Name: Marni Huebner-Tiborsky.

Where I live: Richmond Heights, an east suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

Where and when I was born: Bedford, Ohio, on March 21, 1973.

Family: Mark Tiborsky, 54, atheist spouse and staunch FFRF supporter.

Education: 1990 graduate of Mentor High School, Mentor, Ohio; 1992 graduate of Lakeland Community College with A.A. English major; and 1994 graduate of Lake Erie College with B.A. major in French/Italian.

Occupation: Coordinator, Worldwide Expense Reporting. I work in the finance department for a private equity firm and check almost all expense reports worldwide (U.S., Europe and Asia), making sure tax, internal and external coding and audit rules are followed. I also manage the Travel and Expense Reporting system and handle almost all back office administrative and helpdesk functions, training, etc.

How I got where I am today: Whew, this is a tough one. I think it's a matter of just gaining day-to-day experience, trying new things and just growing up, maturing and learning how to be better and do better, even in the face of adversity and sometimes just bad luck. I'm always learning, especially from my friends and peers. It's not always easy but I keep plugging away day to day!

Where I'm headed: Where I hope I'm headed is eventually running my own business teaching people about green smoothies and making raw vegan fruit desserts in an environmentally friendly store/food truck. I also would like to be a vegan menu planning consultant. On a far different note, I hope to eventually organize/host a freethought convention in Cleveland.

Person in history I admire and why: There are so many! I admire any freethinkers throughout history who have resisted the status quo no matter how frightening it was or how dangerous. Their willingness to put themselves on the front lines to create change is to be applauded. It is critical, especially with current events, that more freethinkers have the courage to come out to friends and family and publicly. The only way to change minds and end discrimination and ignorance is to get out in the open and educate!
A quotation I like: "The only constant is change" ­— Isaac Asimov.

These are a few of my favorite things: A secular, free society, green smoothies, coffee, my cats, being married to another atheist, the greatest friends in the world (you know who you are!), our social meetup group and our wonderful FFRF chapter.

These are not: My cats (yes, they are a blessing and a curse!), bad drivers, willful ignorance, entitlement mentality and tax-exempt churches.

My doubts about religion started: I have been an atheist as long as I can remember. Religion just never made sense to me. I was reared Methodist, but just didn't give it much thought, ever. The whole thing just seemed inane. I went to church and was active, but that was because of community, not religiosity.

Before I die: Wow, there's so many things! I want to visit every national park in an RV, and I want to own a completely modular, mobile tiny house (although I'd have to build another house for the kitties). I want to visit Farm Sanctuary in New York, Big Cat Rescue in Florida, and I want to get my husband to Europe. I would also like to be in New York City once for the Macy's parade and once for New Year's Eve. I'd also like to run a statewide Secular Community Center and own a very successful business.

Ways I promote freethought: In 2007, I founded and now co-organize with my husband a social group on meetup.com called The Cleveland Freethinkers, which has over 1,100 members and has had over 600 in-person meetups. In 2012, I founded the local FFRF chapter, Northern Ohio Freethought Society (NOFS), to be a local separation of state and church watchdog/activist group. Our chapter has already participated in several great community outreach campaigns and events. We are looking to become more involved with Foundation Beyond Belief and Secular Student Alliance. My husband and I are involved with the local chapter of Center for Inquiry and my husband is on the board. We have been peripherally involved with United Coalition of Reason and my husband coordinated the formation of the local Northeast Ohio Coalition of Reason. We are also involved with the local Sunday Assembly (husband's in the band!) and, of course, are heavily involved with FFRF. All of these groups we also promote through Facebook and Twitter and have a separate website for the NOFS chapter.

Susan Jacoby, an honorary director of FFRF, is the author of Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion. This op-ed appeared in The New York Times on Feb. 5, 2016, and is reprinted with permission.

By Susan Jacoby

The population of nonreligious Americans — including atheists, agnostics and those who call themselves "nothing in particular" — stands at an all-time high this election year. Americans who say religion is not important in their lives and who do not belong to a religious group, according to the Pew Research Center, have risen in numbers from an estimated 21 million in 2008 to more than 36 million now.

Despite the extraordinary swiftness and magnitude of this shift, our political campaigns are still conducted as if all potential voters were among the faithful. The presumption is that candidates have everything to gain and nothing to lose by continuing their obsequious attitude toward orthodox religion and ignoring the growing population of those who make up a more secular America.

