Litigation

AU Lawsuit Forced So-Called 

Religious Liberty Commission 

to Release Documents to the Public

    New York – (AU) -- 8/1/26 -- A federal judge dismissed a challenge July 27 brought against the Trump administration’s so-called “Religious Liberty” Commission by a multifaith coalition that challenged the unlawful creation and operation of the biased body.

    Earlier this year, Interfaith Alliance, Muslims For Progressive Values, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Hindus For Human Rights united to file a lawsuit challenging the unlawful creation of the so-called “Religious Liberty” Commission. The lawsuit highlights violations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), including the unbalanced and biased viewpoints assembled for the panel and the unlawfully secretive refusal to disclose public documents and information related to the Commission’s work.

    The coalition is represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Democracy Forward in the matter.

    The order dismissing the case comes on the heels of a significant victory in the matter for the coalition. In a major milestone on April 28, government disclosures in the lawsuit revealed many of the documents the unlawful and secretive commission had been hiding from the public. In a late-night filing just before a court deadline, the government notified the court that it had finally publicly posted many of the Religious Liberty Commission’s transcripts, meeting minutes, witness testimonies, run of show, hearing summaries, and hearing recommendations. Those documents are available here.

    The long overdue publication of these documents was a resounding concession by the government and a significant victory for the coalition that demonstrated the necessity of challenging the administration’s unlawful actions.

    Today’s order ends the case for now in the district court, after crucial documents have been released. In addition, after plaintiffs filed suit, the commission agreed to make a draft report available for public comment and hold a public meeting to respond to issues raised by interested parties and members of the public. These actions increase transparency and give the public an opportunity to be heard.
Religious Liberty Commission does not promote true religious freedom

    In response to the ruling, the coalition issued the following joint statement:

    “Even before this decision, our litigation helped uncover the information the Trump-Vance administration attempted to hide from the public about this biased and unlawful body. Religious liberty and pluralism are foundational American values, and we remain committed to fighting for a democracy that does not promote a single religious belief and ignores others. We are grateful that this case achieved a major goal by forcing greater transparency, and we will continue our work.”

    The case was Interfaith Alliance et al. v. Trump et al. and the legal team on this case included Jenny Samuels from Americans United and Anna Deffebach, Robin Thurston, and Ayesha Khan from Democracy Forward.

    Read the original complaint here.

*Perryman also serves as a member of the Board of Interfaith Alliance.

Finance

Billions in Tax Exempt Religious

Property Subsidies

Leave Public Finance Blind Spot

    If you're looking for sources of tax revenue to provide for things like healthcare, here's one idea, remove the tax exemption on religious property. According to Dallin Overstreet: "The United States has roughly 370,000 religious congregations. All are exempt from federal income tax. Each are exempt from local property taxes. Combined, the estimated value of tax-exempt religious property in America runs somewhere between $300 billion and $600 billion. Nobody knows the precise number, because nobody is required to count . . . The result is an enormous blind spot in American public finance: we subsidize hundreds of billions of dollars in tax-exempt property and have essentially no systematic data on what the public gets in return. His full analysis is here: How Much Revenue Would Taxing Churches Generate?  -- S.R.  7/19/26

