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Media Inquiries
Please phone the Freedom From Religion Foundation office at 608/256-8900 to speak directly with Foundation Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker or other staff here in Madison, Wis. We receive an especially heavy volume of e-mails and we don't want to miss an inquiry, so please phone to set up an interview, especially if you are on deadline. We would be pleased to try to answer your questions, or accommodate your request.
CURRENT NEWS RELEASES
FFRF banner in Wilkes-Barre: Nothing Fails Like Prayer
Wilkes-Barre student Justin Vacula, in conjunction with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, has just arranged placement of a colorful banner saying "Nothing Fails Like Prayer" in Public Square in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Penn. The banner is in response to a banner placed by a religious More »
Boy Scouts of America still practices discrimination
Statement by Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker FFRF Co-Presidents We congratulate Boy Scouts of America for lifting its longtime, hurtful ban on gays being members. BSA has taken a major step forward, albeit still barring gay adult leadership. But why does it remain socially…More »
Sailors forced to hear shipboard prayer
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has renewed its objections to constitutional violations occurring aboard U.S. Navy ships. In a May 20 letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel urged Mabus to order an end to the practice of broadcasting…More »
Elementary school religious music program 'drastically altered'
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wis-based state/church watchdog, stopped presentation of a fifth-grade religious musical program in Lindale, Texas. FFRF was contacted by a concerned parent about a 5th grade music program scheduled to take place today at E.J. Moss Intermediate School in…More »
Saluting two nonreligious newsmakers
Statement by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie GaylorFFRF Co-Presidents While President Obama was counseling "faith in the Almighty" and prayer in the wake of the devastating Oklahoma tornado (to his credit, promising to "back up those prayers with deeds"), a brave secular survivor…More »
We’ve lost Alton Lemon, but Lemon Test lives
Statement By Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor FFRF Co-Presidents The Freedom From Religion Foundation has a very rare, very elite category of members who are “honorary officers.” The title is reserved for freethinkers who have won Supreme Court cases in favor of the separation…More »
Ball State U investigates whether teaching is preaching
After receiving a student complaint, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has called for Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., to investigate allegations that a physics and astronomy professor appeared to be teaching creationism at the public university. FFRF, a Madison, Wis.-based state/church watchdog, sent a…More »
FFRF: Keep preaching out of nature preserve
Should a church in Madison, Wis., be allowed to proselytize in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy in the adjoining city of Middleton? The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state-church watchdog based in Madison, thinks not. The city's Conservancy Lands Committee will discuss a request from Rev.…More »
Gage Pulliam wins 'Strong Backbone' student activist award
On Monday a public school district in Muldrow, Okla., confirmed that it has permanently removed Ten Commandment signs which were posted in its classrooms. The final vote is a victory for the separation of church and state. The whistleblower was 16-year-old student Gage Pulliam, who…More »
FFRF protests bibles in Georgia state parks
The Freedom From Religion Foundation today contacted Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, protesting his decision to override the Department of Natural Resources and return bibles to all lodge rooms and cabins in Georgia state parks. The DNR, appropriately, had removed the bibles after a guest complained.FFRF…More »
Muldrow Public Schools removes Ten Commandments postings from classrooms
An Oklahoma school district is learning a valuable lesson thanks to a student and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. On May 1, FFRF sent a letter to Superintendent Ron Flanagan requesting that he ensure that numerous Ten Commandments postings be removed from Muldrow Public Schools classrooms.…More »
FFRF wants Georgia teachers, students disciplined
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking Lumpkin County Schools in Georgia to discipline four staffers who left their classrooms unattended and about 50 students who skipped class to join a prayer rally that started in a coach's office.The national state/church watchdog based in More »
Official school religion OK’d by Texas court
A misguided decision by a state judge in Texas, permitting public school cheerleaders to exhibit Christian bible verses and messages during high school football games, makes Christianity the official school religion in Kountze, Texas.So contends the Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose letter in September 2012…More »
FFRF protests National Day of Prayer