Ted Cruz won in Iowa by expanding Republican voter turnout among the evangelical base. Donald J. Trump placed second after promising "to protect Christians" from enemies foreign and domestic. The third-place finisher Marco Rubio's line "I don't think you can go to church too often" might well have been the campaign mantra. Mr. Rubio was first christened a Roman Catholic, baptized again at the age of 8 into the Mormon Church, and now attends a Southern Baptist megachurch with his wife on Saturdays and Catholic Mass on Sundays.

Democrats are only a trifle more secular in their appeals. Hillary Clinton repeatedly refers to her Methodist upbringing, and even Bernie Sanders — a cultural Jew not known to belong to a synagogue — squirms when asked whether he believes in God. When Jimmy Kimmel posed the question, Mr. Sanders replied in a fog of words at odds with his usual blunt style: "I am who I am. And what I believe in and what my spirituality is about, is that we're all in this together." He once referred to a "belief in God" that requires him to follow the Golden Rule — a quote his supporters seem to trot out whenever someone suggests he's an atheist or agnostic.

Candidates ignore secularists

The question is not why nonreligious Americans vote for these candidates — there is no one on the ballot who full-throatedly endorses nonreligious humanism — but why candidates themselves ignore the growing group of secular voters.

Yes, America is still a predominantly Christian nation, but evangelical Christians (including multiple Protestant denominations), at 25.4 percent, are the only group larger than those who don't belong to any church. At 22.8 percent, according to Pew, the unchurched make up a larger group than Catholics, any single Protestant denomination and small minorities of Jews, Muslims and Hindus.

Critics have suggested that there is no such entity as secular America, because the nonreligious do not all share the same values. One might just as easily say the same thing about the religious. President Jimmy Carter, for example, left the Southern Baptist Convention because he disagreed with its views about women — but Mr. Carter remains his own kind of devout and liberal Baptist in the tradition of his 18th-century religious forebears.

Secularists politically weak

Secularists remain politically weak in part because of the reluctance of many, especially the young, to become "joiners." Rejection of labels may be one reason so many of the religiously unaffiliated prefer to check "nothing in particular" rather than the atheist or agnostic box.

But it takes joiners to create a lobby. The American Center for Law and Justice, an organization focused on the rights of Christians, gathered more than a million signatures on a petition protesting the imprisonment of Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American pastor and convert from Islam who was one of four Americans freed in last month's prisoner swap.

For small secular organizations, a million signatures for any cause would constitute a supernatural happening. I spent a few years working for the Center for Inquiry, a humanist think tank that merged last month, in a rare union of secular forces, with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Michael De Dora, the center's public policy director, argues that secularists must work with liberal and mainstream religious groups on issues of mutual concern.

Yet there is some controversy over coalition building between those who consider themselves "hard" and "soft" atheists. I suppose I must be a "soft" atheist for believing that there is a huge political upside to ad hoc coalitions with liberal religious groups.

Freedom of conscience for all — which exists only in secular democracies — should be at the top of the list of shared concerns. Candidates who rightly denounce the persecution of Christians by radical Islamists should be ashamed of themselves for not expressing equal indignation at the persecution of freethinkers and atheists, as well as dissenting Muslims and small religious sects, not only by terrorists but also by theocracies like Saudi Arabia. With liberal religious allies, it would be easier for secularists to hold candidates to account when they talk as if freedom of conscience is a human right only for the religious.

Reclaim the language

Even more critical is the necessity of reclaiming the language of religious freedom from the far right. As defined by many pandering politicians, "religious freedom" is in danger of becoming code for accepting public money while imposing faith-based values on others.

Anyone who dismisses the importance of taking back this language should consider the gravity of the mistake made by supporters of legal abortion when they allowed the anti-abortion movement to claim the term "pro-life" after Roe v. Wade.

Secularists must hold candidates to account when they insult secular values, whether that means challenging them in town hall meetings or withholding donations. Why, for example, would any secular Republican (yes, there are some) think of supporting the many Republican politicians who have denied the scientific validity of evolution? Politicians will continue to ignore secular Americans until they are convinced that there is a price to be paid for doing so.

"God bless America" has become the standard ending of every major political speech. Just once in my life, I would like the chance to vote for a presidential candidate who ends his or her appeals with Thomas Paine's observation that "the most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason."