Law and Liberty

Event Criticized as Shocking

Mix of Church and State

    (FFRF) -- May 13, 2026 -- The White House’s “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” on May 17 is an unprecedented and shocking mix of church and state.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sounding the alarm over the prayer fest’s sponsor, “Freedom 250,” a public/private initiative aligned with the White House to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary with explicitly Christian nationalist programming.
    President Trump promoted the all-day prayer fest on the National Mall during his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast: “On May 17, 2026, we are inviting Americans from all across the country to come together on our National Mall to pray, to give thanks, and to rededicate America as one nation under God.”
    The all-day spectacle of prayer, testimony, Scripture and worship calls on Americans to gather for “Scripture, testimony, prayer, and rededication of our country as One Nation to God.” The overtly sectarian gathering is dominated by Christian nationalist figures and promoted with government involvement. FFRF’s Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on public funding is on appeal, so financial details are murky.
    The event overwhelmingly features Christian leaders and activists, including those among the Trump cabinet, with token non-Christian representation. Besides House Speaker Mike Johnson and cabinet members Pete Hegseth and Mark Rubio, they include a long list of pastors and religious figures, including Rev. Franklin Graham, Eric Metaxas (a vocal proponent of Christian nationalist ideology), White House Faith Adviser Paula White and Rev. Robert Jeffress, who has repeatedly argued that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. All but one of the 15 religious leaders are Christian.
    Military and other governmental bands will perform alongside religious choirs, such as with the extremist Christian Hillsdale College.
    “This is not a celebration of America’s founding principles — but an overtly sectarian, exclusionary event catering to evangelicals and other conservative Christians, with participation and the full blessing of the federal government,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Our Constitution is godless by design. The government has no authority to organize religious revivals, much less use them to promote a Christian nationalist agenda.”
    FFRF Co-President Dan Barker adds, “This isn’t subtle. They are openly declaring a goal of redefining America as a Christian nation and using the machinery of government to do it.”
    Major corporations — including Mastercard, Deloitte, SAP and Lockheed Martin — have signed on as sponsors of Freedom 250, even as questions mount about the initiative’s sectarian agenda and lack of transparency. Critics have called out the companies for potentially enabling what amounts to a government-backed religious campaign.
    The United States belongs to all of us — not just conservative Christians, FFRF points out. Our government was founded on secular principles to ensure freedom of conscience for everyone.
    FFRF is calling on federal officials to immediately cease any involvement in sectarian events, and on corporate sponsors to reconsider their support.
    “The 250th anniversary of our nation should celebrate liberty, equality and the constitutional separation of church and state,” Gaylor concludes. “Anything less betrays the very ideals the Declaration of Independence set in motion.”

    Original date of release: May 5/26

Church and State

Court Issues Permanent 

Injunction Against Unconstitutional  

10 Commandments Law

   
    FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. (AU) – 3/23/26 -- In a victory for religious freedom and church-state separation, a federal district court issued a permanent injunction on March 16 in Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1, prohibiting the school district defendants from implementing an Arkansas law that requires all public schools to permanently display a government-chosen, Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library.
    In his decision U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks wrote, “Act 573 must be permanently enjoined. Failing to do so would violate the Establishment Clause rights of all Arkansas public-school children and their parents and also violate Plaintiffs’ Free Exercise rights.”
Ruling that the law would lead to unconstitutional religious coercion of the child plaintiffs and interfere with their parents’ rights to direct their children’s religious education, Brooks explained: “Act 573’s purpose is only to display a sacred, religious text in a prominent place in every public-school classroom. And the only reason to display a sacred, religious text in every classroom is to proselytize to children. The State has said the quiet part out loud.”
    Brooks added: “Nothing could possibly justify hanging the Ten Commandments—with or without historical context—in a calculus, chemistry, French, or woodworking class, to name a few. And the words ‘curriculum,’ ‘school board,’ ‘teacher,’ or ‘educate’ don’t appear anywhere in Act 573. Accordingly, there is no need to strain our minds to imagine a constitutional display mandated by Act 573. One doesn’t exist.”
    The injunction, issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, permanently prohibits the school-district defendants, including Bentonville School District No. 6, Conway School District, Fayetteville School District No. 1, Lakeside School District No. 9, Siloam Springs School Dist. No. 21, and Springdale School District No. 50, from “complying with Act 573.” Last year, the court issued a preliminary injunction temporarily barring the school district defendants from displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms and libraries.
    “Act 573 is a direct infringement of our religious-freedom rights, and we’re pleased that the court ruled in our favor,” said Samantha Stinson, who is a plaintiff in the case along with her husband, Jonathan Stinson. “The version of the Ten Commandments mandated by Act 573 conflicts with our family’s Jewish tenets and practice, and our belief that our children should receive their religious instruction at home and within our faith community, not from government officials.”
    Represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the ACLU, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel, the plaintiffs in Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1 are a group of 10 multifaith and nonreligious Arkansas families with children in public schools.
    “Today’s decision honors the Constitution’s promise of church-state separation and religious freedom,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “It will ensure that Arkansas families – not politicians or public-school officials – get to decide how and when their children engage with religion.”
    John C. Williams, legal director for ACLU of Arkansas, stated: “Today’s ruling is a resounding affirmation that public schools are not Sunday schools. The Constitution protects every student’s right to learn free from government-imposed religious doctrine. Arkansas lawmakers cannot sidestep the First Amendment by mandating that a particular version of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom. As the court recognized, this law served no educational purpose and instead placed the authority of the state behind a specific religious message. We’re grateful that the court has permanently blocked this unconstitutional law and protected the religious freedom of Arkansas students and families of all faiths and none.”

