It’s easy to get distracted in these scary times (even without Halloween) but we at the Freedom From Religion Foundation are managing to stay focused on our core issues.
That’s why a major undertaking of ours this week was to ask the IRS to investigate a nonprofit religious tour featuring JD Vance as part of its efforts to support the GOP ticket, in violation of the tax code. FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor commented, “Ministries can’t be allowed to get away with blatant politicking. They must abide by the same rules as other nonprofits — or lose their tax code privileges.”
‘Voting like an atheist’ is a good thing
We chided Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez after her recent comment at an anti-abortion rally deriding people who “vote like atheists.” We blasted her insulting implication that it is wrong to “vote like an atheist.” “Please start honoring the secular Constitution you took an oath to uphold,” we concluded.
Our constitutional victory in Mississippi
We’ve also been making our regular interventions — sometimes to successful effect. A Mississippi school district nixed its graduation prayers after we contacted it with our constitutional objections. The school district attorney’s recently responded, “The district agrees that the alleged school-sponsored prayer at graduation will be eliminated.”
Give secular students respect!
We requested a Connecticut community college to treat its secular students equally. A Three Rivers Community College student recently attempted to form a local chapter of the Secular Student Alliance but despite fulfilling each of the Student Government Association’s requirements for recognition, the group’s application was not approved. “It’s shocking that a public institution would engage in such flagrant discrimination against nonreligious students,” said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
Media coverage of our lawsuits in Oklahoma and Louisiana
Our efforts on behalf of the Constitution in the recent past are gathering a good amount of media coverage.
“Opponents of an Oklahoma directive for schools to teach the Bible are suing the state’s superintendent of public instruction, calling the mandate unlawful and asking the state’s highest court to halt the purchase of materials intended to be taught this academic year,” states an article in Education Week, the premier publication covering schools in the United States. “The plaintiffs are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.”
A lawsuit we’ve filed as part of a coalition in Louisiana against a directive to display the Ten Commandments in public schools is also getting play. A Baton Rouge TV station quoted Annie Laurie on the ridiculousness of the whole enterprise:
“Why should a kindergartener be told ‘Thou shall not commit adultery?’ Why does that make the top 10? That’s absurd, that little children would be exposed to some concept like adultery,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom from Religion Foundation, said.
NPR covers a recent win of ours
National Public Radio’s affiliate in western North Carolina has done a piece on the aftermath of a recent win that we obtained.
“More than a dozen people addressed the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board Tuesday night asking members to bring back the practice of praying at the start of meetings. The board began offering moments of silence instead back in May,” the network reports. “The switch came after the district received a letter from the national nonprofit, Freedom From Religion Foundation.”
The outcome of the board meeting was one to cheer for. As the station reported, “The school board ultimately voted 6 to 3 to continue with a moment of silence before meetings rather than prayer.”
Yay!
Join us for a fun International Secular Day of the Dead celebration
There’s a fun celebration coming up soon! We are co-sponsoring the 2024 International Secular Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos free online event on Friday, Nov. 1, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern. This event is a celebration of life; nontheist Hispanics view this day as a perfect way to remember dead loved ones without religion. Special guests include actor Jon Huertas; professor and political activist Grisch Raether; film and digital animator Yoa Martínez; neuroscientist and biomolecular engineer Sergio Labra; professional illustrator and artist Marco Lorenzana; and professor of theater Enrique Castillo. Register via here.
NY Times columnist Charles Blow is FFRF TV show guest
One of the country’s most distinguished opinion writers — a freethinker to boot — is the guest on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s TV show this week. Charles M. Blow’s columns have appeared in the New York Times since 2008. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling books “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” a memoir, and “The Devil You Know.” You can already watch the show on our YouTube channel. Or find out where and when to catch it on television Sunday.
Katherine Stewart warns about the dangers of religious nationalism
On our Freethought Radio show this week, FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott first described our new lawsuit challenging the proposed distribution of bibles in Oklahoma public schools. Then, we heard author and journalist Katherine Stewart warning of the dangers of religious nationalism while accepting FFRF’s “Freethought Heroine” award at our recent convention.
Ron Reagan explains his ad for us
Ron Reagan has created an iconic ad for FFRF — and he dedicated an entire recent interview to explaining it. Take a listen!
Annie Laurie on John Fugelsang’s show
Annie Laurie was a guest on John Fugelsang’s national Sirius XM show, “Tell Me Everything,” and talked about our Oklahoma lawsuit and FFRF’s work.
My interview with author of two essential books
I interviewed for Madison’s community radio station the past weekend an ex-Washington Post and LA Times reporter, Vincent Bevins, who has written two books that are absolutely essential for understanding our world today. Learn more about his work here.
The important work of our legislative arm
Our legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, has been engaging in a lot of urgent activities recently. Please visit here to find out what all it has been crucially focused on.
How fundamentalists are intruding on the First Amendment right to offend
FFRF Editorial Assistant Greg Fletcher has a fun column about how religious zealots intrude on people’s favorite fun pastimes. “I seem to have a habit of picking up hobbies that upset people who like to make picket signs with the Virgin Mary’s face on them,” Greg’s piece begins. It goes on in a breezy way to give a lowdown on the heavy metal and indie horror movies subcultures — and the backlash they’ve generated among some fundamentalists.
Hopefully, the religious right is not intruding on your right to have fun during trick or treat this year. Happy Halloween! And thank you for your support as we continue to chase away religious apparitions.