FFRF hopes to engage the millions of non-religious voters with its new "I'm Secular and I Vote" campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

"Since President Obama was first elected, the number of religiously unaffiliated adults in America has grown by nearly 20 million," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "Still, most candidates and media outlets focus their time on traditional religious groups, so we're taking action to be more vocal and coordinated as a demographic that should not be ignored."

A fresh ad campaign featuring John F. Kennedy aired in 21 major television markets during The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for two weeks in March. The commercial depicts the famous lines delivered by presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly on the general populace."

FFRF also plans to reach out to voters through its chapters, paid digital media ads, efforts to mobilize students on college campuses, and coordination with the nation's other major freethought associations as part of the June 4 Reason Rally in Washington, D.C.

A major Pew Research survey recently found 23 percent of the U.S. population is now religiously unaffiliated, with 19 million new adults since 2007 classifying their religious affiliation as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular, a trend Pew says is being driven primarily by young adults. A third of Millennials now identify as non-religious.

"Much of the movement away from religion in America is being driven by Millennials, many of whom will be voting for the first time this year," said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. "We need secular voters to be vocal about their beliefs, or lack thereof, while rejecting efforts to push religious dogma on the nation."

FFRF will be working with its 23,500 members, 20 chapters across America and through secular student alliances to encourage supporters to register to vote, attend and speak out on secularism at political events and submit op-eds to local and campus newspapers. FFRF also launched a student essay contest with thousands of dollars in prizes, and will distribute "I'm Secular and I Vote" buttons, T-shirts, bumper stickers and educational material across the country.

Two more parents have joined a lawsuit challenging an annual nativity performance at Concord High School in Elkhart, Ind.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Indiana filed the original suit on Oct. 7, 2015, along with "Jack Doe," a student and member of the performing arts department, and FFRF member "John Doe," his father.

The new parent plaintiffs are also seeking anonymity to protect their families from the vitriol and open hostility this state/church violation has created. This hostility includes a death threat that was sent to FFRF in December.

The anonymously penned death threat targeted FFRF Staff Attorney and co-counsel Sam Grover and a family that some have speculated is the Doe family.

"I will make it my life's mission to one day (in the next weeks, months or even years) when you think this is all done and forgotten about, to find you and the [redacted family name]," reads the email. "I will cut you into pieces and feed you to the fishes in the Elkhart River (Please note that I will enjoy this)."

The missive ends on this note: "Do yourself a favor, and believe me, when I say: NO ONE WILL STOP ME!"

For several decades, Concord High has performed a "Christmas Spectacular" each winter.

Every performance for the public, of which there were four in 2014, "ends with an approximately 20-minute telling of the story of the birth of Jesus, including a live nativity scene and a scriptural reading from the bible. During this segment, students at the high school portray the Virgin Mary, Joseph, the three wise men, shepherds and angels," notes the original complaint. Attendance and performance at the Christmas Spectacular is mandatory for students enrolled in the performing arts department.

Attorneys for FFRF and the ACLU argue that the nativity performance and the reading of the biblical story of the birth of Jesus are "well-recognized symbols of the Christian faith. Their presence at the Christmas Spectacular is coercive, represents an endorsement of religion by the high school, has no secular purpose, and has the principal purpose and effect of advancing religion."

U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio issued a temporary injunction on Dec. 2 barring the school from holding the nativity pageant with student actors.

The updated complaint also challenges the nativity enactment as it was modified during the 2015 Christmas Spectacular, in which the school used mannequins in place of live student performers. FFRF and the ACLU note that this modified nativity scene is no more legal or appropriate than the original show. Both versions exist solely to promote Christianity during a school-sponsored performance in violation of the Constitution.

"We had hoped the school district would simply do the right thing and adopt a neutral stance toward religion as it is required to do under the Constitution," says Staff Attorney Sam Grover.

"We are grateful to the new plaintiffs who have joined and strengthened our case, despite the backlash in the community," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "This controversy shows how divisive it is to bring religion into our public schools."

Listen to Grover discuss the case on Freethought Radio during the Feb. 13 episode at ffrf.org/news/radio.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation and two of its members are suing a Texas sheriff over his decision to affix Latin cross decals on county patrol vehicles.

Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson announced in December that he "wanted God's protection over his deputies" in deciding to place the prominent crosses on at least five county law enforcement vehicles.