Religon and State

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.

Politics and Culture

Christian Nationalism 

and the Rationalization 

of Discrimination and Violence

Four Perspectives on the Dangers

6/19/2025

Center for American Progress

Christian Nationalism Is ‘Single Biggest Threat’ to America’s Religious Freedom - Center for American Progress

See: An Interview With Amanda Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee

    

    Religious liberty is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, yet the meaning of this core American value has been debated throughout the nation’s history. Today, conflicts most often arise from Christian nationalism, the anti-democratic notion that America is a nation by and for Christians alone. At its core, this idea threatens the principle of the separation of church and state and undermines the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It also leads to discrimination, and at times violence, against religious minorities and the nonreligious.

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Doubter's Parish

How the Religious Right Gets It Wrong and What to Do About It

By Martin Thielen

See: Doubter's Parish

    Today, many (although not all) religious right Christians believe Jesus dislikes LGBTQ persons, immigrants, liberals, elites, science, welfare, MSNBC, wokeness, critical race theory, Joe Biden, non-Christians, and Democrats. On the other side of the ledger, they believe Jesus loves America, churchgoers, capitalism, the military, conservatives, Fox News, guns, MAGA Republicans, aggressive masculinity, and Donald Trump. The fact that the life, teachings, and example of Jesus challenge these assumptions doesn’t deter religious right Christianity one iota.

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Lutheran Confessions

Why Conservative Christians Hate Compassion

By Clint Schnekloth

See: Lutheran Confessions

    In recent years, conservative Christian voices have been on a tear, decrying compassion as a threat to traditional Christian values. The argument is that compassion—especially when it extends to marginalized groups—gives progressive Christians leverage to dismantle conservative moral teachings. . . . At the root of this backlash lies something far simpler than theological analysis: homophobia.

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Christians Against Christian Nationalism

Statement from Christians Against Christian Nationalism

See: Statement

    As Christians, our faith teaches us everyone is created in God’s image and commands us to love one another. As Americans, we value our system of government and the good that can be accomplished in our constitutional democracy. Today, we are concerned about a persistent threat to both our religious communities and our democracy — Christian nationalism.

    Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our fellow Christians to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.

Law and Government

Groups Say Bill Requiring Display of 

Commandments in Classrooms 

is Blatantly Unconstitutional

    AUSTIN, TEXAS (AU)  — 6/4/2025  — Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union and Freedom From Religion Foundation announced on May 29 that they will sue over Texas Senate Bill No. 10, which requires Texas public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Having received final legislative approval yesterday, the bill will now be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott and is expected to be signed into law.

    Under S.B. 10, every public elementary and secondary school in Texas must display a poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments “in a conspicuous place in each classroom.” The bill mandates that the display be no smaller than 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and that the Commandments be set forth “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.” The bill also requires that a specific version of the Ten Commandments, selected by lawmakers and associated with Protestant faiths, be used for every display.

    S.B. 10 is prohibited by longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Nearly 50 years ago, in Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment forbids public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

    Following this precedent, a federal district court recently held in Roake v. Brumley that a Louisiana law similar to S.B. 10 violates parents’ and students’ rights under the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. The court ruled that the displays will religiously coerce students, who are legally required to attend school and are thus a captive audience for school-sponsored religious messages, and will usurp families’ right to direct children’s religious education. That case, in which the plaintiffs are represented by Americans United, the ACLU, Freedom from Religion Foundation, and the ACLU of Louisiana, is currently on appeal in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    In response to the passage of S.B. 10, the groups intending to challenge the law issued the following joint statement:

    “S.B. 10 is blatantly unconstitutional. We will be working with Texas public school families to prepare a lawsuit to stop this violation of students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights.

