The Freedom From Religion Foundation is stirring things up.
A lawsuit we are a part of that seeks to overturn a Louisiana law mandating the Ten Commandments’ display in every public school classroom continues to grab media attention, including that of the Washington Post.
“While the law is tested in court, Louisiana has to hold off on posting biblical signs in the five parishes where the plaintiffs’ children attend school, according to an agreement approved Friday by a federal judge,” reports the paper. “Five days after Gov. Jeff Landry signed the bill, on June 24, a coalition of advocacy groups, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s national and state offices, filed a federal lawsuit.”
It goes without saying that the agreement to delay the law’s implementation was also all over the Louisiana media.
We’re pushing back against Supt. Walters’ biblical mandate
Our fightback against Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ new guidance on integrating the bible into every public school classroom is receiving media attention all over. The ABC national news broadcast actually recalled our past victories over him.
“Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters released guidelines on the state’s controversial Bible mandate in public schools on Wednesday,” states the channel. “Walters has long been pushing for more religion in schools, according to his history of policy initiatives. Prague Elementary, a school in his state, was holding daily morning prayers over the announcement broadcast, but was convinced to stop by the Freedom From Religion Foundation over concerns about students’ First Amendment rights.”
News outlets from Oklahoma to states way away reported on our strong denunciation of his latest move.
“It’s just absurd,” a piece in the Daily Montanan quotes FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor as saying. “And Walters is just signaling as fast as he can, as loud as he can, that he expects schools to brainwash children in the Christian religion.”
Related to this, a coalition of civil rights organizations that includes FFRF is making a joint request for records today related to Walters’ unconstitutional mandate.
“Ryan Walters lacks the legal authority to order schools to do this,” notes FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “Walters is attempting to compromise students’ education in order to score political points with a narrow set of his Christian nationalist supporters.”
Our Satanic Temple win gets lots of coverage
Our victory on the behalf of The Satanic Temple in Tennessee last week inspired a major story in Newsweek.
“A school board in Memphis, Tenn., has agreed to pay $15,000 in a settlement with The Satanic Temple after a months-long lawsuit that originated in March,” says the piece. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Satanic Temple in March, alleging ‘serious First Amendment violations’ after the school district ‘attempted to thwart’ the Satanic Temple’s efforts to launch the After School Satan Club at Chimneyrock Elementary School in Cordova.” The secular group only offers after-school clubs in schools where the Christian evangelical Good News Club is present.
Newsweek interviewed Annie Laurie for the story and quoted her extensively. Read more here.
Our peer secular groups have featured our Satanic Temple triumph, too.
“A public school district in Tennessee has just learned an expensive lesson about what happens when you discriminate among religions,” Americans United for the Separation of Church and State narrates on its website. “Some parents at Chimneyrock Elementary School in Cordova, Tenn., hit the roof after the Satanic Temple, a nontheistic religious group that supports separation of church and state, applied to run an after-school club. You can guess what happened next. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sued on behalf of the Temple. FFRF has announced that the case has been settled. The school district will pay $15,000, mostly in attorneys’ fees.”
FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence explained the case on the latest episode of Freethought Radio. Then, co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor spoke with evolutionary psychologist Will M. Gervais about his fascinating new book Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species.
We are elsewhere in the media
Our local-level interventions, including our wins, are also getting extensive coverage.
“The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education has stopped opening its meetings with a board member-led, nonsecular prayer after a parent challenged a practice that had been in place for years,” reports the Winston-Salem Journal. “Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on protecting the separation of church and state, announced Tuesday that it had heard from the school district’s legal team saying that it would no longer have a nonsecular prayer during its invocation at the start of each meeting.”
And we’re getting noticed in the Lone Star State.
“Over the past seven months, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent three letters to Rusk ISD, asking the district to stop their student-led prayers before football games, claiming they are unconstitutional,” reports an East Texas TV station. “FFRF is a national nonprofit that advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists.”
The station interviewed FFRF Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence. You can watch and read the interview here.
