In anticipation of President Trump’s de facto State of the Union remarks to Congress tonight, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has taken out a full-page ad in today’s New York Times warning: “The state of the separation between state and church . . . is perilous.”
Featuring a depiction by cartoonist Steve Benson of the Statue of Liberty being overtaken by waves of theocracy, the ad asks: “Help stem the Christian nationalist tidal wave.”
FFRF is the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics, humanists and skeptics) with more than 40,000 members and acts as a state/church watchdog. Among its current lawsuits, taken with coalitions, is a challenge of the Ten Commandments-in-school Louisiana bill and of massive bible purchases and distributions ordered in Oklahoma.
“Our revered constitutional principle of separation between religion and government has never been under greater assault,” FFRF cautions. “Also endangered are many individual liberties predicated on a secular government.”
The advertisement briefly mentions the fact that Trump claims to be on a divine mission, “saved by God to make America great again,” and has appointed as health secretary a prominent vaccine skeptic who thinks “God sent me President Trump” and who “poses a menace to public health.” FFRF also points out that the attorney general has been tasked with overseeing Trump’s “phony ‘Eradicating anti-Christian Bias’ executive order” and that Trump and many members of Congress are backing a universal voucher program at the expense of our secular public schools.
The ad further emphasizes that state legislation is being introduced to put bibles and Ten Commandments in schools and even to declare Jesus Christ “King.”
“At the Freedom From Religion Foundation, we truly believe that freedom depends on freethinkers,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, “as well as upon every American who understands that we must protect the First Amendment because it protects us all.”
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 nearly 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
Advertising to educate the public and recruit new members is made possible thanks to generous members who donate to FFRF’s advertising and PR fund.
