Summary: A heated House hearing erupted as Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Austin Scott clashed over President Donald Trump's policies, the Republican agenda, and the upcoming November elections. McGovern accused Republicans of pushing a "fascist takeover," while Scott fired back in a tense exchange over the GOP's direction and voter sentiment. Watch the full confrontation and the biggest moments from this explosive congressional debate. 7/21/26
FFRF Demands State Department
Remove Unconstitutional
Christian Nationalist Posts
(FFRF) - 9/13/2025 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that the State Department immediately remove unconstitutional Christian nationalist posts from its official social media accounts.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FFRF objects to recent posts on the Department’s official X account that falsely promote Christianity as the foundation of the government of the United States and promise to eradicate policies that “demean the Christian faith.”
One post reads:
“Our nation was founded on the recognition that moral virtue and a steadfast faith in God are necessary preconditions of freedom. Yet under the Biden Administration, U.S. foreign policy belittled Christianity and weaponized government against faith. That era has ended. Under @POTUS’s leadership, the State Department will eradicate practices that devalue and demean the Christian faith.”
Another post vows that the department will “never apologize for our God-given rights”:
“At @POTUS’s direction, @SecRubio is taking action to secure religious liberties both at home and abroad, including terminating unlawful State Department policies targeting Christians and addressing the violent repression of Christians overseas. We will never apologize for our God-given rights.”
“These statements send a dangerous and unconstitutional message that the State Department serves Christians first and reduces millions of other Americans to second-class citizens,” writes FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line. “U.S. foreign policy should defend human rights, not elevate one religion above all others.”
FFRF’s letter points out that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment requires strict government neutrality between religion and nonreligion. FFRF underscores that America’s Founders deliberately created a secular government — investing sovereignty in “We the People,” not a deity. The U.S. Constitution contains no reference to God and expressly prohibits religious tests for public office, religious oaths, and any establishment of religion by government.
“America’s strength lies in its secular Constitution,” the letter emphasizes. “True religious freedom requires a government free from sectarian favoritism.”
With nearly 37 percent of Americans now identifying as non-Christian — including almost 29 percent who are religiously unaffiliated — FFRF stresses that the State Department is obligated to represent all citizens equally, not to promote Christian nationalism.
FFRF is urging the State Department to delete the unconstitutional posts and confirm in writing what steps it will take to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution.
Date of original press release: 9/10/2025
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
Pentagon-sponsored Christian Worship
Service Called An Egregious
Abuse of Power
FFRF: Sectarian Takeover at Pentagon Must Be Stopped
(FFRF) -- 5/27/25 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation is renewing its urgent call to the Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to halt sectarian religious services in official Pentagon spaces, following troubling details about the inaugural event.
Despite advance warnings from FFRF about the clear constitutional violations such an event would pose, Hegseth and the Pentagon invited all staff to attend a Pentagon-sponsored Christian worship service on government property during official working hours. The event, reportedly attended by hundreds of Department of Defense employees and broadcast across military channels, was organized by Hegseth and featured his personal pastor, Brooks Potteiger — a minister known for promoting Christian nationalism and political partisanship — who delivered a sermon declaring President Trump a “divinely appointed” leader.
Potteiger opened the service by thanking God for Trump and other officials who were “sovereignly appointed,” praising Trump for bringing “stability and moral clarity to our lands.” The service included sectarian preaching, worship songs, bible readings, and the Lord’s Prayer — all conducted from the Pentagon’s main auditorium, a symbolically significant site of U.S. government power.
Hegseth himself offered a prayer to “King Jesus,” stating: “We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation. Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right and in each and every day, in each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right in obedience to your will. It is in the name of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all God’s people say amen.”
Potteiger closed the service by calling on God to spread the influence of the prayer meeting beyond the Pentagon: “May this become a place where Christians come together to do just this, and we see you move in power, not just through the Pentagon, but through our nation’s capital and down throughout this great nation.”
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor: “This was a desecration of the secular principles embodied in the Constitution Hegseth is tasked with upholding. The Founders threw the king out, and deliberately gave sovereignty not to a monarch or a divinity but to ‘We the People.’ Hegseth’s comments are an embarrassment and a disgrace to his office.”
