The Freedom From Religion Foundation will be celebrating the 233rd anniversary of the Bill of Rights’ ratification on Sunday, Dec. 15, and every day going forward — by working ever harder to preserve it.
The scales of justice and political power have been alarmingly tipped in favor of a privileged status for religion in our country. Christian nationalist forces are imperiling the precious American principle of separation between religion and government.
“Unless religion is kept in its place, all personal rights will be in jeopardy,” FFRF’s principal founder Anne Nicol Gaylor wisely counseled. She added, “To be free from religion is an advantage for individuals; it is a necessity for government.”
The very First Amendment in the Bill of Rights reads:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
As Anne observed countless times, “There can be no religious freedom without the freedom to dissent. There is no true freedom of religion, without freedom from religion.”
Separation of church and state all too often gets short shrift in civil liberties battles, even though this principle protects and undergirds so many other precious liberties.
FFRF thanks its membership for their commitment to the “first freedom” in our Bill of Rights and making possible FFRF’s work to defend it.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the largest freethought organization in the United States, with 40,000 nonreligious members and several chapters all across the country.
