We at the Freedom From Religion Foundation have not been hesitant to speak out recently — even when our perspective has been controversial.
We acknowledged the death of Pope Francis, who was revered by many, but whose tenure failed to bring meaningful change to a deeply flawed institution. As the Catholic Church prepares to choose its next leader, we are urging empathetic Catholics worldwide to reflect deeply on the harm perpetuated in their name — and to consider leaving an institution that has proven itself unwilling to evolve.
A troubling White House task force
We condemned a dangerous “Anti-Christian Bias” Task Force as a Christian nationalist power grab — an initiative created to advance a sweeping presidential executive order. That order claims to protect Christians in government, schools and public life, but in practice, it serves as a vehicle to give Christianity preferential treatment.
“This is a government-run tip line encouraging people to report their co-workers for failing to conform to Christian norms,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It’s chilling, Orwellian — and utterly inappropriate for a pluralistic democracy.”
Our social media messaging criticizing the task force has gained traction and been picked up by publications such as the paper in Myrtle Beach (where we are holding our annual conference later this year!).
“The Freedom From Religion Foundation called the task force a ‘sham’ and said it’s encouraging Christian entitlement, according to an April 22 statement on X, formerly known as Twitter,” states a story in the Myrtle Beach Sun News. “‘The Constitution demands neutrality, not special treatment for one religion,’ the organization said.”
Not an Earth Day to celebrate
The Trump administration’s gutting of agencies that protect the environment, monitor pollution and oversee climate change mitigation makes a travesty of Earth Day on its 55th anniversary, we pointed out. Every day, another executive order, staff cut or funding cut is announced that undoes decades of regulatory actions. These directives are rolling back efforts to mitigate climate change and protect the environment — and, by definition, American health and well-being.
We ran a full-page ad in the New York Times on April 22 for Earth Day, asking: “Be fruitful, and multiply? — Or save our Earth?” The ad urged readers to honor Earth Day by joining FFRF and concluded with a little homily: “The only afterlife that should concern us is leaving our descendants — and planet — a secure and pleasant future.” (A site dedicated to cartooning notes that the cartoon in our ad is a rare one to be published in the Times.)
Christ is not king
We applauded the widespread backlash against a blatantly unconstitutional “Christ is King” resolution that was hastily passed last week by the Oklahoma House of Representatives. News coverage of the misbegotten resolution widely quoted FFRF Co-President Dan Barker criticizing it: “The revolutionaries who founded the United States threw the king out. Along with rejecting a monarchy, they deliberately adopted a godless Constitution, whose only references to religion are exclusionary, and which forbids the government from establishing any religion.”
A crazy official response
When a Huffington Post reporter was writing a story, partly prompted by a complaint we made, on the Department of Housing and Urban Development giving a part of the day off for Good Friday and Passover, the official spokesperson had what the reporter described as a “bonkers” response. Read on here to be (sort of) amused and for a mention of our role.
Reuters has made our brief famous
Our friend-of-the-court brief in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case got noticed by none other than Reuters in a story distributed to numerous media outlets.
“The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider on Tuesday a bid by Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland to keep their elementary school children out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read in the latest case involving the intersection of religion and LGBT rights,” said the piece in the venerable wire service. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation secularism advocacy group in a filing to the Supreme Court supporting the school board said, ‘Parents should not have the constitutional right to micromanage their children’s education to ensure that all secular education materials conform with their personal religious beliefs.’ Such a rule would be boundless because ‘almost any book or idea – however commonplace or innocent – likely contradicts some religious ideals,’ the group said.”
This week on our “Ask an Atheist” Facebook Live feature, FFRF’s Sam Grover, Hirsh Joshi and Nancy Noet break down the case, explain what’s at stake for public education nationwide, and why FFRF is defending the inclusive curriculum and fighting back against the opt-out option.
Our role in the first atheist African billboard
Humanists International has a great interview on its website with Accra (Ghana) Atheists President Roslyn Mould about the first atheist billboard in Africa, which we helped set up and finance. It is something that we are quite proud of.
Former member of Congress talks about defending secularism
An ex-member of Congress appears on our TV show this week to discuss her time in office defending secularism and the separation of state and church. Former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, who was a member of the Congressional Freethought Caucus during her years in the House, represented Pennsylvania’s 7th District, which encompasses Allentown and its environs. You can already catch the show on our YouTube channel. Or find out where and when to watch the show on television on Sunday.