    “We all have the right to decide what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice. Government officials have no business intruding on these deeply personal religious matters. S.B. 10 will subject students to state-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments for nearly every hour of their public education. It is religiously coercive and interferes with families’ right to direct children’s religious education.

    “Texas communities and public schools are religiously diverse. Many public school families do not practice any religion at all, while many others practice religions that do not consider the Ten Commandments to be part of their faith traditions. Even among those who may believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the particular text they adhere to can differ by religious denomination. The version of scripture set forth in S.B. 10, however, is associated only with Protestant faiths, and does not reflect the beliefs of most Jewish and Catholic families.

    “S.B. 10 will co-opt the faith of millions of Texans and marginalize students and families who do not subscribe to the state’s favored scripture. We will not allow Texas lawmakers to divide communities along religious lines and attempt to turn public schools into Sunday schools. If Governor Abbott signs this measure into law, we will file suit to defend the fundamental religious freedom rights of all Texas students and parents. We encourage all concerned public school parents to contact us at au.org.” (Story originally published 4/29/2025)

Dividing Lines

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

Commentary

Conservative Christians 

Need to Let Go of Their Anger

Secular Americans Are Not The Enemy

By Steve Rensberry

RPNews/Opinion

    (St. Louis, MO) -- Instead of conservative religious crusaders and MAGA fundamentalists praying for the death of liberal secularists and freethinkers like myself, maybe they should try praying for their God to give our current president some humility and compassion for other human beings. How many people on the planet, exactly, do they want to die, because that seems to be the goal.

    In killing the USAID program, how are MAGA extremist supporters and conservative Christians not complicit in the human suffering that will result, and the deaths?  They will all have blood on their hands. We have become a nation of hate, with some self-appointed 'prophets' in the Christian faith even welcoming the chaos as a 'sign of the times.' Well the so-called prophets are wrong, seriously wrong, and "prophecy" itself is a ridiculous concept. Modern day "prophets" are but bullshitters for the modern age, and I would challenge any minister of the faith, any preacher, any philospher or theologian anywhere to prove me wrong. 

    Maybe the literalists and nativists will rejoice in the bloodshed America is currently threatened by, thinking it's "God's way," I really don't know anymore how low they'll go, how much death and suffering American evangelicals will tolerate, if there is even a limit. 

    I do know that a day does not go by when my heart doesn't bleed for the people being hurt by this insane and evil MAGA administration, and by people claiming to speak for God. 

    It is so wrong, so heretical and so evil, and I am not going to stand by and twiddle my thumbs while good people are being hurt by tyrants under the cloak of religious authority or any other. I sincerely hope that you will not either. 

    Nations need to pursue reason over superstition if they hope to survive.  ---  4/1/2025

Further Reading

Why Conservative Christians Hate Compassion, by Clint Schnekloth. 

"In recent years, conservative Christian voices have been on a tear, decrying compassion as a threat to traditional Christian values. The argument is that compassion—especially when it extends to marginalized groups—gives progressive Christians leverage to dismantle conservative moral teachings."

USAID Cuts Have Disasterous Consequences for Global Push to End TB4

The U.S. government’s decision to abruptly halt much foreign aid delivered a seismic jolt to programmes to tackle tuberculosis (TB), which killed 1.25 million people in 2023, 15% of whom were children and young adolescents.

Nearly 10,000 Awards Cut from USAID Department

The cuts came hours before the Trump administration was ordered to pay organizations for past work, which was mandated by a federal judge — once again — on Tuesday.

How Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts Are Threatening Lives

The devastating impact of Trump’s slashing foreign aid, from HIV to malnutrition

Disinformation

Prayer Breakfasts

Stoke Disinformation, Lies

Don’t Despair, Share. Share the truth

By Steve Rensberry

    Edwardsville Ill. -- (RP News) -- 2/9/25 -- The organization Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has strongly criticized two Christian Nationalist focused prayer breakfasts at the nation's capitol on Feb. 6, one held in the Capitol building itself and the other in a non-governmental location and organized by the shadowly group "The Family."

    Announced at the second breakfast was the formation of a task force to fight supposed "anti-Christian bias" -- a presumption AU argues is build on lies and misinformation. 

   Andrew Seidel with AU writes:  "Christian Nationalism is an entire identity based on disinformation, as I’ve explained elsewhere. So it’s little surprise that Trump’s anti-Christian bias task force — which we believe will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry and discrimination — is similarly based on disinformation.

    "Supporters of Americans United understand that when an institution lives only by lies, truth is revolutionary. Trump’s task force is a new institution built on lies and disinformation. One of the best ways to fight back against it is to share. Don’t despair, share. Share the truth."  Read the entire article here.

The Rule of Law

 Multiple Plaintiffs File Lawsuit To Block

Bible Mandate in Oklahoma Schools

    OKLAHOMA - (FFRF) - 10/17/2024 - More than 30 Oklahomans recently filed a lawsuit urging the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ mandate that all public schools incorporate the bible into their curricula. The lawsuit, Rev. Lori Walke v. Ryan Walters, also asks the court to stop the state from spending millions of taxpayer dollars on bibles to support the mandate.

    The 32 plaintiffs include 14 public school parents, four public school teachers and three faith leaders who object to Walters’ extremist agenda that imposes his personal religious beliefs on other people’s children — in violation of Oklahomans’ religious freedom and the separation of church and state. The plaintiffs come from a variety of faith traditions, and some identify as atheist, agnostic or nonreligious. Some are of Indigenous heritage, and some have family situations — such as LGBTQ-plus members or children with special educational needs — that cause particular concerns around teaching the bible in public schools, especially around bullying. The plaintiffs are represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.

    Walters issued a June 27 mandate unilaterally requiring every public school in Oklahoma to “incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments,” into the curriculum for grades 5-12, an abuse of power that ignored state laws. Walters then fast-tracked plans to spend $3 million of taxpayer money on an expensive, Christian nationalist version of the King James Bible that includes the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance and Bill of Rights, another abuse of power and gross violation of Oklahoma taxpayers’ religious freedom. Walters wants to spend another $3 million on bibles next year.

    The lawsuit asserts that the bible-education mandate violates the Oklahoma Constitution’s religious freedom protections because the government is spending public money to support religion, as well as favoring one religion over others by requiring the use of a Protestant version of the bible. The mandate also violates the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act and other state statutes because officials did not follow required rules for implementing new policies and for spending public money.

    “Superintendent Ryan Walters cannot be allowed to employ the machinery of the state to indoctrinate Oklahoma’s students in his religion,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “Thankfully, Oklahoma law protects families and taxpayers from his unconstitutional scheme to force public schools to adopt his preferred holy book.”

    Plaintiff Erika Wright of Cleveland County, the founder and leader of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition and a parent of two children who attend public schools, said: “As parents, my husband and I have sole responsibility to decide how and when our children learn about the Bible and religious teachings. We are devout Christians, but different Christian denominations have different theological beliefs and practices. It is not the role of any politician or public school official to intervene in these personal matters. Oklahoma’s education system is already struggling, ranking nearly last in national standings. Mandating a Bible curriculum will not address our educational shortcomings. Superintendent Walters should focus on providing our children and teachers with the resources they need; our families can handle religious education at home.”

    Plaintiff Rev. Lori Walke, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, stated: “I am a faith leader who cares deeply about our country’s promise of religious freedom and ensuring that everyone is able to choose their own spiritual path. The state mandating that one particular religious text be taught in our schools violates the religious freedom of parents and children, teachers, and taxpayers. The government has no business weighing in on such theological decisions. I’m proud to join this lawsuit because I believe Superintendent Walters’ plan to use taxpayer money to buy Bibles and force public schools to teach from them is illegal and unconstitutional.”