Local plaintiffs Kevin Price and Jesse Castillo, both atheists and FFRF members, have come in regular contact with the Christian displays numerous times while out driving in the county. They "do not believe in any supernatural beings" and object to "an exclusively Christian religious symbol" being displayed on their county's patrol vehicles, the suit notes.

Both men contend "the Latin crosses convey the divisive message that non-Christians . . . are not equally valued members of the community and that Christians are favored."

When the Brewster County Sheriff's Office Facebook page posted two comments supportive of the Latin crosses, Price criticized the action. His comments were deleted by the sheriff's office and he was blocked from making further comments.

Castillo believes "that the crosses heighten the stigma associated with being an atheist and that he might receive more favorable treatment from the Sheriff's Office by hiding his atheism or by displaying pro-Christian messages," states FFRF's legal complaint.
FFRF seeks appropriate declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as nominal damages and attorney's fees.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor asserts that no government official has the right to promote his or her personal beliefs on government property.

"Whether it is a cross, a star and crescent, or a pentagram, law enforcement must remain neutral on matters of religion in order to foster public confidence in their impartiality," Gaylor said.

Brewster County, located in the western part of Texas, has a population of less than 10,000.

The federal lawsuit against Dodson was filed in U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, Alpine Division, on March 2. To view the full lawsuit online, go to ffrf.org/brewster.

The case is brought on behalf of the plaintiffs by Randall L. Kallinen of Houston, with FFRF Staff Attorneys Sam Grover and Patrick Elliott as co-counsel. Kallinen represented the late Kay Staley in her victorious litigation to remove a bible monument from the steps of the Harris County Courthouse.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has won a significant federal court judgment against a California school board for its blatantly religious meetings.

U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal ruled on Feb. 18 against the Chino Valley Unified School District for overtly and consciously inserting religion into official proceedings.

"Finally, a Jesus I can believe in," wrote a commenter on an article in the San Bernardino County's Inland Daily Bulletin, playing off the name of the judge.

FFRF, along with 22 local residents, filed a lawsuit on Nov. 13, 2014, challenging the School Board's prayers, bible readings and proselytization at official gatherings. The district, which serves about 32,000 students, was ordered to pay court costs and plaintiff fees, which are currently about $200,000. On March 7 the School Board voted 3-2 to appeal the ruling, which means the suit could take another two years and cost between $350,000 and $500,000.

At one meeting, then-Board President James Na "urged everyone who does not know Jesus Christ to go and find Him," after which another board member closed with a reading of Psalm 143.

The judge wasn't having it.

"The court finds . . . permitting religious prayer in board meetings, and the policy and custom of reciting prayers, Bible readings, and proselytizing at board meetings, constitute unconstitutional government endorsements of religion in violation of plaintiffs' First Amendment rights," Bernal wrote. "Defendant board members are enjoined from conducting, permitting o otherwise endorsing school-sponsored prayer in board meetings."

Reporters covering the lawsuit clearly had fun with their articles. David Allen of the Inland Daily Bulletin wrote: "After years of prayers and religious references at its meetings, the Chino Valley Unified School Board has been halted by a higher power: a federal judge."

And Mel Ewald of the Chino Champion wrote: "God and Jesus Christ were conspicuously absent from Thursday's meeting of the Chino Valley School Board."

FFRF obviously welcomes the ruling.

"Our plaintiffs told us the board proceedings were more like a church service than a school board meeting," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "So my reaction to the ruling is, 'Hallelujah!'"

The board tried to claim a legislative prayer exception, invoking the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Greece v. Galloway decision. But Bernal called the argument "meritless," saying, "The legislative exception does not apply to prayer at school board meetings."

"The risk that a student will feel coerced by the board's policy and practice of religious prayer is even higher here than at football games or graduations," Bernal stated. "The School Board possesses an inherently authoritarian position with respect to the students. The board metes out discipline and awards at these meetings, and sets school policies that directly and immediately affect the students' lives."

He added, "Regardless of the stated purpose of the [prayer] resolution, it is clear that the board uses it to bring sectarian prayer and proselytization into public schools through the backdoor."

RMuse, a writer for the PoliticusUSA web site, backed FFRF: "For now, though, there is one public school district in California that is safe from theocrats, thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation and concerned parents who prevailed with absolutely no assistance whatsoever from even one 'Constitution-loving' politician."

