We must confess that at the Freedom From Religion Foundation it can become a bit difficult to keep track of everywhere we are featured in the public sphere.
For example, a legal triumph of ours in Massachusetts’ highest court is resonating in unexpected places.
“The City of Quincy, Mass., may not install two statues of Christian saints in front of its public safety building, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled,” an article in the Baptist News Global reports. “The 34-page unanimous decision upholds a preliminary injunction granted by a superior court judge who determined the 15 taxpaying plaintiffs who filed Claire Fitzmaurice & others v. City of Quincy likely will succeed in the litigation. Legal representation for the citizens has been provided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Cloherty & Steinberg LLP.”
We get lots of Tenn. media coverage
A recent official request of ours in Tennessee is making a huge splash in the state.
“A coalition of national civil liberties groups is seeking records from five Tennessee school districts after they announced plans to display the Ten Commandments inside schools, following a recent state law that allows schools to do so,” says a piece in the Nashville paper, just one of many outlets to cover this. “The groups, including the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the national ACLU, and Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters with records requests to five Tennessee school districts on Aug. 20.”
We’re resonating in Texas
A legal move that we made on behalf of Texas parents is getting continued play in the media.
“More than two dozen Texas families are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge to a state law that requires public schools to post a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom,” reports a West Texas publication. “The nonreligious, Unitarian Universalist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Baha’i families challenging the Texas law attend 22 school districts across the state and are represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel.”
Colorado portal likes our amicus brief
And an amicus brief of ours in a U.S. Supreme Court case centered in Colorado has been positively received.
“The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the U.S. Supreme Court to refute a specious argument by a Catholic church that seeks to discriminate in a publicly funded preschool program,” says a story for an online news portal covering central Colorado. “The move comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case that began here in Colorado stemming from the state’s new universal preschool.”
The Progressive features our perspective
Much to my delight, The Progressive magazine, my former employer, has featured a column in its latest issue on state/church separation that extensively quotes FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor and from a recent op-ed that she wrote for the magazine’s sister institution Progressive Perspectives. Titled “Trump’s Unholy War on the First Amendment,” my ex-colleague Bill Lueders’ piece will very likely be of interest to you.
We’re OK in Oklahoma
A constitutional victory we achieved in Oklahoma got highlighted in the media.
“A nonprofit that advocates for the separation of church and state said it has convinced an Oklahoma school district to cancel a proposed ‘prayer walk,’” said a story in the Oklahoma City Fox affiliate. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation said a concerned parent had informed them that Muskogee’s 6th and 7th Grade Academy was planning to host a school-sponsored prayer walk on Aug. 12.”
Alas, this led to the Oklahoma attorney general putting forth an erroneous claim that a public school district is free to organize and promote a Christian prayer event — and we had to issue a statement refuting that. “The attorney general is attempting to give Oklahoma public schools a green light to sponsor religious exercises — and the Constitution simply does not permit that,” said Annie Laurie.
We scuttled a ‘prayer walk’
We successfully halted a Georgia public school district’s promotion of a similar “prayer walk.”
“The social media post referenced in your letter has been removed,” the district’s legal representative recently responded. “Additionally, district administration has reviewed with school administrators issues and obligations arising from the Establishment Clause, including an appearance of endorsing or promoting religion or religious activity.”
We’re pleased to have stopped the exclusionary practice.
A lamentable DOJ legal opinion
We are condemning a sweeping new Department of Justice legal opinion that seeks to dramatically expand the ability of religious groups to use federal taxpayer dollars for all sorts of religious activities. The memorandum from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel claims that federal restrictions preventing taxpayer dollars from being used for explicitly religious purposes are presumptively unconstitutional. We are warning that abandoning that distinction between direct and indirect funding will transform federal social service programs into government-financed vehicles for evangelism.
