First, we’ll start things off on a positive note.
Get in on the action!
FFRF has launched a powerful new initiative encouraging you (and its 42,000 other members) to celebrate your rights and stand up for the separation of church and state — one simple action at a time.
The “Freethought in Action” campaign invites freethinkers (and all Americans) to engage in daily, bite-sized actions affirming their commitment to freedom of thought, expression and belief — or nonbelief.
The campaign is designed to meet people where they are — no signs or speeches required, just small, thoughtful, intentional steps that add up to a broader culture of secular advocacy and awareness.
Participants can access the full list of daily actions by visiting ffrf.org/freethought-in-action
FFRF stops future religious events at N.C. school
In another positive development, FFRF has stopped the Davidson (N.C.) County Schools system from hosting religious assemblies in the future after the district hosted a religious concert.
A district parent reported that on March 11, 3 Heath Brothers, a Christian boy band, performed for all K-5 students at Hasty Elementary School for a school-sponsored assembly. FFRF learned that the performance was composed of nine songs, such as “Dream Small,” which made numerous mentions of God and Jesus, including telling people to “let Jesus use you where you are,” and “Good Good Life,” which includes the explicitly religious lyrics, “Loving God and loving people, that’s what it’s all about.”
Superintendent Gregg Slate stated that the 3 Heath Brothers promoted the assembly to the school as an anti-bullying event, claiming that the district administration was caught off guard when the content actually delivered did not match the materials describing the event.
“Please understand that at no time did the district attempt to communicate a message that religion or a particular religious belief is favored or preferred,” Slate wrote to FFRF.
Hegseth hears from FFRF over prayer meetings
FFRF has called on the Department of Defense to halt plans for an official Christian prayer meeting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly organizing.
FFRF contacted Hegseth after a Christian nationalist pastor revealed on a podcast that he was invited to lead the inaugural “Secretary’s Prayer Meeting” at the Pentagon.
FFRF’s letter to Hegseth outlines major constitutional concerns, citing Supreme Court precedent that bars government-sponsored prayer and protects the right of all citizens — including military personnel — to be free from government coercion to participate in religion.
Project 2025-inspired bill doesn’t advance
FFRF has been tracking the House GOP’s sweeping reconciliation package, which, on Friday, failed to advance out of the House Budget Committee. The bill, if voted into law, would rip apart the separation of state and church. Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), Josh Brecheen (R-Okla., and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) voted against the bill, and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) strategically switched his vote to “no” to preserve the option for the committee to reconsider the legislation at a later date. The far-right members felt the bill wasn’t drastic enough and demanded more changes.
But, the bill is far from dead. House Republican leaders will attempt to salvage it over the weekend and get the bill back on track next week.
Trump administration causing ‘hell’ on Earth
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor writes in her blog about how the current administration is making life “hell” on Earth when it comes to climate change because of its lack of action to mitigate it, and worse, its plans to exacerbate it.
“Science deniers primarily fueled by biblical doctrine, hubris or just plain greed are among the primary political obstructions against the mitigation of climate change and other human-caused threats to the environment,” she writes.”They are not just playing their fundamentalist fiddles while Rome burns; they are comparable to the arsonists setting the fires.”
New pope is a dope when it comes to nonbelievers
It was a busy week for Annie Laurie, as she penned a second blog post, this time taking issue with the newly elected pope’s stance on nonbelievers and how they live their lives.
“Robert Prevost, aka Pope Leo XIV, decided to take potshots at nonbelievers during his very first incense-waving Mass, condemning those of us who live ‘in a state of practical atheism.’” she writes. “The pope could learn a thing or two about how to live and how to govern from [Robert] Ingersoll and the host of other thoughtful and moral ‘practical atheist’ philosophers, thinkers, scientists and activists who make up the venerable freethought pantheon that the pope so ignorantly despises.”
Reason Reception remarks
And Chris Line, an FFRF attorney and part-time photographer, wrote in his blog about his experience attending the Congressional Reason Reception in D.C. in late April.
“As I captured the evening through my lens, I was struck not just by the speeches, but by the genuine sense of camaraderie among those gathered — all united in the shared goal of upholding our secular Constitution,” he writes. “The fight for secular governance is not only a legal battle; it’s also cultural. Events like the Reason Reception remind us that we’re part of a growing movement — one that values science, respects conscience, and demands government neutrality when it comes to religion. It’s an honor to be both a witness and participant in that movement.”
Are trans people liars?
Kat Grant, a former FFRF legal fellow who now writes an occasional blog post for FFRF’s FreethoughtNow.org site, this week calls out the religiously inspired take that trans persons are liars.