Statement by the
Freedom From Religion Foundation

A sweepingly discriminatory anti-LGBT bill passed Wednesday by the North Carolina Legislature shows once again why the federal Civil Rights Act needs to be amended to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Equality Act, endorsed by the White House, was introduced last July by Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Cory Booker (N.J.), and Rep. David N. Cicilline (R.I.).

"Civil liberties should not be dependent on the state you live in, or be subject to the tyranny of religious dogma," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "In a nation where our Constitution guarantees equal protection, and 'Equal justice under the law' is etched on the building housing our Supreme Court, it is simply wrong that LGBT individuals have rights in some cities, counties or states, and none in others."

The new North Carolina law will prevent local governments from protecting LGBT citizens with local anti-discrimination ordinances. It would also force transgender people to use bathrooms according to their "biological sex," which the act defines as the sex "stated on a person's birth certificate." This means a trans man—a person born female at birth but who identifies as male—with a beard, cowboy hat, boots, and a deep voice will be forced to use the women's lavatory. Such is the logic of discrimination.  

Gov. Pat McCrory signed the measure into law Wednesday night, proudly and disingenuously tweeting: "I signed bipartisan legislation to stop the breach of basic privacy and etiquette, ensure privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms." Never mind the complete lack of etiquette inherent in a discriminatory law that claims to protect privacy but would essentially require the government to peer down students' trousers or up their skirts to ensure they're using the "correct" bathroom.

The bill was rushed through in response to the Charlotte City Council's new LGBT protections. The City Council's good work of more than two years was undone in a day. The bathroom provisions are getting the most attention, but equally disturbing are the amendments that deliberately supersede and eliminate any local protections for our LGBT brothers and sisters.

McCrory has provided the secular movement with a poster child for why the separation of state and church is so necessary, and why the Equality Act must be passed.

A national freethought association and its local member are suing a Connecticut city after their request to put up a display in a city park was denied.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, with member Jerome H. Bloom, filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Connecticut, against the city of Shelton and its mayor and parks director. 

The American Legion, an ostensibly patriotic organization for veterans, has been allowed to erect a display every December for at least four years in Constitution Park in Shelton featuring heralding angels. The Legion claims it was founded to acknowledge "God as the source of all our rights and freedoms" and is committed to "bring all Americans closer to their Creator and remind them of His proper place at the center of nation's life."

"The angel display in the park constitutes not only a religious display, but one with a sectarian message, since the display is put up every December to coincide with the traditional celebration of the birth of Jesus, as heralded by angels," FFRF charges.

When Bloom and FFRF sought permission last November to counter such religiosity by placing a sign asserting, among other things, that there are "no angels," they were turned down because the city deemed it "offensive to many." FFRF made three more attempts to resolve the dispute, seeking assurances FFRF could participate in the forum this year, with no satisfactory resolution.

FFRF terms the city of Shelton's censorship "impermissible viewpoint-based discrimination." The city's actions have caused Bloom and FFRF injury by censoring and excluding their protected expression, and by disparaging Bloom on the basis of his nonbelief in religion, rendering him a political outsider, FFRF's legal complaint notes. The city's Mayor Mark A. Lauretti and Parks Director Ronald Herrick are co-defendants in the lawsuit.

FFRF, which opposes public forums for religion on governmental property, has traditionally displayed at such forums in December a protest sign composed by FFRF's founder Anne Nicol Gaylor asserting: "At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

FFRF serves as the nation's largest membership association of atheists and agnostics, also working to uphold the constitutional separation between state and church.

The plaintiffs are seeking a judgment that the city's censorship has violated their free speech rights under the First and 14th Amendments, as well as their equal protection rights, and a judgment enjoining the city from excluding their display in the future, as well as nominal damages and reasonable legal costs.

The case was filed Tuesday, March 22, in the courtroom of Judge Janet Bond Arterton (appointed by President Clinton) on behalf of the plaintiffs, by Laurence J. Cohen, of Springfield, Mass., with FFRF Staff Attorney Elizabeth Cavell and FFRF Diane Uhl Legal Fellow Ryan Jayne serving as co-counsel. FFRF v. City of Shelton has case number 3:16-cv-00477.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation will be placing literature in Colorado's Delta County School District next week as a response to the continued passive distribution of Gideon bibles there.