We disbursed more than $17,000 to essay winners
We proudly announced the 11 top winners and nine honorable mentions of the 2026 David Hudak Memorial First in the Family Student Essay Competition, with a total of $17,650 in award money. Students who will be first in their family to attend either a two- or four-year college or university and who are ages 17–21 were asked to write on the topic of “Why white supremacy goes hand in hand with Christian nationalism.” You can read the essays here in the links embedded in their names. Congratulations to the winners!
How a bible study program coddled an Epstein-linked Trump Cabinet member
FFRF Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne has written a remarkable blog about a record request that we made — and the astonishing revelations an excruciating seven years later about the Jeffrey Epstein-linked Labor Secretary Alex Acosta and his friend Pastor Ralph Drollinger, who, under the guise of a bible study program, maneuvered to safeguard him.
“Even seven years late, these records are relevant,” Ryan writes. “They show how access works under the Trump regime and how a sectarian ministry cultivated influence with powerful government officials. And they show in Acosta’s case how that influence could be deployed not to hold power accountable, but to protect it.”
A California win ends child marriage
Our legislative affiliate, the FFRF Action Fund, is celebrating a long-overdue victory for children’s rights in California. Lawmakers there have approved legislation ending child marriage and sent the measure to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature. The Action Fund has been an active participant in the coalition supporting the measure and submitted testimony urging legislators to finally close California’s dangerous child-marriage loophole.
‘Christian Crusaders’ Theocrats of the Week
The Action Fund is naming “Christian Crusaders” Jake Lang and MAGA Pastor Lorenzo Sewell our Theocrats of the Week. The pair have helped turn Dearborn, Mich., one of the nation’s largest Arab American communities, into a stage for an ugly campaign portraying Muslim Americans as invaders who threaten a supposedly Christian nation. For transforming religious pluralism into a political enemy and using Christianity as a weapon against the equal rights of Muslim Americans, Lang and Sewell should be ashamed to be named the Action Fund’s Theocrats of the Week.
Podcaster and musician Secularist of the Week
The FFRF Action Fund is proud to name culture critic, podcaster and musician Monte Mader as its Secularist of the Week. Mader was raised as an alt-right Christian nationalist, in an environment where conservative politics and Christian fundamentalism were deeply intertwined. She now draws on those experiences to deconstruct religious dogma, counter whitewashed versions of American history and expose the ways that Christian nationalism threatens individual rights and secular government.
A pastor’s journey to atheism
The latest episode of our “Secular Spotlight” YouTube show tells the story of former Evangelical Pastor Timmy Gibson’s journey to atheism. Gibson joins FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, also a former evangelical pastor and co-founder of the Clergy Project, to discuss his evolution. They also talk about faith healing, prayer, morality, meaning, near-death experiences — and how Gibson found purpose and fulfillment outside of Christianity.
How to assist in getting a Thomas Paine Memorial built
After a lively news roundup, including a tribute to Dolly Parton for her humanistic actions, Freethought Radio co-hosts Dan and Annie Laurie interview Margaret Downey, president of the Thomas Paine Memorial Association. She tells us what you can do to help erect a memorial statue to America’s forgotten Founder Thomas Paine in Washington, D.C. The interview portion, known as “Freethought Radio in Studio,” will be available as a video to watch here momentarily or on Freethought TV.
We had a Great American Songbook performance
Finally, the fifth in a unique series of concerts, “The Great American Freethought Songbook,” took place on Monday before a filled (and thrilled) auditorium at Freethought Hall, FFRF’s office in Madison, Wis. The performances feature FFRF’s Dan Barker, a talented pianist, and gifted vocalist Darcie Johnston, both students of the American songbook. The evening celebrated the wit, musicality and irreverence of illustrious songwriter Cole Porter. You can watch it and share with musical friends on FFRF’s YouTube channel, over Freethought TV or on Facebook. The series streams live so set your calendar for Monday, Sept. 21, when the duo celebrate the life, music and freethought views of Richard Rodgers and his daughter Mary Rodgers.
It’s only with your helping hand that we can do such outreach.
One Response
Well done!