We at the Freedom From Religion Foundation have had a lot on our plate.
We reached a victorious court settlement on Thursday in our case remedying discrimination against The Satanic Temple and favoritism toward the evangelical Good News Club by the Memphis-area school system — and it is already making a news splash.
“In March, The Satanic Temple sued the Shelby County Board of Education, alleging that Memphis-Shelby County Schools turned a blind eye to the First Amendment and repeatedly tried to dissuade its After School Satan Club from meeting at Chimneyrock Elementary,” says the Memphis paper. “Now, the two groups have reached a settlement, and the lawsuit has been voluntarily dismissed. According to a press release Thursday from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which represented The Satanic Temple in the case, the school board is expected to pay over $15,000 to settle the suit.”
Local broadcast media is playing the story, too.
“The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has reached a settlement on behalf of The Satanic Temple in a federal lawsuit filed in March against Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) over ‘serious’ First Amendment violations,” says a Memphis TV station in a story that goes on to quote FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “The school board has agreed to pay over $15,000 to resolve the suit. The board will also pay one dollar for nominal damages to The Satanic Temple and $196.71 for various fees previously paid by the Temple in connection with rental reservations that had not yet been refunded.”
Good to see that our fight on behalf of the First Amendment is getting noticed.
Making the national media
A lawsuit we have filed against a Louisiana law mandating the public school display of the Ten Commandments is reverberating in the national media.
“When Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed a law in June requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in the state, it reignited the longstanding debate over the separation of church and state,” states an op-ed in The Hill, possibly the premier media outlet in the country covering legislative issues. “Opponents are pleading with federal judges to block the mandate before the school year begins in August. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation are actively seeking to challenge the law in court, arguing it is ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’”
Talking with a pogrom survivor
I had a compelling conversation with a University of Wisconsin professor (full disclosure: she has taught my daughters) about her new memoir on surviving a pogrom as a high schooler in the Indian state of Gujarat. The man who allegedly let those killings happen as the person in charge of that state at the time is now the Prime Minister of India.
No ‘divine providence’ at work
We’ve been keeping on top of the news, it goes without saying.
We deplored political violence in the aftermath of the Trump assassination attempt but also questioned the divine providence rhetoric surrounding the attack. It is important to rein in the rhetoric, we emphasized, with its cultish implication that a “God,” not voters, decides who fills the seat at the Oval Office.
Sen. Josh Hawley is a repeat offender
The FFRF Action Fund, FFRF’s legislative arm, named Norman (Okla.) Public Schools Superintendent Nick Migliorino its “Secularist of the Week” for standing up against the unconstitutional bibles-in-schools mandate from Oklahoma education Superintendent Ryan Walters. Conversely, Sen. Josh Hawley has become the Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week” for the third time after championing Christian nationalism during a recent speech. Allies like Migliorino who are committed to the First Amendment’s freedom of conscience are desperately needed as Christian nationalists such as Walters and Hawley try to force their theology on Oklahoma and the rest of the nation.
Secularism is not atheism
Annie Laurie demolishes in a recent column the profoundly mistaken notion that secularism equals atheism. The paranoid attitude displayed by Jesus in his statement, “Whoever is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30), has been recycled into a Washington Times op-ed by a band of infamous Christian nationalists, including Okla. Supt. Walters, trumpeting misbegotten tropes.
“Our secular Constitution and Bill of Rights ensures that the government does not endorse religion over nonreligion, likewise irreligion over religion,” she concludes. “Maybe what this band of theocrats needs is not only a class in constitutional law, but also one in logic.”
U.K. offers a glimmer of hope
With the threat of Christian nationalism looming over the United States, the election results in the United Kingdom offer solace to nonreligious communities around the world, writes FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line in a new blog.
U.K. voters have elected the most openly nonreligious House of Commons in history. “Let’s celebrate this milestone and use it as motivation as we continue to fight for the recognition of nonreligious voices and voters in the United States and abroad,” states Chris.
No Month of Prayer, Gov. Lee!
We haven’t taken our eyes off state-level happenings. Revoke a proclamation declaring July as a Month of Prayer, we’re urging the Tennessee governor.
“If you are unwilling to honor the constitutional provisions you took an oath to uphold, then perhaps you would at least honor the Sermon on the Mount: ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. . . . when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.’ (Matthew 6:5-6),” our letter to Gov. Bill Lee says. “Yet, here you are openly worshiping and asking other Christians to do the same.”
The grandest of illusions
And our local-level interventions have continued. Stop enabling the grandest of illusions, we told a New Mexico school district. Rio Rancho Public Schools seems to have a partnership with preacher-illusionist David Corn, who is quite upfront about his aims.
“Evangelist David Corn seems to be consciously performing a switcheroo on public school students,” says Annie Laurie. “A school district cannot be complicit in such a trick.”
Secular summer camps
We have a diverse set of media offerings this week.
FFRF Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne and FFRF Administrative Administrator Matt Kenyon talk on FFRF’s Facebook Live “Ask an Atheist” feature with Alyssa Fuller, executive director for Camp Quest — one of only a handful of overtly secular summer camps for kids in the United States that emphasize the importance of critical thinking, skepticism and scientific literacy. Find out more here.
Escaping from Christian patriarchy
On the current Freethought Radio show, after a round-up of recent news events and a uniquely Robin Williams take on the bible, co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor speak with Cait West, author of the riveting RIFT: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy.
The U.S. Supreme Court
The hosts of “We Dissent” discuss the 2024 Supreme Court term — and its profound implications — on the podcast’s latest episode. FFRF Deputy Legal Director Liz Cavell, Americans United Legal Director Rebecca Markert and American Atheists Vice President for Legal and Policy Alison Gill dissect the rulings that have recently come down from the Supreme Court. Tune in here.
The heat is on
FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence focuses in a recent piece on an existential dilemma. As severe heat plagues the globe, climate change is rapidly escalating to climate crisis. However, one of America’s most vocal and politically powerful religious groups continues to largely preach a gospel of environmental havoc and apathy, contradicting science and opposing efforts to stem climate change. How do we emerge from this?
Current events, long-term issues and everything in between — we’re able to tackle all of these only due to your unstinting support.
