July 5, 2023 – “The greatest statement of equality is in the Declaration of Independence, written by a slaveholder.”—Ruth Bader Ginsburg This quote by the late Supreme Court justice should inspire us to critically examine the notions of independence, freedom and equality this week and every week. This is the second Fourth of July since Roe v. […]
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Posted inOp-Ed
Kat Grant and Barbara Alvarez: Recognizing Library Workers Day on April 25
April 25, 2023 – LGBTQIA+ rights are human rights. Information access is also a human right. And yet, both are under attack by religious extremists. Libraries, and the people who work in them, deserve our support more than ever. Did you know that there were 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022? […]
Posted inUS
FFRF condemns Fla. governor’s fallacious smear of nonreligious
June 15, 2022 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is denouncing remarks by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that imply people who lack a “religious foundation” are prone to criminal violence. The state/church watchdog, which represents more than 36,000 members, including 1,800 in Florida, has asked DeSantis to retract his misleading comments and apologize to his […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Freedom From Religion Foundation: Take action now over imminent overturn of Roe v. Wade
May 3, 2022 – In light of the leaked draft of an expected Supreme Court decision that appears to overrule Roe v. Wade, and the widespread panic it has sparked, the Freedom From Religion Foundation urges five constructive acts of resistance. The first: to demand that the U.S. Senate finally pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which […]
Posted inUS
End partnership for religious charter schools, FFRF prods Tennessee Gov. Lee
February 15, 2022 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is decrying a recently announced tieup between the state of Tennessee and a Michigan Christian college to establish numerous charter schools. Gov. Bill Lee’s administration asked Hillsdale College, a small Christian institution in Michigan, to open 100 public charter schools in Tennessee to follow its model […]
Posted inUS
Christian nationalism key force behind Jan. 6 Capitol attack, asserts new report
Two of the nation’s leading advocacy groups have issued a blockbuster report delineating the role Christian nationalism played in last year’s assault on the Capitol. The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) have just released the hard-hitting exposé, “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021, Insurrection.” BJC also leads the Christians Against Christian […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Barbara Alvarez: The endgame for all of these abortion restrictions
The very real potential that Roe v. Wade will be overturned this year is making anti-abortion legislators and religious extremists giddy with anticipation. In fact, states are doubling down on abortion bans and restrictions in the hopes that abortion will be outlawed if the Supreme Court rules in their favor. And conservative Christians are not […]
Posted inUS
FFRF deplores Flynn and Christian nationalism’s threat to atheists and nation
November 15, 2021 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is decrying conservative rallies for scapegoating atheists and calling for “one religion under God” in America. Speaking at a recent three-day “ReAwaken America” conference, held at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio as part of a national tour, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, the keynoter, opined: […]
Posted inUS
Latest SCOTUS church ruling signals trouble ahead
April 12, 2021 – The high court’s series of rulings in favor of science-denying religious litigants signals serious trouble ahead for the principle of separation between state and church, warns the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Near midnight on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued yet another emergency decision striking down Covid-19 restrictions as applied to […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Ryan Jayne: Banning transgender athletes is wrong science and bad for women’s sports
March 30, 2021 – There’s a disturbing new phenomenon we’ve recently observed at the state level. Last year, Idaho was the first state to ban transgender females from playing in high school women’s sports. Even though the Idaho law is likely unconstitutional, this year about 30 states are considering following suit, and four state legislatures have […]
Posted inUS
FFRF calls out senator from Mississippi on Christian nationalist comments in defense of voter suppression
March 25, 2021 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the junior senator from Mississippi to recant recent Christian nationalist comments she made in defense of voter suppression. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith defended a voter suppression bill in Georgia during a Senate Campaign Finance Committee hearing this week. The bill, if passed, would implement a […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Barbara Alvarez: The freethinking foundation of International Women’s Day
March 8, 2021 – International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, as well as a call for gender parity. Since 1975, the United Nations has declared International Women’s Day as an official observance day and in many countries, it’s a national holiday. It dates […]
Posted inOp-Ed
James A. Haught: We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated
October 14, 2020 – Long ago, I concluded that no reliable evidence supports gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, prophecies and other supernatural stuff of religion. Those magic claims simply arise from the human imagination, I assumed. Instead, I chose to trust the honest search of science to explain the ultimate mysteries of existence. Aye, there’s […]
Posted inUS
Secretive White House calls helped funnel tax money to Trump preachers
July 16, 2020 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is releasing evidence today of how the Trump administration has secretly turned the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) into a bonanza of tax-paid handouts for churches and religious leaders. FFRF is providing audio documentation, via a recording that it made, of clandestine calls the White House set […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Annie Laurie Gaylor: The inhumanity of forcing children to have children
March 5, 2019 – The news that an 11-year-old rape victim in Argentina had been forced to continue a pregnancy brought back a poignant memory of another child I once met who needed an abortion. In the early 1970s, my mother, who ran a volunteer abortion referral service, occasionally housed young women in extreme situations […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Andrew Seidel: Accepting the Truth About Climate Change is a Matter of State/Church Separation
Nov. 14, 2018 – Another mundane “miracle”: a cross left standing in the wake of a hurricane that killed 33 people. God didn’t save the people or even the church from Hurricane Michael. Instead, he saved a torture-device-turned-religious symbol. This religious myopia is remarkably consistent. After Hurricane Harvey, Christians claimed that their god saved a cross and let over 100 people die. […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Annie Laurie Gaylor: The dangers Kavanaugh poses to true religious liberty and women’s rights can’t be overstated
October 9, 2018 – The suspenseful on-again, off-again confirmation hearings were grueling, raising hope the past week that despite all the odds, Brett Kavanaugh might be defeated. His unfortunate confirmation on Saturday as the newest Supreme Court justice is a game changer for our causes and our country. Shortly after the U.S. Senate shamefully approved […]
Posted inRegional
Freedom From Religion Foundation urges Placer County not to gift land to a local church group
Jan. 22, 2017 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging a California county not to gift land to a local church group. Placer County is considering donating 26 acres of land to Placer Rescue Mission to construct a “campus shelter” for the county’s homeless population, a concerned local resident informed FFRF. It is indeed […]
Posted inCalifornia
FFRF aims to debut display in California Capitol
Dec. 21, 2016 – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is attempting to make its debut at the California state Capitol to counter a recently installed Christian nativity scene there. Local FFRF members are seeking permission to put up FFRF’s whimsical “nativity” cutout depicting three Founding Fathers (and the Statue of Liberty) gazing in adoration at […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Freedom From Religion Foundation: Steve Bannon a threat to all we hold dear
Nov. 21, 2016 – A key Donald Trump policy advisor is a threat to the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s core values and mission — and to the foundations of our secular republic. President-elect Trump recently named Steve Bannon as his White House chief strategist. Bannon is the former executive chairman of the Breitbart News Network, […]