Click ad to enlarge The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking its objections to the annual National Day of Prayer to "pious politicians" in the seat of federal government, via a full-page ad in today's Washington Post."When we have faith in ourselves, we won't need faith…More »
Atheist literature to be distributed in Orange County Public Schools
The Freedom From Religion Foundation and its Florida chapter, the Central Florida Freethought Community, will be passing out atheist and freethought literature to students in Orange County Public Schools this Thursday.The distribution of freethought literature is set for May 2, the National Day of Prayer.…More »
Will pay to pray in Florida school
After the St. Johns County School Board voted recently against allowing high school graduation prayer in St. Augustine, Fla., a Colorado pastor is offering a $1,000 reward to the first student to flout school policy and break the law. A state law enacted last year…More »
Commandments out in Kentucky school district
At the urging of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, numerous framed postings of the Ten Commandments have come down in Breathitt County Schools in Kentucky. FFRF contacted the manager for the school system, Larry Hammond, on April 5 about the postings. FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick…More »
FFRF contests mayoral prayer breakfast
The city of Hattiesburg, Miss., shouldn't be using city resources and public tax dollars to promote a May 2 religious observance, FFRF Staff Attorney Elizabeth Cavell told Mayor Johnny L. DuPree in an April 9 letter of complaint. The event being publicized as the "Mayor's More »
April Fools in North Carolina pursue state religion
Without intended irony on April Fools' Day, Republican Rowan County Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford introduced House Joint Resolution 494 to establish a state religion in North Carolina.Unbelievably, the bill has already attracted 12 other equally ignorant sponsors. It’s no joking matter that More »
FFRF, Ohio ACLU rebuff school’s Jesus “switcheroo”
Portrait now hanging in Jackson Middle School challenged today A display of Jesus is just as unconstitutional in a high school as it is in a middle school. That's the message of the amended complaint filed today by the ACLU of Ohio and the Freedom…More »
Has Pennsylvania Religious Right no shame?
Pennsylvania state Rep. Tim Krieger has introduced a bill in the General Assembly that would outlaw the use of pseudonyms in litigation challenging religious symbols on public property. In a memo to representatives seeking co-sponsorship, Krieger said the bill is in direct response to lawsuits…More »
Student activist awards given to Milwaukee-area brothers
Mayan and Balen Essak, student activists Mayan and Balen Essak have each received a $1,000 scholarship from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The brothers attend Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wis., a Milwaukee suburb. The brothers received the awards for speaking out in their community…More »
Nonbelievers seek to take God off currency
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, along with 19 other plaintiffs, is suing the U.S. Treasury for stamping "In God We Trust" on currency. Honorary FFRF board member Mike Newdow is acting as legal counsel in the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court…More »
Give thanks to the McCollum family
By Annie Laurie Gaylor Co-President, Freedom From Religion Foundation Not one workday ever goes by that we at the Freedom From Religion Foundation do not give thanks — to the McCollum family for the landmark ruling they won. We must pause this Friday, March 8,…More »
FFRF school complaint uncovers creationist Okla. superintendent
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has been corresponding with Wynnewood Public Schools, Okla., over inappropriate actions by a teacher promoting religion in the classroom, is releasing its correspondence with Superintendent Raymond Cole, in which he preached at FFRF and indicated he rejects evolution.FFRF Staff…More »
Sixth Circuit censors criticism of religion in FFRF case
An appeals court ruled today that a Michigan mayor can censor nonreligious speech, while continuing to endorse a nativity scene in the city atrium.A 3-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled against the Freedom From Religion Foundation's fight…More »
FFRF member, Mexican Fiesta settle civil rights dispute
Mexican Fiesta will no longer give discounts for attending Catholic Mass per the terms of a settlement with Richard Halasz, a Freedom From Religion Foundation member from Milwaukee.Mexican Fiesta, an annual festival held each summer in Milwaukee on the Summerfest grounds, had advertised a discount…More »
FFRF opposes Walker's alarming voucher expansion
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal includes major increases in taxpayer funding to subsidize vouchers for primarily religious schools, the Freedom From Religion Foundation charges.The governor's budget includes a $73 million increase for voucher schools and a new $21 million program for a statewide "special…More »
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational charity, is the nation's largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), and has been working since 1978 to keep religion and government separate.
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