A newspaper in Tennessee actually republished verbatim a recent press release of ours. (Be our guest!)
We’re seeking to preserve a secular taxpayer victory
We’ve been busy advancing the secular cause elsewhere, even if we haven’t made a media splash in those places yet.
We moved to file an amicus brief in support of the New Jersey attorney general to ensure that a prior victory FFRF obtained on behalf of N.J. taxpayers is not nullified. FFRF and its local member David Steketee filed suit in December 2015 seeking to stop Morris County’s practice of regularly issuing millions in historic preservation grants to churches. The complicated case, with many judicial maneuverings, resulted in a strong unanimous decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in April 2018, ruling the public funding of churches unconstitutional. However, local churches don’t seem to have given up in their efforts to benefit from tax dollars. The Mendham Methodist Church and The Zion Lutheran Church Long Valley are urging the U.S. District Court of New Jersey to order Morris County to resume granting funds to churches. That’s why we had to take our latest step.
No more prayerful graduations
We made certain that a Tennessee middle school from now on will not be infusing religion into its graduation ceremonies. A concerned community parent informed us that North Middle School’s May 14 graduation in Loudon, Tenn., took place at the local First Baptist Church and included a prayer by the church’s youth pastor. FFRF took action to protect the constitutional rights of students and community members and, thankfully, the district was willing to listen to reason — and constitutional law.
A secular post office victory delivered
We delivered a secular victory to a post office in Aurora, Ill. The East Aurora Post Office removed a cross from public property after we asked it to.
“The Postal Service appreciates your communication concerning a religious display in the East Aurora Post Office in Illinois. A Latin cross was spotted on the counter behind the retail clerk,” a postal employee from the legal department responded via email. “Once again, thank you for bringing the issue to light. The Postal Service does not wish to violate any constitutional principle.”
A Dynamic Scorecard
Our legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, has announced the addition of two significant bills to its Dynamic Scorecard. Find out here which ones they are and why they’ve been added.
The Dynamic Scorecard previously rated U.S. representatives on their sponsorship of three bills. With the addition of the latest two, each of the bills now constitute 12 percent of the overall score, reinforcing the Fund’s message to keep federal policy in line with the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.
A Bond-style villainous blueprint
FFRF Staff Attorney Ryan Jayne provides a delightfully cinematic look at Project 2025.
“Like a James Bond villain gathering scores of lackeys in a secret hideout to hatch a scheme of world domination, the Heritage Foundation over the past two years has coordinated with more than 100 like-minded organizations to craft an extensive playbook for taking over American public policy,” he writes in a recent blog. “Also like a Bond villain revealing his full plan to a temporarily trapped protagonist, Heritage has proudly published online its highly detailed roadmap for the world to see.”
His conclusion is along similar filmic lines.
“If the Heritage Foundation is like a Bond villain, as secular activists we must aspire to emulate 007 ourselves, thwarting a powerful adversary despite seemingly long odds. In this case, that means using whatever platforms we have — social media, op-eds, town halls and word of mouth — to inform others about the serious danger posed by Project 2025,” he concludes. “Working together we can raise a public outcry against Project 2025, leaving its Christian nationalist supporters shaken (not stirred).”
Religion is a failed attempt to explain WHY
FFRF Contributing Writer Barbara Walker makes a convincing case in her latest column that “Religion is a failed attempt to explain WHY.”
“If the human race is still in its cultural childhood, may we set a new faith in such a hope, that after more generations it will eventually grow up?” she asks. “WHY not?”
Create your secular virtual billboard
Want to have some fun this weekend? Why don’t you try your hand at making a virtual billboard? It’ll be a fun and easy few minutes. (We have three choices: one of being a secular voter, one on being an “unabashed” nontheist and one letting you create your own slogan.)
Click here for more information and updates about FFRF’s legislative arm, FFRF Action Fund.
We are — with your support — constantly trying all avenues, media and formats to shake and stir things up.
