A full-page ad by the Freedom From Religion Foundation warning of latter-day witch hunts will run in the main section of USA Today tomorrow, Oct. 12, which marks the anniversary of the cessation of the notorious Salem Witch Trials.
The date has long been proclaimed “Freethought Day” by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. FFRF Member David Schreiber suggested “Freethought Day” back in 1992, which marked the 300th anniversary of the halting of the infamous trials.
As the ad notes, “While there have been many holidays for saints and superstition, today we commemorate reason, freethought and the imperative need to separate religion from government.” FFRF asserts: “There may be no single day of more significance in tracing the history of human enlightenment and the adoption of the scientific method than October 12, 1692.” Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor William Phips declared on that date for the first time in history that spectral evidence would no longer be admissible in court.
“His declaration was the first of its kind requiring that evidence must be observable by ordinary senses, measurable and replicable,” the ad notes. At the time of Phips’ action (whose own wife was under suspicion), 20 individuals had been executed and 52 more faced witchcraft charges.
The national state/church association made up of 40,000 freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) warns: “Theocratic forces are once more mustering a latter-day witch hunt in our land. In the name of puritanical Christian nationalist beliefs, they’re imposing their religious dogma on the rest of us.”
FFRF notes that Christian nationalists have overturned Roe v. Wade, prohibiting abortions in almost half of our states. They are also targeting vulnerable LGBTQ-plus Americans, banning books and dismantling our secular public education system. “They’ve captured much of our federal judiciary, which is increasingly using religious liberty like a sword instead of a shield,” FFRF says.
The ad concludes: “Won’t you speak out against white Christian nationalism and join those of us working to preserve freethought and secular democracy?
The ad was made possible thanks to generous donors to FFRF’s advertising fund. Click on the image to enlarge.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 40,000 members across the country. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.
If you are an FFRF member, sign into your account here and then update your email subscriptions here.
To become an FFRF member, click here. To learn more about FFRF, request information here.