In spite of repeated FFRF requests, the Delta County School District has refused to stop the Gideons from putting bibles in the local public schools. So FFRF and its allied organizations will soon be circulating freethought materials in all Delta County middle and high schools. These include brochures and booklets such as "An X-Rated Book: Sex and Obscenity in the Bible," "Why Women Need Freedom From Religion" and "What Does the Bible Say About Abortion." After students and families reported multiple state-church violations, FFRF has also decided to distribute its new brochure: "Top 10 Public School State-Church Violations and How to Stop Them."

It is unconstitutional for public school districts to permit the Gideons International to dispense bibles as part of the public school day, FFRF contends. But since the Delta County School District has told FFRF that it will keep on giving the Gideons access, FFRF is making sure that other perspectives get heard, too.

"The School District is not required to maintain this open forum and is free to close it rather than allow FFRF to distribute materials," FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote in a March 3 letter to the district. "We do not think schools should be a battleground for religious ideas. But when schools allow the Gideons to prey on children, their message of eternal damnation for any who don't believe in their God must be countered." 

FFRF has been working with the Delta County School District and its superintendent Caryn Gibson to negotiate terms. On April 1, school employees will place FFRF's literature, along with material from the Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers and The Satanic Temple, in schools for the students to take. Local volunteers, coordinated by WCAF President Anne Landman, will do several spot checks at various schools throughout the day to ensure the district follows through on its word.

Schools exist to educate, not to serve as conduits for missionary groups, says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, adding that the organizations believes that it is inappropriate for religious or irreligious materials to be disseminated in public schools.

"The Delta County School District could have resolved the issue by not allowing religious groups inside their schools," he says. "But since it has chosen to be obdurate, it's left us with no option than to respond to the religious propagandizing."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a nontheistic organization with more than 23,000 members nationwide, including almost 700 in Colorado.

The nontract below may be read online for personal viewing and reference. They are copyrighted and belong to FFRF. All right reserved. This material may not be reprinted or distributed without the express written permission of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. FFRF makes these nontracts available in brochure form by the dozen or in bulk to make distribution cost-effective and easy.

Purchase the nontract here.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation applauds a recent court victory on behalf of workers shortchanged by their religious employer. FFRF, a national state/church watchdog group, filed a friend of the court brief in a case decided late last week by a federal appeals court.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 17 ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) does not necessarily exempt retirement plans created by religious entities in a case involving the largest health care provider in Illinois. The plaintiffs alleged that they had been harmed by the management of a retirement plan run by their former employer, the Advocate Health Care Network (formed in 1995 by the merger of two religious health care systems and still affiliated with two churches). FFRF submitted an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs arguing that any religious exemption from ERISA violates the constitutional separation of state and church. 

While not addressing the substantive argument that FFRF put forward, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on statutory procedural grounds.

"The plaintiffs (buttressed by Amicus Curiae Freedom From Religion
Foundation) assert that any exemption at all for church plans violates the Constitution by favoring religious adherents over nonadherents," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner in a unanimous decision for the 7th Circuit. "We need not address the plaintiffs' constitutional argument, as our interpretation of the statute provides the plaintiffs with all of the relief they request." 

ERISA regulates retirement plans, but exempts church plans from requirements such as paying insurance premiums, meeting minimum funding standards, and disclosing funding levels to plan participants. Cases have been brought around the country against large companies like Catholic hospitals that claim the exemption, with FFRF filing amicus briefs in several instances. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December that a similar religious hospital retirement plan was not exempt from ERISA requirements.  

FFRF argued that the problem isn't that large companies are claiming this church-based exemption, it's that the exemption exists at all.

"We welcome the 7th Circuit ruling providing relief for employees harmed by special privileges given to religious institutions," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "But we think that courts need to go further and annul the exemption given to religious entities—a clear infringement of the First Amendment."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a nontheistic organization with more than 23,000 members nationwide. FFRF extends its appreciation to former law intern Jarvis Idowu for his work on the amicus briefs on behalf of FFRF, as well as FFRF Staff Attorneys Patrick Elliott and Andrew Seidel.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wants a New Jersey borough to get rid of its unmistakably religious seal and motto.

The official seal of the borough of Clayton depicts a church and a Latin cross, with the accompanying motto reading: "A Great Place to Live and Play, Work and Pray."

The inclusion of a cross and church on the official seal and the declaration that the borough is a great place to pray violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, FFRF asserts. The borough's logo signals an endorsement of Christianity and prayer.

