Freethought-Now

While some on our staff were out part of the week for meetings with the Secular Coalition for America in Washington, D.C., the Freedom From Religion Foundation stayed productive. Our message has been recently featured in such a variety of forums that it is hard for us to keep track.

FFRF Regional Government Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens has had an op-ed published in one of Maryland’s most venerable newspapers. “Theocratically inclined Maryland lawmakers are offering a false solution to a real problem.” Dollens begins his column in the Easton Star Democrat, founded in 1799. You can read the rest of the piece here.

We halted creationist teaching

Our successful intervention that halted the teaching of creationism in the science curriculum at a Colorado Springs public charter school was quite certainly in good part due to a state publication reporting extensively on our complaint. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has issued a letter to a Colorado Springs charter school, accusing the school of violating the Constitution by teaching creationism as part of its eighth-grade science curriculum,” said a story in the Colorado Times Recorder. Our letter had the desired effect.

Alabama news portal boosts our perspective
Another statewide news portal has featured our response to an awful new law.

“The Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to require K-12 public schools to start each day with a student-led prayer and the pledge of allegiance,” says a news feature on Al.com. “‘Jewish or nonreligious students would certainly feel like religious outsiders if they encountered new Ten Commandments displays at school, along with a school-sponsored Christian chaplain and a daily period for Christian prayer and Bible reading,’ said Ryan Jayne, with the Freedom from Religion Foundation. ‘That is not neutrality, and pushing religion onto students this way is unconstitutional.’”

MSN acknowledges us

The MSN news portal recently mentioned a case of ours.

“The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 12-6 to vacate a preliminary injunction that had stopped Louisiana from enforcing House Bill 71, a 2024 law requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments,” said the mammoth online news source. “Civil liberties groups, including the ACLU and Freedom From Religion Foundation, denounced the decision as forcing families into repeated legal battles across school districts. These groups pledged to continue challenging the law once displays are installed.” 

That you can bet on.

Our work resonates all over
Our objection to a religious rapper’s proselytizing in a Tennessee public school is echoing weeks after the incident.

“A rap legend’s recent guest appearance at a Tennessee school to deliver a mandatory religious lecture is raising more than a few eyebrows,” says a piece on Suggest, which describes itself as a site that has “all the daily celebrity and national news in one place.” “Per a recent statement from the nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an announcer introduced the 53-year-old ‘Chickenhead’ rapper by asking students to identify as Christian or Muslim before leading them in prayer. The FFRF alleged that Project Pat (real name Patrick Earl Houston) led the audience in prayer, spoke about God, and expressed his hope that students would accept Jesus as their savior.”

Public radio spotlights us
Texas public radio is chronicling our tussle with theocratic county officials there.

“Tarrant County has hired attorneys amid a ‘legal threat’ over its Ten Commandments monument installed on the county courthouse lawn,” KERA News, which terms itself as NPR for North Texas, reports. “Freedom from Religion Foundation, a nonprofit group focused on promoting separation of church and state, sent a letter to Tarrant County Jan. 20 claiming the monument is unconstitutional and is asking for it to be moved off building grounds. The letter was sent after the group received multiple complaints over the monument from Tarrant County residents, Chris Line, legal counsel for FFRF, told KERA News on Tuesday. … Line said, ‘These types of things are just meant to pander to a Christian base while kind of telling the rest of Texans to screw off, which is really inappropriate.’”

Prejudiced member of Congress should resign

We are calling on Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., to resign following several recent anti-Muslim statements of his. In a letter sent to Ogles, we condemned his March 9 social media post declaring that “Muslims don’t belong in American society” and that “pluralism is a lie.”

Holy warriors brought about the Iran war

The latest episode of Freethought Radio has an extremely timely interview about the Iran war that co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor did with Mother Jones national correspondent Kiera Butler, author of the article: “Trump’s Holy Warriors Finally Got the Apocalypse They’ve Prayed For.” You can watch the video podcast of the interview here.

How we got a ‘character coach’ removed

FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line and FFRF Multimedia Producer Leo Costello, on this week’s episode of “Secular Spotlight,” detail FFRF’s work that removed a religious representative from a Pennsylvania public school football team. The outcome reinforces the constitutional line between students’ religious freedom and adult-led proselytizing in public schools.

‘Secularist’ member of Congress is investigating religious military extremism

The FFRF Action Fund, our legislative arm, names Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., its Secularist of the Week for helping lead an effort to investigate reports of religious extremism influencing U.S. military operations. It applauds Rep. Houlahan and the dozens of her fellow members of Congress who are safeguarding the constitutional rights of our troops.

Texas state rep. is ‘Theocrat of the Week’

The Action Fund is choosing Texas state Rep. Nate Schatzline as its Theocrat of the Week for his brazen embrace of Christian nationalism. Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican and former pastor, recently joined a group of religious leaders who laid hands on the president in the Oval Office and prayed over him. And he has made clear throughout his career that he views government as an extension of his religious mission. Schatzline’s comments and actions exemplify the dangers of Christian nationalism and earn him the dubious distinction of Theocrat of the Week.

FFRF co-sponsor of ‘No Kings III’
We are once again proud to co-sponsor the next “No Kings” National Day of Action taking place on Saturday, March 28. There are 2,200 No Kings Day events planned in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and a dozen other countries. You can find the closest event near you via this link.

Free Betty

About a dozen D.C.-area FFRF members joined FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, along with FFRF Director of Governmental Affairs Mark Dann, at a picket on International Women’s Day, Sunday, March 8, at the Moroccan Consulate. They were part of an international day of protest at Moroccan embassies and consulates around the world protesting the imprisonment of an atheist Moroccan activist for “insulting Islam.” 

Making the situation life-threatening is the fact that Betty Lachgar, a cancer survivor, is in danger of amputation of her left arm if authorities do not release her for urgent surgery on a failing prosthesis. Hence the arm slings some of the protesters are pictured wearing. Join the more than 380,000 individuals who have signed a petition demanding the theocratic Moroccan government release Betty at “freebettydotorg” (some email servers don’t like the actual URL, so we’re giving you the “text,” not the actual link). Thank you for helping free Betty!

It is because of members like you that we are able to stand up for secularism.

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