Hegseth has described the prayer event as the first of a planned monthly series — raising serious alarm that the Pentagon is now hosting an institutionalized Christian worship program sanctioned by top federal officials.
“This is an egregious abuse of government power,” FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott said. “If the Pentagon, a command center of global military operations, can be converted into a venue for Christian worship and political messaging, then the wall between church and state is not just being breached, it’s under siege.”
In response, FFRF has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all planning materials, internal communications, legal reviews, and records concerning the use of Pentagon resources for the event. The request also seeks clarity on whether personnel were pressured or incentivized to attend, whether attendance was recorded, and how the event was promoted internally.
“This is a wake-up call,” Gaylor said. “Theocrats are embedding Christian nationalism into the highest levels of government — and if we don’t push back now, the damage to our democracy could be lasting.”
FFRF is demanding that the Department of Defense immediately cancel any future “Secretary’s Prayer Meetings” and recommit to its constitutional obligation to religious neutrality. The Pentagon must represent all Americans — not function as a megachurch for one religion or political agenda.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights. For more information, visit ffrf.org. (original publication date: 5/22/25
Americans United Vows to Fight
Christian Nationalist Agenda
The Authoritarian Playbook
(Protect Democracy) - 6/15/2022 - Before the 1990s, authoritarian leaders bent on upending democracy typically came to power forcefully and swiftly, often by means of a military coup d’etat. The moment democracy ceased to exist could be time-stamped and reported on with a block headline.
Yet for at least the last thirty years, the threats to democracy have evolved. Today, democracy more often dies gradually, as the institutional, legal, and political constraints on authoritarian leaders are chipped away, one by one. This has happened – or is happening – in, among others, Russia, Venezuela, Hungary, the Philippines, Poland, Nicaragua, India, Turkey — and the United States. . . .
By using “salami tactics,”
slicing away at democracy a sliver at a time, modern authoritarians
still cement themselves in power, but they do so incrementally and
gradually. Sometimes their actions are deliberate and calculated, but
sometimes they are opportunistic, myopic, or even bumbling. There is no
longer a singular bright line that countries cross between democracy and
authoritarianism. But the outcome is still the same . . . see full store HERE
Wake Up to the Growing Dangers of Christian Nationalism
(FFRF) - 2/12/2024 - Almost 20 years ago, the Freedom From Religion Foundation inaugurated a campaign “to wake up the nation to the growing dangers of theocracy.” We ran commercials using that terminology over Air America Radio, recited by talents like Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan, published a “Theocracy Watch” column in Freethought Today and included a special segment called “Theocracy Watch” when we first launched Freethought Radio in 2006.
Among the few individuals calling attention back then to that particular iteration of Christian nationalism under George W. Bush was Michelle Goldberg, who wrote an early-bird warning, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, in 2006. When we invited Michelle Goldberg to address our national convention that year, she explained about Christian nationalism: “Their idea from the beginning has been to undermine the Enlightenment.” . . . . see full store HERE
The Darvo Strategy - Deny, Attack, Reverse
Source: The Guardian, by Sidney Blumenthal
(Guardian/Exerpt) - 2/1/2024 - Time after time, with
predictable regularity, never missing a beat, Donald
Trump proclaims his innocence. He always denies that he has done
anything wrong. The charge does not matter. He is blameless. But this
is only the beginning of the pattern. Then, he attacks his accusers,
or anyone involved in bringing him to account, usually of committing
the identical offense of which he stands accused. But it is not enough for him to lash out. Then, he declares
himself to be the victim . . . . Trump’s pattern is textbook manipulation – literally. It has a
precise name given to it after decades of academic research. Jennifer
Freyd, now professor emerita of psychology at the University of
Oregon, developed the theory over her career studying sexual assault,
trauma and institutional betrayal. She named the process by which the
perpetrator seeks to avoid accountability Darvo – a strategy with
the elements of denial, attack, and reversal of victim and offender.. . . see full story HERE