    Plaintiff Rev. Mitch Randall of Cleveland County, a Baptist pastor and CEO of Good Faith Media, said: “As a Christian, I’m appalled by the use of the Bible — a sacred text — for Superintendent Walters’ political grandstanding. As a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, I’m alarmed by the parallels between this Bible mandate and the religious proselytization and forced assimilation my relatives faced in government boarding schools. As a taxpayer, I object to the state spending public funds on religious texts. The separation of church and state is a bedrock principle protecting religious liberty for every citizen; I urge the court to uphold this principle and strike down this mandate.”

    Colleen McCarty, executive director of Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, stated: “The constant use of Oklahoma as a testing ground for religious extremism is growing tiresome. Oklahoma families deserve a public school system devoted to the education of their children, and instead we get flash-bulb political stunts and attempted erosion of the Constitution. The buck stops here. We will defend the principles our nation is built on, starting with the separation of church and state.”

    Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, remarked: “The separation of church and state guarantees that families and students — not politicians — get to decide if, when and how to engage with religion. Superintendent Ryan Walters is abusing the power of his office to advance a Christian nationalist agenda and impose his personal religious beliefs on other people’s children. Not on our watch. We’re proud to defend the religious freedom of all Oklahomans, from Christians to the nonreligious.”

    Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, stated:  “This Bible mandate is a blatant power grab that violates state law and tramples the separation of church and state. Public-school students, families, and teachers — and the taxpayers who support them — deserve better.”

    Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director of the ACLU of Oklahoma, said: “By filing this lawsuit, Oklahomans have come together in a common fight to reject the State Board of Education’s use of religion as a cover for repression. All families and students should feel welcome in our public schools and we must protect the individual right of students and families to choose their own faith or no faith at all. The separation of church and state is a bedrock of our nation’s founding principles.”

    The defendants in the lawsuit are Walters; the Oklahoma State Department of Education; the Oklahoma State Board of Education and its five members, Donald Burdick, Sarah Lepak, Katie Quebedeaux, Zachary Archer and Kendra Wesson; and the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, its Executive Director Rick Rose, State Purchasing Director Amanda Otis and Contracting Officer Brenda Hansel.

    The attorneys and legal staff on the team representing the plaintiffs include Patrick Elliott and Samuel Grover at FFRF; Alex J. Luchenitser, Luke Anderson, Scott Lowder and Jess Zalph at Americans United; Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver at the ACLU; Megan Lambert at the ACLU of Oklahoma; and Colleen McCarty and Leslie Briggs at Oklahoma Appleseed.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit that protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism. Founded in 1947, Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a religious freedom advocacy organization that educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. The ACLU of Oklahoma works to secure liberty, justice, and equity for all Oklahomans through advocacy, litigation and legislation, leading by example and fueled by people power. For more than 100 years, the ACLU has worked in courts, legislatures and communities to protect the constitutional rights of all people. With a nationwide network of offices and millions of members and supporters, the ACLU takes on the toughest civil liberties fights in pursuit of liberty and justice for all. Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is a 501(c)3 public interest law firm that fights for the rights and opportunities of every Oklahoman.

Religion and Politics

Baseless IRS Lawsuit Highlights 

Massive Christian Privilege

    (FFRF) - Sept. 5, 2024 - A group of Christian broadcasters wants to mix religion and politics so badly that they have sued the IRS, hoping a federal judge will permit them to ignore a law they don’t like.

    The law at issue here is the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits 501(c)(3) nonprofits (both secular and religious) from engaging in electoral activity. The Freedom From Religion Foundation strongly supports the Johnson Amendment and expects to see the judge in this case quickly dismiss the baseless lawsuit.

    Keeping tax-exempt work separate from electoral action has been widely popular, including among churchgoers, and has prevented millions of dollars in dark money from flowing into U.S. elections. Polls routinely reveal that a majority of Americans think religious institutions should stay out of politics.

    FFRF sued then-President Trump in 2017 after he signed an executive order that he claimed had “gotten rid of the Johnson Amendment.” Once in court, Trump’s lawyers admitted that he had no authority to overturn a federal statute by fiat.

