Freethought-Now

Our work at the Freedom From Religion Foundation seems to be catching the attention of our adversaries and allies alike.

An official at a health care sharing ministry umbrella group wrote a piece on the hard-right Townhall site accusing us of irrational prejudice toward such health care entities. (Not at all: Here’s one very persuasively rational critique we did early this year.) 

Defending an indefensible Calif. school board
A California media outlet whose executive editor claims as a “career highlight” interviews with President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and FBI Director Kash Patel has run a love letter to the Chino Valley (Calif.) Unified District School Board, with whom we have had a long-running legal battle over unconstitutional prayers. It takes quite a sleight of hand to make the board seem the victim here.

No public schools?

A columnist associated with the ultralibertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute derides our case against a Louisiana law mandating the public school display of the Ten Commandments before blasting the very concept of public schools.

Science education group likes us

But, wait. It’s not only cranks who are observing us. The National Center for Science Education has approvingly noted the efforts of our legislative arm.

“Kentucky’s Senate Bill 240 (PDF) would, if enacted, safeguard the religious neutrality of public education in a variety of ways, including by establishing that public school students have a right under state law to be free from ‘any religious instruction as part of a school curriculum, including creationism and intelligent design,’” says a piece on the organization’s website. “Senate Bill 240 joins Kansas’s House Bill 2431 and Senate Bill 424, Oklahoma’s Senate Bill 3488, and Vermont’s House Bill 405, as the fifth piece of legislation based on a model bill drafted by a national coalition of secular organizations, including American Atheists, the American Humanist Association, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation Action Fund.”

Making news in Ohio
Our pushback against an unduly privileged religious scheme in Ohio is making a media splash in the Buckeye State.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking a Northwest Ohio school district to stop letting a religious release time program operate on school property,” reports the Ohio Capital Journal. “LifeWise Academy has been renting a room in Elmwood Local Schools’ Community Center during the school day since September 2022, according to a letter Freedom From Religion Foundation Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence sent to Elmwood Schools Superintendent Tony Borton on Feb. 18.”

Another media outlet in the state also ran a story on the same episode.

Yes, we are a legal watchdog
The Sarasota, Fla., paper carried a lengthy feature on a recent intervention of ours there, which it titled: “Legal watchdog tells Sarasota school to bench ‘baseball chaplain.’” The story began, “A national association advocating for the separation of church and state is accusing a public high school in Sarasota County of violating the U.S. Constitution by having what it is calling a religious chaplain for the school’s baseball team.” That’s us being talked about, just in case you were wondering.

Theocratic ideology behind the Iran conflict
We’re warning that the Christian nationalist “End Times” theology is embedded in the worldview of key officials making decisions about the U.S. attack on Iran. Journalist Jonathan Larsen is reporting on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s claims that noncommissioned officers were reportedly briefed by a combat-unit commander who said that the war is part of God’s plan and that President Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

Opting out of a voucher scheme

We have sent a letter to all state governors urging them to opt their respective states out of the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, a nationwide voucher scheme approved in last summer’s reconciliation bill. Otherwise, the result “will be even more financial struggles for public schools in your state,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle J. Steinberg has written.

Rhode Island AG’s laudable clergy abuse investigation

We commended Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha for releasing a long-awaited report detailing decades of clergy sexual abuse and for taking steps to hold the perpetrators accountable. “Sunlight is essential,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, who wrote the first nonfiction exposé on clergy abuse of children, published by FFRF in 1988, and who inaugurated the standing “Black Collar Crime” section of FFRF’s newspaper tracking sexual abuse by members of the clergy before the phenomenon was widely tracked.

Another troubling Supreme Court order
A new U.S. Supreme Court order siding with religious parents challenging California’s transgender student privacy policies signals an alarming expansion of religious privilege at the expense of LGBTQ+ students and public school protections.“This is another troubling example of the Supreme Court rushing to privilege religious objections while bypassing the normal judicial process,” says FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle J. Steinberg.

Our Sunday protest in D.C.

We are holding a protest at the Moroccan Consulate on Sunday, March 8, to spotlight the imprisonment of feminist and freethinker Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, who was found guilty last fall of wearing a T-shirt that “insulted Islam” and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, and FFRF’s D.C.-based Governmental Affairs Director Mark Dann, will be there. Join us if you can!

Our Freethought Radio episode this week spotlights Lachgar. Hear about her harrowing story and about how you can help to free her.

The Trump administration’s shenanigans in Africa

The latest episode of “Secular Spotlight” welcomes a bishop to discuss the rising authoritarian threat around the world — and its connection to fundamentalist ideology. FFRF Governmental Affairs Director Mark Dann and yours truly engaged in a highly informative discussion with Bishop Joseph Tolton, founder and president of Interconnected Justice, on what the Trump administration is up to in Africa and here at home.

Kudos to Texas school districts!
The FFRF Action Fund, our legislative arm, is celebrating the fact that school districts across Texas have recently rejected the legislative imposition of Christian nationalism. An unconstitutional measure that the Texas Statehouse passed in 2025 required school districts to decide by March 1 whether to allow a period of prayer and the reading of religious texts in public schools. Barely 1 percent of districts have opted in!

‘Secularist’ Minnesotan critiques Trump’s remarks

A Minnesotan taking part in a TV panel on President Trump’s State of the Union address has been awarded the Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” title for critiquing the use of religion in the speech. The Fund thanks Dr. Holly Neaton for her powerful remarks on MS Now.

A ‘theocratic’ lawmaker

The FFRF Action Fund castigates its “Theocrat of the Week” for leading legislation that would revise homicide statutes to include abortion. Tennessee state Rep. Jody Barrett’s theocratic bill signals a troubling pattern across the country. 

Debating God
On Feb. 6, FFRF Co-President Dan Barker participated in a debate at Restoration Church in Rowland, Texas, on the topic “Does the God of the Bible Exist?” against Christian philosopher Elias Ayala as part of a weekend conference sponsored by “The Gospel Truth.” Read Dan’s fascinating 10-minute Opening Statement.

Whether it is debating the existence of God or creating media buzz, we are able to do it all only due to your unstinting support.

The post Weekly Wrap: Debating God, clergy abuse, the Iran conflict and shenanigans in Africa appeared first on Freethought Now.