"Federal courts have ruled that similar seals violate the Establishment Clause," wrote FFRF Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler in a letter last September to Clayton Mayor Tom Bianco. "Federal courts have also consistently ruled that religious symbolism, and crosses specifically, on municipal seals are unconstitutional." 

In addition, FFRF insists that the borough of Clayton make an effort to be inclusive, since 30 percent of Americans and 43 percent of Millennials are non-Christian, practicing either a minority religion or no religion at all. If Clayton has a sectarian seal and declares itself to be a great place to pray, this ostracizes such citizens of the borough.

The borough responded to FFRF that the seal and the motto were nothing more than a reflection of its history, citing no law to back up its assertions. Ziegler contends in a recent follow-up letter that such an argument is untenable.

"The federal courts have consistently held that religious symbolism on official city seals is unconstitutional, even in the face of claims that the religious portions are in some way historical," Ziegler writes. "Similarly, it's not a city's place to declare that it's a good place to pray. The borough of Clayton ought not to lend its power and prestige to religion by promoting a religious activity in its official motto. . . . The Establishment Clause prohibits government sponsorship of religious messages." 

FFRF is urging the borough of Clayton to adopt a new seal and motto that are constitutional and inclusive of all of its residents.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a state/church separation watchdog group with 23,000 nonreligious members nationally, including almost 500 in New Jersey.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is contending that the hiring of a South Carolina public school football coach may have been because of his religion in violation of school nondiscrimination polices.

Text messages exchanged between Seneca High School Principal Cliff Roberts and recently hired coach Hal Capps indicate that their shared religiosity was a significant factor in Capps' appointment.

"The devil tries to let that little bit of doubt creep in ... can I trust you to stay the course?" Roberts asked Capps in a text that was part of a series obtained by FFRF under the Freedom of Information Act. Capps replied, "The devil is powerful—but our God is mighty." 

While offering Capps the job, Roberts texted, "I am going to trust you and trust the Good Lord through this, and be obedient to what I feel he is leading us to do." To this, Capps responded, "Amen."

Capps was known for leading post-game prayer circles at a North Carolina high school, which ended after FFRF complained in 2014.

In a Feb. 9 press release announcing the decision to hire Capps, Roberts described him as having "high moral character."

"It is grossly inappropriate and illegal for public school officials to consider religion as part of a public school hiring decision," FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliot writes in a letter to Michael Thorsland, superintendent of the School District of Oconee County. "Principal Roberts' use of biblical allusion and statement that he is going to 'trust the Good Lord through this, and be obedient to what I feel he is leading us to do' creates the undeniable impression that the principal's Christian faith played a role in the hiring process." 

FFRF is asking the School District to conduct an immediate investigation into whether its hiring and nondiscrimination policies have been violated.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a state/church watchdog group that has 23,000 nonreligious members, including more than 100 in South Carolina.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is objecting to top Indiana state officials taking part in a Christian foot-washing ceremony in their official capacities.

Employees from Gov. Mike Pence's office, as well as Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann and her staff, sponsored and participated in a "foot-washing" ritual during office hours at the Shepherd Community Center in Indianapolis two months ago. Pence made an appearance at the center, too, shortly after the ceremony was completed. The rite was deeply religious. Sonna Dumas, director of the school associated with Shepherd, "a faith-based ministry," commented to the Indianapolis Star that "the teachers told students about the biblical origins of the tradition in preparation for the event."

The official involvement in the ceremony raises serious constitutional concerns.

"First, the state may neither require nor pay for its employees to participate in religious rituals," FFRF Diane Uhl Legal Fellow Ryan Jayne writes in a letter to Pence. "Second, the state appears to endorse Christianity when its top executives, with their staff, sponsor and take part in a publicized, specifically Christian, religious ritual." 

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government offices may not appear to endorse religion, FFRF reminds the governor. State employees may not join in religious rituals while they are "on the clock." The governor's office may not spend taxpayer money on religious ceremonies, including paying employees to participate. The office's endorsement of religion—and of Christianity in particular—turns non-Christian and nonreligious Indianans into outsiders in their own community. (Twenty-three percent of Americans, and 35 percent of millennials, don't identify with any particular religion.)

As it is inappropriate and unconstitutional for government officials to sponsor and participate in religious rites, FFRF is seeking assurances from the Indiana governor that his office will not engage in this again.

"They're stepping all over the Constitution," quips FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a state/church watchdog group with 23,000 members nationally, including more than 300 in Indiana.