    Unfortunately, the IRS has been woefully lax in enforcing the Johnson Amendment. Many churches that subscribe to Christian nationalist beliefs flagrantly violate the rule, daring the IRS to take action. (FFRF regularly reports such instances to the IRS.) The new lawsuit asks a judge to declare that the Johnson Amendment does not apply to them, even though they claim not to have engaged in any electoral activity and have no reason to think the IRS would take any action against them.

    In other words, they have suffered no harm and there is no case here, says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, who adds: “The hubris of these plaintiffs is incredible. They insist their religious beliefs give them a free pass to ignore laws they don’t like and that the rest of us tax-exempt organizations must follow.”

    Tax-exempt status is a privilege. Churches already receive favored treatment over secular nonprofits, but they are not entitled to ignore the other rules and statutes that apply equally to all 501(c)(3) educational nonprofits. The Johnson Amendment helps to ensure that nonprofits are engaged in actual nonprofit work, while simultaneously promoting election integrity.

    Churches are uniquely exempted from filing tax returns with the IRS to prove their tax-exempt expenditures, which makes them financial black holes. Overturning the Johnson Amendment would open the floodgates for dark money to be funneled to political campaigns through churches. The Johnson Amendment is a wise and equitable rule that preserves the integrity of both nonprofits and churches, and as such must be protected and enforced.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 40,000 members across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

The Public Sphere

School Districts Urged to Ignore

Unlawful Bible Instruction

Guidelines

    OKLAHOMA - (AU) - 7/27/2024 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement in response to the guidelines distributed on July 24, 2024, by Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters that purport to require Oklahoma public schools to use the Bible in classroom instruction:

    “Oklahoma’s public school districts, not State Superintendent Ryan Walters, are empowered by state law to establish their own curriculum and select what texts are taught in public schools. Oklahoma families, not politicians pushing a political and religious agenda, should get to decide whether, when and how their children engage with religion.

    “Public schools are not Sunday schools. Walters has repeatedly made clear that he is incapable of distinguishing the difference. His latest scheme – to mandate use of the Bible in Oklahoma public school curriculum – is a transparent, unlawful effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students.

    “This is textbook Christian Nationalism. Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else’s children. Not on our watch. Americans United is ready to step in and protect all Oklahoma public school children and their families from violations of their constitutionally protected religious freedom and other unlawful conduct. We urge any Oklahoma families and educators whose school district attempts to implement Walters’ unlawful and unauthorized guidelines to contact AU at www.au.org/report-a-violation.”

    Oklahoma law provides that “[s]chool districts shall exclusively determine the instruction, curriculum, reading lists and instructional materials and textbooks” that are used in public-school classrooms. (Title 70, Section 11-103.6a(F), of the Oklahoma Statutes.) Walters’ Bible-instruction guidelines are plainly prohibited by this statute.

    And a long line of court decisions makes clear that strict constitutional requirements apply when attempting to teach the Bible in public school classrooms. In accordance with the Constitution, public schools may teach about religion but they may not preach any religion. AU has issued “Know Your Rights” guides that explain this in detail.

    Study after study shows that when Christian Nationalists push for public school classes focused on the Bible, they fail to meet these constitutional requirements and end up religiously coercing students. Families whose religious freedom has been violated often have no choice but to challenge them in court.

    Souce: Americans United for Separation of Church and State (7/24/24)

The Public Sphere

Nation's First Religious Public

Charter School Blocked by Court

    OKLAHOMA CITY — (ACLU) - 6/25/2024 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation applaud the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision today barring the nation’s first religious charter school. The organizations, which represent faith leaders, public school parents, and public education advocates in a separate lawsuit to stop Oklahoma from sponsoring and funding St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, issued the following joint statement:

    “The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision safeguards public education and upholds the separation of religion and government. Charter schools are public schools that must be secular and serve all students. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which plans to discriminate against students, families, and staff and indoctrinate students into one religion, cannot operate as a public charter school. We will continue our efforts to protect public education and religious freedom, including the separation of church and state.”

