Nothing thrills us more at the Freedom From Religion Foundation than folks paying attention to our strivings on behalf of the secular U.S. Constitution — and this week has brought us plenty.

“A consortium of civil rights and anti-state religion advocacy groups is calling on the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board to reject at its upcoming Feb. 9 meeting a proposal for the formation of an online Jewish charter school,” an NPR affiliate in Oklahoma reported. “If approved, it would become the first religious charter school in the nation. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the Education Law Center, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice sent a letter to the board Tuesday.”

We pushed back against the National Prayer Breakfast
Our ongoing campaign to delegitimize the annual National Prayer Breakfast has gotten noticed, too. 

“The Secular Coalition for America and the Freedom from Religion Foundation joined other nonprofits to create a letter to members of Congress, asking them not to participate in the 2026 National Prayer Breakfast,” states an article in the Baptist News. “‘The past several years have made clear that the National Prayer Breakfast is not a benign event,’ the letter says. ‘In 2025, President Trump used the breakfast to suggest he was chosen by God to lead the nation, promoted the idea that we need to bring religion back, and reinforced a Christian nationalist political program. His remarks framed political opponents as threats and cast governance itself as a religious mission, rather than a constitutional one.’”

Sunshine State outlets like us
A Florida nonprofit news organization has provided coverage to our advocacy arm’s efforts in the state.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation Action Fund, another national group, warns that such language could marginalize students who do not share the ‘favored’ beliefs,” reports the Florida Trident about our pushback against the efforts of lawmakers to foist Christian phrasing upon Florida public schools. “‘The Constitution already protects student speech,’ wrote Annie Laurie Gaylor, the group’s president, in a December press release. ‘What this bill really does is privilege religion, particularly Christianity, by wrapping it in the language of free expression and using it as a weapon against educators and our secular public schools.’”

Knoxville paper mentions us

The Knoxville paper prominently featured our efforts in a piece on a lawsuit we are part of.

“A federal judge will allow a group of taxpayers to intervene in a lawsuit from a Christian nonprofit hoping to open a religious charter school in Knox County,” states the publication. “They are backed by prominent religious freedom organizations: the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”

We appeared in the Boston Globe
A conservative columnist in the Boston Globe grudgingly acknowledged a suit that we have filed in Massachusetts against the installation of two massive religious statues.

“The city commissioned the statues in 2023 to honor police officers and firefighters, for whom St. Michael and St. Florian have long served as traditional symbols of courage, protection, and sacrifice,” wrote Jeff Jacoby in a recent column. “In response, a group of Quincy residents, backed by the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, sued to block their installation on the grounds that placing images of saints at a municipal building would amount to an unlawful government endorsement of religion.”

Progressive news portals love our work
At the other end of the spectrum, two venerable progressive portals have noted our responses to theocratic shenanigans. The Daily Kos had extensive mention of our multiple press releases, of which a small flavoring is below.

“In August 2025, the Freedom From Religion Foundation released a statement sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem demanding ‘that the Department of Homeland Security stop using religion to portray its immigration enforcement activities as divinely ordained,’ and objecting to the violation of the First Amendment,” it writes. “In January 2026, the FFRF released this statement regarding the brutality towards and murder of residents of Minneapolis, citing a ‘federal regime increasingly shaped by Christian nationalist authoritarianism,’ and ends with a call to action.”

Common Dreams seems to be keeping a close eye on our social media feeds.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based advocacy group, said Tuesday on social media that ‘mandating Bible readings in public schools isn’t ‘education,’ it’s state-sponsored religious exercise,’” a story on the portal about our commentary on recent happenings in Texas. “‘Public schools are for everyone,’ FFRF added. ‘Government has no business promoting or imposing religion on students. Church–state separation protects all Texans.’”

Our state policy manager is quoted in university paper

In a nice change of pace, FFRF State Policy Manager Ryan Dudley was recently featured in the press in his own right. He’s currently enrolled at the Syracuse Law School in a (mostly) remote program, and the university publication featured his reaction to a residency program he participated in last December.

“One of the best parts was the opportunity to have in-person interaction with others in my cohort,” Ryan remarked. “The program is great because, although we are all participating from all over the country, there is a real sense of friendship and camaraderie within our group, and it’s great to connect with others at the residencies.”

Our hometown success

We have had a recent success in our hometown. A judge issued a ruling late last Friday allowing a lawsuit to move forward that our group and three Madison, Wis., residents filed against an unconstitutional tax exemption benefiting the rental properties owned by two religious entities in their hometown. (Two of the residents are FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.) The suit challenges a property tax exemption that was created and then amended to benefit specific church-owned rental properties to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Education Department’s concerning guidelines
We’re raising serious concerns about new guidance that the U.S. Department of Education issued yesterday that President Trump trumpeted during his pandering remarks at yesterday’s National Prayer Breakfast. They revise former guidelines on religion and prayer in public schools, warning that the document invites confusion, misapplication and increased religious coercion in public education.

“Students absolutely have the right to hold any religious belief or none at all,” says Annie Laurie. “But they also have the right to attend public school without being subjected to prayer, proselytizing or religious pressure. This guidance risks tipping that balance at the expense of religious minorities and nonreligious families.”

Christian nationalism and ICE

We have a variety of media offerings for you this week.

Two secular state legislators and a Freedom From Religion Foundation staff member originally from Minnesota offer their perspectives in the latest episode of our YouTube program “Secular Spotlight” on the ongoing ICE crisis in the Minneapolis area. FFRF Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg, who grew up in the Twin Cities, speaks with Minnesota state Rep. Andy Smith and Oklahoma state Rep. and FFRF Regional Governmental Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens about what’s happening on the ground, the constitutional violations tied to ICE raids and how communities and lawmakers are organizing and pushing back against the use of religion and Christian nationalism to justify state violence.

A tribute to a feminist skeptic

Our latest Freethought Radio episode includes an in-depth discussion with FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott, who explains in layperson’s terms this week’s exciting legal developments for FFRF. He also talks, as a Twin Cities resident, about the alarming degree to which his community is under siege. The program features as its centerpiece a memorial tribute to Barbara G. Walker, a provocative bestselling skeptic and feminist who died recently, in the form of an extensive interview.

The interviews with Elliott and with Walker are also available as video broadcasts.

How Gandhi helped an Iranian dissident cope in prison
I had the privilege of talking for my global affairs radio show with Iran-born Gandhian Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo about Gandhi’s relevance in today’s world, how his civil disobedience strategies can be applied in places such as Iran and the United States — and how Gandhi helped Professor Jahanbegloo cope when the theocratic Iranian regime imprisoned him for four months in his native country.

Retiring D.C. congressional delegate is a secularist

The FFRF Action Fund, our legislative arm, honors as its “Secularist of the Week” for her illustrious career D.C. congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton, a longtime member of the Congressional Freethought Caucus (dedicated to protecting the secular nature of our government and the constitutional separation between state and church), will be retiring next year. 

South Dakota legislators are being outrageous
The Action Fund is upbraiding South Dakota lawmakers for a recent prayer resolution that they passed urging all state residents to “seek the Lord Most High for His healing presence and mercy upon South Dakota.” The outrageous measure passed without any chance for public input, bypassing committee hearings in both chambers. While largely symbolic, the resolution blatantly crosses the constitutional line separating state and church and is an alarming sign of how extremists have a stranglehold on some state legislatures. 

There’s so much to keep tabs on and so much to respond to in protecting our cherished First Amendment — and we’re able to do it all only because of you.