“Unfortunately, the portrayal of transgender people as liars and deceivers has a long and dangerous history that is still virulent today,” Kat writes. “This stereotype of deception is deeply based in religious sexual moral panics, as is most every form of transphobia. The claim that trans people are ‘lying’ is reliant on the biblically based claim that sex and gender are identical, given to us from God before we are even born, and that a person cannot possibly have a gender identity that differs from the social expectations associated with their genitals. . . . The fight against Christian nationalism includes fighting against policies that cast trans people as liars for not following a ‘biblical truth’ about the relationship between our gender and our bodies. Without that fight, other biblical abstractions can be forced upon us under the cover of secular law.”
FFRF Action Fund takes on HCSMs
Over at FFRF Action Fund, FFRF’s Governmental Affairs Director Mark Dann writes about how it is keeping close tabs on potential tax breaks for religiously based health care sharing ministries (HCSM).
“We wanted to tell you about a bill in Congress that could make headlines soon and become part of a bigger fight over secular health care this year,” he writes. “The Health Care Sharing Ministry Tax Parity Act . . . would give tax breaks to health care sharing ministries’ subscribers. These entities are religious junk insurance institutions wherein members make monthly payments to help cover each other’s medical bills. . . . These organizations routinely deny claims for birth control, abortion, mental health care and chronic conditions, all based on religious doctrine. . . . That’s why we’re proud to support Rep. Jared Huffman’s Health Share Transparency Act. His bill would require health care sharing ministries to publicly disclose what they cover, what they don’t, how often they deny claims, and how member contributions are spent. There’ll be no more hiding behind religion to mislead families seeking care.”
Missouri’s chaplain-in-schools bill is misguided
FFRF Action Fund also decries a Missouri bill headed to the governor’s desk that allows public schools to hire chaplains to counsel (often proselytize) school-age children.
The bill, Senate Bill 49, would authorize school boards to “employ, or approve as a volunteer, a school chaplain.” This invites a host of constitutional problems that the bill’s limited safeguards come nowhere near curing. The bill recently passed through the Missouri Legislature, and Gov. Mike Kehoe will almost certainly sign it.
The bill has no safeguards against the fundamental constitutional violations it produces. While public schools are not allowed to promote religion over nonreligion or to prefer one religion over another, school officials presumably could hire chaplains who share their beliefs to proselytize children of other religions or no religion during school hours. Religious instruction or counseling has no place in our secular public schools, and students should not be made to feel disfavored or “othered” for not belonging to the same religion or church as school officials.
Theocrat and Secularist of the Week
The FFRF Action Fund has selected Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, as its “Theocrat of the Week” for leading a “civil rights investigation” into a newly signed Washington state law that requires clergy members to report all suspected child abuse without special exemptions.
FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is Pam Escobar, a courageous North Carolina school board member who vocally opposed drafting an invocation proposal for board meetings, asserting that the school board is “not in the business of faith or religion.”
In April, the Cabarrus County School Board discussed whether to introduce Christian prayer to board meetings. The discussion was initiated by board member Melanie Freeman, who wants an invocation to open each board meeting. Escobar was almost alone in her dissent, and despite her sound arguments, the board eventually approved the proposal’s drafting in a 5-2 vote.
Reactions to the new pope on ‘Ask an Atheist’
On this week’s episode of “Ask an Atheist,” FFRF’s Liz Cavell, Chris Line and contributing writer Kat Grant explore the impact of Pope Leo XIV’s appointment as the new pontiff and reactions from the Catholic Church and American politicians. They also discuss what this could mean for a new Washington state law requiring Catholic clergy to report suspected child abuse disclosed in confession.
Good, bad and ugly bills discussed on Freethought Radio
On this week’s installment of Freethought Radio, FFRF’s Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne and Regional Governmental Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens discuss the many “good, bad & ugly” state/church bills at the state level. Also discussed is the new head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, who has insulted “practical atheists.”
Mary Trump highlights this week’s ‘Freethought Matters’
Mary L. Trump, who will accept the Emperor Has No Clothes award at FFRF’s national convention in October, is this week’s guest on FFRF’s television program, “Freethought Matters.”
She has written two books about growing up in the extended family of Donald Trump, including the bestseller “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” which sold nearly a million copies on its first day of sales. She followed that with a book in 2021, “The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal,” about the failure to address the scourge of white racism. She is a trained clinical psychologist who holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies.
FFRF friend Charles Strouse dies
And, finally, in some sad news, FFRF is saddened to learn of the death of composer Charles Strouse, 96, who considered himself a lifelong atheist. He was the writer of many Broadway musicals, including “Annie,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Applause,” and “Golden Boy,” and also composed for television, including the theme song, “Those Were the Days,” for “All in the Family.”
Strouse became a friend of FFRF in 2009 and received the “Emperor Has No Clothes” award at FFRF’s convention in Hartford, Conn., in 2011, where he spoke and entertained the crowd with some of his music.
Well, that’s it for this week. We hope you have a great weekend, and we’ll continue, as always, to fight for your rights!