    The organizations, supported by Oklahoma-based counsel Odom & Sparks PLLC and J. Douglas Mann, represent faith leaders, public school parents, and public education advocates who object to their tax dollars funding a public charter school that will discriminate against students and families based on their religion and LGBTQ+ status, won’t commit to adequately serving students with disabilities, and will indoctrinate students into one religion. These nine Oklahomans and OKPLAC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting public education, filed their lawsuit, OKPLAC, Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, on July 31, 2023, in the District Court of Oklahoma County.

    The plaintiffs in OKPLAC, Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School Board include OKPLAC (Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition), Melissa Abdo, Krystal Bonsall, Leslie Briggs, Brenda Lené, Michele Medley, Dr. Bruce Prescott, the Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall, the Rev. Dr. Lori Walke, and Erika Wright.

    A group of the plaintiffs also filed an amicus brief in the Attorney General’s case, Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, on Dec. 27. The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s opinion incorporates many of the arguments made in that amicus brief.

    The team of attorneys that represents the plaintiffs is led by Alex J. Luchenitser of Americans United and includes Sarah Taitz and Jenny Samuels of Americans United; Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the ACLU; Robert Kim, Jessica Levin, and Wendy Lecker of Education Law Center; Patrick Elliott of FFRF; Benjamin H. Odom, John H. Sparks, Michael W. Ridgeway, and Lisa M. Millington of Odom & Sparks; and J. Douglas Mann.

Church and State

Denial of Care Rule Called

'Dangerous Policy'

Group Applauds Biden Admin. for Plan to Rescind Parts of Rule

    Washington D.C. - (AU) - 12/29/2022 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement on Dec. 29 in response to the Biden administration’s proposal to rescind parts of the Trump administration’s Denial of Care Rule, which invited health care workers to deny medical treatment and services to patients because of personal religious or moral beliefs:

    “We applaud the Biden administration for taking positive steps toward protecting both religious freedom and patients’ health by rescinding the Trump-era Denial of Care Rule. No one should be denied medical treatment because of someone else’s religious beliefs.

    “The Denial of Care Rule was a dangerous policy that weaponized religious freedom and put the health and lives of women, LGBTQ people, religious minorities and so many others in jeopardy. Today’s proposed rule recognizes the potential harm to patients and upholds the fundamental principle of church-state separation.”

    The Denial of Care Rule which was issued in May 2019 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under former President Donald Trump. It invited any health care worker to deny medical care to patients because of the health care worker’s personal religious or moral beliefs. Health care facilities risked losing essential federal funding unless they granted employees carte blanche to deny services. That risk could have forced many health care facilities to eliminate services such as reproductive and LGBTQ care. Federal courts had blocked the rule from going into effect.

 Americans United and allies filed two federal lawsuits challenging the Denial of Care Rule, arguing that HHS during the Trump administration exceeded its authority and arbitrarily and capriciously failed to consider the rule’s potential harm to patients and the health care system, in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act. We also argued that the rule was unconstitutional because it favored specific religious beliefs in violation of the First Amendment; violated patients’ rights to privacy, liberty and equal dignity as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment; and chilled patients’ speech and expression in violation of the First Amendment, all to the detriment of patients’ health and well-being.

• In the County of Santa Clara v. HHS, Americans United joined the Center for Reproductive Rights, Lambda Legal, the law firm Mayer Brown LLP and Santa Clara County, Calif., which runs an extensive public health and hospital system that serves as a safety-net provider for the county’s 1.9 million Bay Area residents. Other plaintiffs in the case include providers across the country that focus on reproductive and LGBTQ care, plus five doctors and three medical associations. In Nov. 2019, the district court granted summary judgment in our favor on our Administrative Procedure Act claims, vacating the rule in its entirety.
• In Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Azar, Americans United joined the Baltimore City Solicitor and the law firm Susman Godfrey LLP to represent the Baltimore City Health Department, which has strived to ensure that vulnerable and historically marginalized people can seek medical care without fear of stigmatization or discrimination. After other federal district courts blocked the Denial of Care Rule, the district court held this case in abeyance pending the government’s appeals.

    More information about those lawsuits is available here.