’ arguing it ignores the Constitution’s separation of church and state.”
We’re making waves in North Carolina
A North Carolina paper has noted our vigilant watch on the wall of separation.
“The Cleveland County Board of Education is under scrutiny by a foundation dedicated to the separation of church and state following a decision to sell the closed Marion School to a religious nonprofit,” states a story in the Shelby Star. “Leaders at Gaston Christian School said this decision comes on the heels of the school system refusing to discuss selling the property to them.”
No prizes for guessing the name of the foundation mentioned above.
We have an op-ed published in Minnesota
Of special delight to us this week has been a Minnesota nonprofit media entity publishing FFRF Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg’s op-ed on the nefarious effects of right-wing funding on education board races in the state. “What once may have been innocent administrative positions are now hotly contested culture-war battles — in Minnesota and around the country — that carry the fate of the public education system in their hands,” Kyle’s op-ed in the Sahan Journal concludes.
Taking on the Heritage Foundation
We’ve been constantly nipping at the Heritage Foundation, the mastermind behind Project 2025. It makes us happy that a prominent media network covering state-level issues has featured our critique of the group’s sinister work in Florida.
“A set of conservative principles developed by the group that authored Project 2025 has been adopted by Florida public schools,” reports Center Square. “Board of Education members in November unanimously embraced the plan known as the Phoenix Declaration, produced by the Heritage Foundation, the think tank that created Project 2025 for President Donald Trump’s second term. The Freedom From Religion Foundation called the declaration ‘a vague but ideologically loaded framework’ that would ‘open the door to religiously motivated political interference in Florida’s schools.’”
Read on for more of our pushback, including quotes from Annie Laurie.
Challenging an evangelical outfit
A focus of ours in the recent past has been an evangelical organization that has been granted unfounded access to public schools. So, it’s gratifying that a recent investigative piece on the outfit features us challenging the group.
“The Culver district in Indiana, west of Fort Wayne, held a LifeWise-related assembly during school hours last year that caught the attention of attorneys at the Freedom from Religion Foundation,” says a piece in the Ohio Capitol Journal. “The organization, which advocates for church-state separation, reminded Superintendent Karen Shuman of the district’s policy stating that ‘no solicitation for attendance at religious instruction shall be permitted on [district] premises.’”
We’re getting oodles of media in Oklahoma
We issued a media statement yesterday on a grotesque miscarriage of justice at the University of Oklahoma — and it is already creating a stir.
“As the zero grade that a student received on a psychology essay continues to be a hot topic nationally, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is now throwing its hat into the ring, demanding the University of Oklahoma reinstate the instructor who has since been put on leave,” reports a Fox affiliated TV station, just one of several broadcast outlets that have reported on our intervention. “‘And we want the university just to affirm that academic standards will not be overwritten by religious or political pressure. We want to know that students can know that the university will choose the academic rigor and academic standards over giving into, say, this media storm,’ said Chris Line, Legal Counsel for the foundation.”
Our video podcasts are now available
We are pleased to announce that Freethought Radio podcast interviews will now be available not only in audio format but also as video, titled “Freethought Radio: In Studio.” Going forward, interviews with authors, activists and newsmakers by FFRF Co-Presidents and co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel and on our new app, Freethought TV, as well as via audio podcast. Watch the Thanksgiving debut of “In Studio,” featuring a recap and lively video clips of distinguished national convention speakers, here. Visit freethoughttv.ffrf.org for more information on how to view all of FFRF’s video content through the years, as well as upcoming programs.
Escaping scientology
The Freethought Radio episode this week focuses on a particularly abusive cult. Pamela Nickel Williams, author of the memoir “Clearly Lies Are True,” tells co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor what it was like growing up in Scientology — and how she escaped it.
Our success in Arkansas
We successfully reminded the Ouachita River School District in Mena, Ark., that school field trips cannot be used to indoctrinate students. A school district legal representative confirmed that the district has investigated the situation and that it won’t recur. We are happy with the response.
Dept. of Labor’s misplaced prayer service
We are raising constitutional concerns after the Department of Labor’s invitation to all employees to attend an official “Secretary’s Prayer Service” scheduled for Dec. 10. We’re urging the agency to immediately clarify whether government resources are being used to support this event and to reaffirm its commitment to protecting the religious liberty rights of all employees — which includes the right to be free from religious coercion in the workplace.
Fla. attorney general is misusing his office
We have criticized Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier for a series of misleading and unconstitutional actions in which he falsely accused private and public institutions, such as the American Bar Association and Microsoft, of “anti-Christian discrimination.” Americans should be deeply concerned when top officials use public office to impose sectarian preferences or shield religious institutions from accountability.
An unconstitutional resolution
We are strongly opposing an unconstitutional resolution in our home state that would formally recognize Dec. 25 as “the celebration of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are urging lawmakers to reject the resolution and uphold Wisconsin’s longstanding commitment to the constitutional separation of state and church.
Our secular holiday displays are back
Our annual Winter Solstice exhibit is up in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda for the 30th year in a row. The freethought display was first installed in the legislative seat of our home state in 1995, after a fight with then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, who tore down FFRF’s permitted sign advocating the separation of church and state.
And we are making our presence felt in the Granite State again. Our newly formed New Hampshire Chapter has put up a display honoring the Winter Solstice and the Bill of Rights for the eighth year in a row to the state Capitol grounds. It will be there through December. FFRF thanks the New Hampshire chapter, including Chapter President Ed Killam and other chapter members (pictured at the beginning of this Wrap).
An extremist judicial nominee
Our legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, has also been watchful. It is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject President Trump’s nomination of Nicholas Ganjei for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Ganjei has a long history of allegiance to far-right advocacy organizations, which casts significant doubt on his ability.
A ‘Theocrat’ Iowa department
The Action Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week” is the Iowa Department of Administrative Services for denying two years in a row The Satanic Temple’s request to host a holiday event at the state Capitol. Religious liberty must encompass all religions and nonreligion, not just the religions with which public officials agree.
A ‘Secular’ member of Congress
The Action Fund honors U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., as its “Secularist of the Week” for pressing the Trump administration to honor the longstanding Johnson Amendment, a provision of the U.S. tax code that prohibits certain nonprofits including churches and other faith-based organizations from electoral politics or places at risk their tax-exempt status. It warmly thanks Clyburn for his commitment to state-church separation as a person of faith amid the Trump administration’s attacks on true religious freedom.
The Catholic Church’s influence on health care
FFRF contributing writer Kat Grant writes about how the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is dictating our health care … again.
“The institution of the Catholic Church is one of the most powerful religious organizations in the world, thanks to centuries of hoarding misbegotten wealth and psychologically torturing believers with the threat of damnation,” Kat concludes. “But that does not mean we should simply roll over and allow the violation of our right to make informed, science-based health care decisions to continue.”
Whether it is the Catholic Church, Scientology, the Heritage Foundation or LifeWise, we are taking them all on regardless of the weather — and it’s made possible due to your warm backing.