Trump’s two major motivations
On the latest Freethought Radio episode, we first did a round-up of the news nationally and globally. Then, yours truly interviewed University of Louisville Professor David T. Buckley about his recent book, “Blessing America First: Religion, Populism and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration,” which explores two major motivations driving President Trump’s approach in international affairs.
Analyzing a Supreme Court case
The new episode of the “We Dissent” podcast dissects the latest U.S. Supreme Court case originating in our home state. FFRF Deputy Legal Director Liz Cavell and Americans United Legal Director Rebecca Markert break down the Supreme Court case Catholic Charities Bureau Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission — and its various implications.
A Texas voucher scam
Our legislative arm was also not shy to make itself heard. The FFRF Action Fund strongly denounced the Texas House’s final vote to advance one of the most sweeping and expensive taxpayer-funded private school voucher schemes in the country. Texans deserve better than a privatization scheme masquerading as educational equity.
A mythical Indiana resolution
The Fund also lambasted Indiana House Resolution 53 — a transparently theocratic and ahistorical declaration that seeks to entangle the state with Christian nationalism. HR 53 is a brazen attempt to perpetuate the myth that America is a Christian nation.
Oklahoma legislators are both ‘secularist’ and ‘theocrats’
The Fund’s “Theocrats of the Week” are the Republican Oklahoma representatives who pushed the “Christ is King” resolution through the Legislature last week. These legislators are only serving Christian Oklahomans with the resolution, completely overriding the separation of state and church and denying its constitutional existence.
The Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is a state representative who opposed this resolution. Oklahoma state Rep. Michelle McCane argued on the House floor that the resolution would exclude Oklahomans who are not Christian, while also elevating Christianity above other religions and nonreligion in the eyes of the state. The Fund thanks McCane, an open atheist, for standing up for Oklahomans of all religions and nonreligion.
How we’re pushing back against religion in sports
“In America, Christianity is linked with sports (because if Jesus were real, he’d definitely care about specific teams and games, right?),” begins FFRF Attorney Sammi Lawrence’s new blog. She focuses in particular on the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which has been expanding its presence in K-12 schools on a mission to convert public school students to Christianity, and how we’re countering them with your help.
It’s only due to your support that we’re able to regularly speak out and defend the constitutional wall of separation.
2 Responses
The public perception of Pope Francis is quite amazing, and it qualifies for the world record in gaslighting and spin. It’s the perfect con job!
It stretches the imagination beyond belief that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church (Francis included) is ignorant of Ecological Overshoot and the human misery and biosphere degradation caused by human overpopulation. These people have sufficient education and access to information to understand that it’s the height of immorality to encourage unrestrained reproduction. Their stated policies for birth control and abortion are atrocious.
Instead of the fawning servility of the world media, there should be an outcry to have him explain to the International Criminal Court why he threatens his faithful followers with eternal damnation for using a condom or a birth control pill. Is this not a crime against humanity?
I have to disagree with your decision to sharply criticize Pope Francis for not having changed Catholicism even more drastically. I was raised Catholic and quit the church at age 15. Until Francis came along I held bitter memories of heavy judgementalism and control that non-Catholics and those never controlled by a cult would never be able to appreciate.
Pope Francis was the first good man to ever hold the papacy and he was fighting an uphill battle from within and without to make drastic change. None before him ever stated that he wasn’t in a position to judge people’s choices (he who is without sin should cast the first stone). He “crossed the aisle” to meet with non-Catholics, lived a life of tolerance, disavowed the trappings of wealth that previous popes had wallowed in, demonstrated equality with “the Meek”, showed support for the disadvantaged, consistently challenged political leaders’ cruelty and neglect, none of which was ever broached by previous popes, and all of which we should agree with.
Sure, the Catholic church remains in violation of any number of rights based on its ancient dogma, but he’s challenged much of that and purged most of the conclave holding backward, rigid ideas to keep his relatively progressive ideas moving. I find it hard to criticize the person who has moved the Catholic church so very far to the left and on the road to compassion, something it has always lacked. To suggest he should have, or could have, swept the slate clean of all religiosity is naive and highly judgemental.
Expect a lot more change over the coming decade and try to be patient. I won’t rejoin the Catholic, or any other, church but I see a huge crack in the formidable walls of those claiming to be followers of Christ, which wouldn’t have happened without this man.